What is wrong with my Worthington tank??

[piikki]

Is this just esthetics or should I worry more? Anyone else have this happen?

This is a brand new Worthington HP100. It looked fine when I got it from the shop. It stood inside the house for couple of weeks (no abuse) while I waited for waters to warm up, then got loaded into the trunk of a car onto a protective plastic (laying on its side). During these two weeks and/or the drive it created this ‘rash’. (I was in a hurry packing, I did not notice whether markings were there when the tank went into the car). Similar tank next to it does not have the same problem, nor painted tanks in the trunk.

The tank went for one salt water dive on this trip, and has been thoroughly hosed in fresh water since. I also attempted to rub the spots with cloth and water. The markings aren’t going anywhere. Before the dive it appeared that there was that same whitish (saltish) residue on the VIP sticker but the sticker isn’t ‘burnt’ like the tank. For all I can say, the plastic on the trunk of the car was clean, nothing else in trunk was affected. Wasn’t this galvanization supposed to be superior?

The marking appears nasty to me but maybe this is normal? It’s like the tank laid on something acidy which imprinted on it. On the lower portion I can see an outline of an sticker not really visible before, and what appears to be like bubble wrap markings (not from me). Is this something I got on the tank (very hard for me to figure out what it could have been that did this) or something that was on the tank, and was slowly eating on it and got stopped when I finally got it wet? Any ideas?

 

[BigBill]

Did you contact the manufacturer?

 

[piikki]

Did you contact the manufacturer?

Nope, I will go to the shop tonight but am not expecting much. As I bought two of these I am fearing the worst because if anything is wrong but with only ONE tank what are my options... I want two tanks from same batch, and I predict trouble if it comes to that. I just have no experience with galv tanks, and wondered if anyone had this happen. (These tank are, btw, Jan06 manufacture).

 

[spectrum]

"It stood outside the house...."

Did a dog pee on it?

Pete

 

[ba_hiker]

You should really check with the dive shop and/or maker.

That said I would GUESS (being about 3000 miles away..) that what has happened is that the lacquer or anodizing on the tank has come off the tank some how, and a bit of corrosion started. Tanks are laquered to keep them looking nice in the shop.

 

[cerich]

The tank looks like crap outside the bad area as well. Call Worthington and I'm sure they will want to help.

 

[steveann]

Do the marks match up with your tank straps at all? It might be that you made a nick in the protective coating and it started that. It's a galvanized tank, though, isn't it? That looks a lot like what you see on old or cheap galvanized plates on decks. Your dive shop should take care of it for you, if not, I'd contact the manufacturer directly.

 

[piikki]

Do the marks match up with your tank straps at all? It might be that you made a nick in the protective coating and it started that. It's a galvanized tank, though, isn't it? That looks a lot like what you see on old or cheap galvanized plates on decks. Your dive shop should take care of it for you, if not, I'd contact the manufacturer directly.

They don't seem to match with anything. I had not tried straps on before either, and markings did not get worse during the day. Like said, I noticed this before the virgin dive. The upper mark seems to have like a loop of string imprinted - just like the lower body of the whole tank appears to have bubblewrap markings even on the 'better' looking galv surface. I totally agree that the tank looks like crap.

I tried to ignore this and tried to think of anything that could have gotten onto the plastic inside the trunk (gas? noway) but I can't think of anything I could have done to cause this. Like said inside the tanks were stored upright, so laying in some goo is not a viable explanation.

 

[fire_diver]

I'm not sure how the galvanization process works, but if the tank was not cleaned properly in the factory before galvanizing, that could have affected the plating/chemical process. It may have been a bad batch of chemicals used. If that's the case, then the other "from the same batch" might develop the same problem later on.

FD

 

[Hoosier]

Contact "Leaking" and "XS Scuba" in our board. They are the key person who are handling all worthington tank distribution in US. And, please post the update for other members.