VIP on two steel 120's gone bad!!!

[Garth]

Took my two steel HP 120's my wife bought me to a dive shop for their VIP. Hydro 10/07 current. Tanks are nitrox wanted to keep them nitrox for diving.

The verdict 35$ each tank is there price for O2 cleaning and VIP valve insp.

Today recieved a phone call from them. They found rust in both which needed to be "wanded?" for about an hour they said. Also they needed to replace a few pieces on the valve to comply with nitrox. end of story their new cost 85 $$$$$ each tank!!! I'm new to my own equipment but this seems crazy. Somebody please tell me I'm not losing my mind. Or at least let me know that I got the **** end of the deal when my wife bought these tanks from a local in our town of Mooresville, NC.

Tell all, I won't get offended, because I'm already kinda pissed.

Thank you for your responses.

 

[scubafanatic]

.....well, there's no way to know if the prior owner knowingly (or unknowingly) sold them to you with rust inside...or if the dive shop is being honest...but I'm not sure I'd assume anyone was/is out to cheat you. Also, if you need them to be oxygen-clean, they really do need to do a quality job on the tanks...including replacing various tank valve neck and inner tank valve O-rings. I suppose you could have told them to call you before they were 'wanded' to have you approve that charge, and to show you the rust...but you failed to do that it appears. If you are wanting a reality check on the price, maybe call around and get price bids for the same work to be done on 2 tanks and see if those prices are close to what you were charged...to at least see if you were maybe overcharged. If you find other dive shops charging about the same price for the same level of work...and you trust this shop that the tanks were rusty in the first place...well, then it's case closed. Did the original owner 'cheat' you with undisclosed rust problems ? ...who knows...but that is a consequence of buying used...and there are certain operating conditions where steel tanks can be expected to eventually experience internal rust issues (sea water enters the tank valve opening, especially if the fill whips blow sea water droplets into the tanks while being filled)

 

[Scared Silly]

The cylinders do not need to be O2 clean for preblended nitrox - only for partial pressure fills. As for the rust, is it flash rust or is there something else? Not sure what they mean by wanded - usually tanks are tumbled.

They probably want to replace the o-rings in the valves with ones made with viton which are O2 compatible.

SF 10/07 Hydro bought them last year - probably bought them new.

 

[drbill]

Were they Worthingtons?

 

[JahJahwarrior]

By "wanded" they probably mean whipped--like a tiny mop made out of braided steel, stick it in attached to a high speed drill and whammo, same effect as tumbling.

They should have disclosed the o2 cleaning of the valve up front when they mentioned o2 cleaning the tanks. I mean really..."ok we'll o2 clean the tanks but if you want us to also clean the valves that'll be extra...but of course if you don't plan to fill the tanks then you don't need the valves and you can save $20 per tank" yeah right... And that o2 cleaning price should have included any new parts, which in actuality, consist of 3 orings. Maybe they found that your seat in the valve was worn out and charged you another $15 each for those. Idk.

In other words, it seems to me that they charged you $50/tank for whipping them, which is a bit high.

Let's recap: I think o2 cleaning a tank should include o2 cleaning the valve which should include replacement orings. They told you $35/tank which isn't the end of the world. Assuming that their pricing scheme includes valve cleaning (which it should, imho), then they charged you $50 to whip each tank. Whipping shouldn't take that long per tank, far less than an hour. $50 for whipping is a bit high.

 

[mike_s]

my tanks are in the shop now and have some flash rust and are getting tumbled. just a fact of life with steel tanks. the rust wasn't bad, but was enough to get them fixed before they rusted more.


last year, I took one of my steels on a south florida liveaboard. well they must have had bad filters on their boat, because of the 6 of us who took steel tanks, we all had to get our tanks tumbled afterwards because of rust due to moisture in the tanks.

yeah it sucks, but buying a new tank sucks worse.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Not sure where you went, but NADCO in Greensboro has always treated be very well.

 

[Garth]

Well I vented and I feel a little better reading all of your responses. Let me say again that I am new to owning equipment and was surprised at the price. At the same time, I don't want faulty equipment and if the tanks were in bad shape inside then I appreciate the hard work they had to do to keep me safe.

I will check to see if they are worthingtons to be totally honest I don't know.

 

[Walter]

well they must have had bad filters on their boat, because of the 6 of us who took steel tanks, we all had to get our tanks tumbled afterwards because of rust due to moisture in the tanks.

Possible, but it's more likely the valves weren't dry when the whip was attached. You finish a dive, remove your regulator, dry the dust cap, go have a snack as the crew runs around the boat attaching whips to fill the tanks. In the meantime, you're getting spray, some of which lans on the valve. When the whip is attached, moisture is trapped inside the connection. The crew starts filling tanks and that mositure is forced into your tank.

 

[mike_s]

Possible, but it's more likely the valves weren't dry when the whip was attached. You finish a dive, remove your regulator, dry the dust cap, go have a snack as the crew runs around the boat attaching whips to fill the tanks. In the meantime, you're getting spray, some of which lans on the valve. When the whip is attached, moisture is trapped inside the connection. The crew starts filling tanks and that mositure is forced into your tank.

possible, but we never had a wave that rocked the boat that week, much less got high enough to get the tanks sprayed on. (great weather).

I still think it was their compressor since the 6 of us who took steel tanks all had to be tumbled after the trip.