Tank recertification in Dallas/Fort Worth area?

[skintdigit]

Hi all,

Looking for a facility to do some tank "hydros" for me. My LDS will do scuba tanks, but I'm looking for a single place that is able to recertify 7 steel 72 dive tanks, my son's carbon fiber paintball marker tank, and test/fill a couple of fire extinguishers. Does anyone know of such a place?

I'm new to the board, live in northwest DFW...this looks to be a very helpful resource for divers!

 

[halocline]

If you look in the yellow pages you'll find lots of fire extinguisher testing places. They all can hydro test scuba tanks too. But......

You want to find someone that can possibly give your tanks the plus rating, which means finding a hydro test place that will either find or figure the REE number for your tanks. If they're PSTs there's a document floating around that has the number.

 

[Culcuhain]

Hi all,

Looking for a facility to do some tank "hydros" for me. My LDS will do scuba tanks, but I'm looking for a single place that is able to recertify 7 steel 72 dive tanks, my son's carbon fiber paintball marker tank, and test/fill a couple of fire extinguishers. Does anyone know of such a place?

I'm new to the board, live in northwest DFW...this looks to be a very helpful resource for divers!

I take mine to Koetter Fire. They are near Northwest Highway and Harry Hines. It takes about a week and it costs about $17.00 a tank after tax for a hydro.

 

[skintdigit]

Thank you, halocline and Culcuhain. It sounds like the folks at Koetter will be able to handle all my needs at one stop. Most of my cylinders are PST brand...getting the "+" rating on the recertification would be nice for the extra volume of air. I will look into that possibility.

Do either of you know if I will need to have a visual inspection done in addition to the hydrostatic test, or is that only each year beginning one year AFTER the most recent hydro? I'm not new to diving, but new to tank ownership/maintenance. My instructor has recently moved out of the state and has donated a handful of clean, but out-of-date steel tanks to me.

 

[Bill Parker]

Cylinder Services
1953 Chenault St
Dallas, TX 75228‎
(214) 328-1010

They did the hydro test for my AL80s for $25/tank last
year. I think they had my tanks ready in two days.

Yes you will still need a separate visual inspection test
even after you have the hydro test performed. They
are different kinds of tests.

 

[skintdigit]

Thanks, Bill. I understand that the VIP is an inspection for interior surface degradation/corrosion and the hydrostatic test verifies tank integrity. Perhaps I'll remove a couple of valves and have a look inside before I haul these down for hydrostatic testing. If there is some rust and and cleaning is required, that would best be done before hydro. testing, no? Seems that cleaning would entail some removal of metal, and that could impact cylinder expansion, thus changing hydrostatic test results. Right?

Last question

Do most businesses that do hydrostatic testing also offer VIP services, too?

 

[Bill Parker]

Your first question was address directly to me but I can't really
say much about the technical details about the tests. I'm not
qualified to perform them that's for sure. I'm just a guy who's
trying to get his tanks filled so I can go dive. All I know is the
hydro is required every five years and the visual is required
annually. And without those they won't fill your tanks. From
talking to various dive shops I don't know of any in D/FW that
do the hydro tests themselves. They send it out to others for
that. LDSs are just a middle man when it comes to hydro
tests. But they do have value. I had to drive from Hurst to
East Dallas twice to get my tanks hydro'd for $25/tank. (Once
to deliver and once to pick them up.) A LDS will charge you
~$50 and it will take longer (they will make the run every week
or two or wait until they fill up a truckload of tanks) but you
don't have to make the long drives directly to the source. Your
call whether you have the time to do that or not. Every dive shop
I have dealt with does the VIP themselves.

 

[halocline]

If the tanks need to be tumbled, get it done before the hydro test. Tumbling tanks does not remove enough metal to cause the tanks to need re-qualification, but believe it or not there are some dive shops that will insist a tank gets re-hydro'ed after tumbling.

As far as the visual inspection goes, yes a visual inspection is supposed to be part of the hydro test, but the scuba industry typically requires a sticker from a scuba shop that has a current vis date on it. It's their compressor, they make the rules, end of discussion. So after you get your tanks hydro tested, you'll need to bring them to the shop where they will look inside, put a sticker on, replace the valve, fill, and charge you anywhere from $15-25.

Occasionally the hydro shop does a poor job of drying the steel tanks after the hydro test, and there will be some flash rust in the tank. You can ask them nicely to tumble the tanks for a few minutes to remove it, you can buy a brush to remove it, or you can live with it and hope the dive shop doesn't fail the tank because of it.

 

[ZzzKing]

If they need tumbling, Koetter does that as well.