Tank inspection certification

[txgoose]

Why are welding shops doing VIPS?
My welding gas place: 1) Does not do VIPs at all, a completely foreign concept to them. They are a reseller for airgas. 2) They are not an authorized retester so their VIPs wouldn't be accepted under the CFRs anyway 3) Gas supply tanks are VIPed on either a 5 or a 10 year schedule, at the time of hydro, they definitely aren't removing those valves annually

Annual visuals are a scuba industry thing (in part because tanks are used while submerged).

I specifically called around about hydros after a couple of buddies and I were able to bulk buy some used tanks. I assume they offer VIPs because they're already "in the tank" and it is more income stream that gels with what they are already doing. Charge $10-$14 (I don't remember), spend a few minutes looking it over good. Easy money. Behind the scenes very few LDS are going to have the machinery for hydros. The three that I have experience with in Houston take scuba tanks to outside hydro testers. None have that ability in house.

Maybe it is an economies of scale thing, and Houston has the scale, but I can get gas, hydros, and VIPs at one shop. To be clear, when I say gas I am talking about gas for my son who does actually weld (professionally in a few months if the gods and the economy don't hate me). I have not bought breathing fills from that shop. But I've also never asked.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Since you are in Orlando, try David Zapalla, owner of Advanced Hydrotest in Homosassa. He occasionally conducts courses for PSI-PCI. I have not taken a course from him but have heard compliments from several who have. FWIW, all my tanks go to him for hydro.

 

[akdeepdiver]

PM sent

 

[ScubaBunga]

if you trust your lds, ask about a vci class. If like me, you don't (I do NOW trust my current lds), you can contact psicylinders.com and they can direct you to an lds (hopefully near you) that offer their vci class. I took it because I was tired of getting answers I knew were not true regarding my tanks (old steel 72's). I'm now on very good terms with my lds and the tech there. For me, I have enough tanks it's actually financially worth while - but my goal was just to "know" how my tank was checked. I had gone through a time where I could not trust the service from my lds. They condemned a good tank, wouldn't + a tank that had the REE stamped on it, and returned my regulator with the diaphragm folded over. Found out later my regulators had old o-rings in them as well! Now I know my tanks are serviced to spec (or better). I have never had my vip sticker questioned - but I also generally call/email ahead to dive shops where I'm going and don't go to those that provide sketchy responses. Happy VIPing!

 

[runsongas]

@ScubaBunga the + mark issue is up to the hydro tester and is optional. could be out of the dive shop's control there.

 

[ScubaBunga]

@ScubaBunga the + mark issue is up to the hydro tester and is optional. could be out of the dive shop's control there.

In this case, they are just not a good shop...

 

[_Ralph]

I am a DIY type of person, I was wondering what the best online/course for becoming certified in tank inspections / doing VIPs myself that will be recognized and valid at LDS's for fills. Ideally have my own stickers made with a certificate # or something along those lines for verification. A quick search led me to SDI and PSI, thoughts?

As has been mentioned earlier, there’s 2 VIP programs, PSI and TDI.

I would strongly talk to the shop(s) owners that you get your fills from. They may or may not fill your tanks if you VIP them yourself.

They might also have some other obstacles to fill your tanks (ie they may do a modified to full VIP at a free-full cost. They may not fill tanks with your VIP that aren’t yours, etc).

As for how much it costs? When I did my course, it was roughly $300, add on another $300+ in basic tools and materials..

I did it when I amounted over 6 tanks. It paid for itself in 2 years...

That and a regulator servicing course and equipment has saved me hundreds (of not thousands by now) over the years...


_R

 

[O-ring]

As others have correctly stated it all comes down to your LDS(s). I did my own when I had a fill station and had my own stickers made up with my, uh, quasi-legitimate business name printed on my VIP stickers. I also stickered them with PSI stickers and my PSI number. That worked great and I never got hassled on the road (FL, NC, MD, etc.) by what I would consider reasonable shops. My local shops are not reasonable. They only accept VIP stickers from other local shops that they recognize and have all sorts of other policies that are beyond the pale (i.e. won't fill an empty tank - has to be re-vipped, etc.). If you are stuck with the same level of farm animality that I am then you have no choice but to play ball or setup your own fill station. I'm trying to work with them since I'd like them to stay viable and I don't really have a frequent need for bizarre mixes anymore so am not sure I feel like setting up another fill station, but it is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[lowviz]

.../... you can contact psicylinders.com and they can direct you to an lds (hopefully near you) that offer their vci class. I took it because I was tired of getting answers I knew were not true regarding my tanks (old steel 72's). ...//...

Funny, that is how I got started too...

IMHO: VIP is a self-regulated, recreational scuba, highly enforced (no VIP = no fills), 'program' that keeps governmental control out of our faces. I suspect that the VIP program shows 'due diligence' by the entire recreational scuba community and therefore we are being left alone by the government.

I initially found The VIP program to be an annoying money grab at worst, but after getting certed for both VIP and O2 cleaning (and actually doing both) I kinda lost the feeling that it is a 'money grab' as it isn't that easy to perform a proper and thorough inspection or cleaning.

Funny things can happen to your tanks and you don't have to give it a second thought between hydros as they get looked at yearly. This is probably the best single solution that fits all divers. And you know how those blanket solutions go, nobody is truly happy...

 

[txgoose]

My favorite shop took $3 off of fills with their VIP on the bottle. It was a win-win. They had readily recognizable stickers on a large percentage of tanks in town, I more than made my VIP money back in fills because my family dives often enough. Alas, they got over extended and couldn't recover from some hurricane Harvey fallout, as I understand it.

AND one thing they did that is such a small detail but IMO had a big impact, they paid attention to the valve orientation when they put the VIP sticker on the tank. Then every time a diver backmounted their tanks, advertisement! No other LDS I have gotten VIPs from, or seen VIP stickers from, seem to care either. Stickers every which way. Sometimes even covered up when mounted in a BC device. Seems like an easy thing to do with a shop VIP sticker when name recognition can be a make or break thing with small businesses.