Transporting tanks in vehicles

[CaptainPanda]

Hey, gang, just curious to know if anyone might know of any restrictions or regulations in the US for transporting pressurized tanks in personal vehicles? Someone mentioned that I should have a green 'compressed air' sticker on the car, but I'm not sure if that's actually required, or if there might be other restrictions. Thanks!

 

[TMHeimer]

Hate to say "do a search" but-- search for "transporting tanks". Lots of threads. One to read is one of the "tanks in cars", where it is pointed out that it is a national law that tanks must be upright. A reply said that this law probably is for large quantities of tanks to be exported, not for recreational divers.
Irrelevant to your question, but I've not heard of any diver in the US or Canada transporting tanks upright & secured, other than if it's in a van or LDS dive truck.

 

[tbone1004]

the way I understand it, and this is a VERY complicated subject that I've yet to be able to get any sort of clear answer.

You are OK with no restrictions IF the following are met
You are not transporting in commerce
You are transporting less than 1000lbs of cylinders *total cylinder weight, valve/bottle/gas*

The less than 1000lbs is pretty clear, sort of, but I would recommend abiding by it. Generally speaking that is about 25 AL80's. The odds of any state trooper having any clue what this means or even thinking about looking at it is near 0 and if you call your states highway patrol, good luck finding anyone who can give you an answer. I've called NC/SC/GA/FL's highway patrols and not a single one has been able to give me an answer about the weight or definition of commerce.

The commerce gets a little weird.
The way I understand it is the following weird situation applies that can bite people. You transport rental tanks for students/friends if they are not in the vehicle with you. If they're in the vehicle with you, happy days, if YOU rented the tank and let them use it, happy days, but if you picked it up for them, then you are technically transporting that bottle in commerce and then have to do a bunch of really annoying stuff.

TLDR, you'll probably be ok driving around like normal which is what we all do, just don't do anything stupid and certainly don't open your mouth if you get pulled over.

 

[iamrushman]

some time ignorance is bliss....."I'm just going diving", sir.

 

[broncobowsher]

I've also heard (unverified) the limit is 11
And the commercial aspect of it can get more complex if you cross a state line as you are now changing from local state laws to interstate commerce laws.

The short answer is, you are on your own. Don't do anything stupid. Use a bit of common sense and you are probably OK.

 

[tbone1004]

I've also heard (unverified) the limit is 11
And the commercial aspect of it can get more complex if you cross a state line as you are now changing from local state laws to interstate commerce laws.

The short answer is, you are on your own. Don't do anything stupid. Use a bit of common sense and you are probably OK.

there is no limit based on quantity, if you heard it, it is certainly not from a verified source.

 

[BRT]

the way I understand it, and this is a VERY complicated subject that I've yet to be able to get any sort of clear answer.

You are OK with no restrictions IF the following are met
You are not transporting in commerce
You are transporting less than 1000lbs of cylinders *total cylinder weight, valve/bottle/gas*

The less than 1000lbs is pretty clear, sort of, but I would recommend abiding by it. Generally speaking that is about 25 AL80's. The odds of any state trooper having any clue what this means or even thinking about looking at it is near 0 and if you call your states highway patrol, good luck finding anyone who can give you an answer. I've called NC/SC/GA/FL's highway patrols and not a single one has been able to give me an answer about the weight or definition of commerce.

The commerce gets a little weird.
The way I understand it is the following weird situation applies that can bite people. You transport rental tanks for students/friends if they are not in the vehicle with you. If they're in the vehicle with you, happy days, if YOU rented the tank and let them use it, happy days, but if you picked it up for them, then you are technically transporting that bottle in commerce and then have to do a bunch of really annoying stuff.

TLDR, you'll probably be ok driving around like normal which is what we all do, just don't do anything stupid and certainly don't open your mouth if you get pulled over.

When we go to the coast to dive we load up 30 hp steels, 100's to 130's. So far the troopers just talk about diving.

 

[NAM001]

Ive heard / read some where that trasporting more than 1000 dollars of tanks makes it a comercial transport. I would guess that is to prevent use of private vehicles frm being used to substitute for official comercial movers. Then there is the issue of what is enforced as many laws are ignored until an incident occurs, which at that time a finger has to be pointed. Here is an example.... It is federally illegal to drive faster than 45 mph on an interstate while passing a weigh station on ramp in the (right) merging lane. I have never seen a pickup transport tanks standing up. and have seldom if ever seen more than a dozen tanks in a truck bed. people have claimed that transporting tanks for a class is a comercial venture because it is a occupational transport. IMO that is a bastardized of the use of comercial. I can not find anyone that can verify that. Mostly because the transport is an associated function and not a comercial transporting business. As said there are a lot of opinions. GIVE PSI a call and see what they say about it. They have a lot of legal staff that probably has the answer at hand. The cite federal regulations, but do so quite often at the strictest interpretation. If they say its OK then it probably is. There may be distance aspects involved regarding recreational moves. Also sinse pressure is the HASARDOUS MATERIAL. Whether the tanks are filled or not may have some bearing in the matter to boot.

 

[TMHeimer]

the way I understand it, and this is a VERY complicated subject that I've yet to be able to get any sort of clear answer.

You are OK with no restrictions IF the following are met
You are not transporting in commerce
You are transporting less than 1000lbs of cylinders *total cylinder weight, valve/bottle/gas*

The less than 1000lbs is pretty clear, sort of, but I would recommend abiding by it. Generally speaking that is about 25 AL80's. The odds of any state trooper having any clue what this means or even thinking about looking at it is near 0 and if you call your states highway patrol, good luck finding anyone who can give you an answer. I've called NC/SC/GA/FL's highway patrols and not a single one has been able to give me an answer about the weight or definition of commerce.

The commerce gets a little weird.
The way I understand it is the following weird situation applies that can bite people. You transport rental tanks for students/friends if they are not in the vehicle with you. If they're in the vehicle with you, happy days, if YOU rented the tank and let them use it, happy days, but if you picked it up for them, then you are technically transporting that bottle in commerce and then have to do a bunch of really annoying stuff.

TLDR, you'll probably be ok driving around like normal which is what we all do, just don't do anything stupid and certainly don't open your mouth if you get pulled over.

This is pretty exactly what was rolling around in my mind. I first figured that if transporting a couple of tanks in your car was illegal, some divers would have found that out as a result of being pulled over for another offense and the cop saw the tanks--thus the word would spread. Then I realized tbone is probably correct in that the cops don't have a clue. Like when I cross the border into the US and have to explain why FATCA caused me to renounce citizenship. One officer had never even seen a certificate or renunciation. Another time I had to explain to Canada Customs guard that the shells in my car from Florida were not endangered thus legal to cross the border. She also took me at my word.
Maybe tell a cop that tanks in the car are legal and he/she will just believe you.
Aren't these people supposed to know this ****!!!?

 

[BRT]

Ive heard / read some where that trasporting more than 1000 dollars of tanks makes it a comercial transport. I would guess that is to prevent use of private vehicles frm being used to substitute for official comercial movers. Then there is the issue of what is enforced as many laws are ignored until an incident occurs, which at that time a finger has to be pointed. Here is an example.... It is federally illegal to drive faster than 45 mph on an interstate while passing a weigh station on ramp in the (right) merging lane. I have never seen a pickup transport tanks standing up. and have seldom if ever seen more than a dozen tanks in a truck bed. people have claimed that transporting tanks for a class is a comercial venture because it is a occupational transport. IMO that is a bastardized of the use of comercial. I can not find anyone that can verify that. Mostly because the transport is an associated function and not a comercial transporting business. As said there are a lot of opinions. GIVE PSI a call and see what they say about it. They have a lot of legal staff that probably has the answer at hand. The cite federal regulations, but do so quite often at the strictest interpretation. If they say its OK then it probably is. There may be distance aspects involved regarding recreational moves. Also sinse pressure is the HASARDOUS MATERIAL. Whether the tanks are filled or not may have some bearing in the matter to boot.

I transport ours standing up.