Where to hydro a Steel 72?

[itch808]

I have a steel 72 that had it's last hydro in May 2000. It was unfortunately stored w/o air for a couple years (~4-5) with the valve closed. It doesn't have a "+" rating that I've heard of anywhere on the tank, would it still be possible to get it + rated? Also I looked in the yellow pages and I'm not exactly sure where I could get it hydro'd and VIP'd at. I know there's "Da Kine Scuba" in Kapolei. I also asked GasPro but I'm not sure if they deal with Scuba tanks very often (I was going to ask them to replace the older J-valve on it with a K-valve I bought). Since the tank was stored w/o any air in for a couple years, I figured it would need "tumbling" to clean the inside (is that what it's called?), but I'm not sure if all shops like GasPro are equipped to do this. Any ideas?

Sorry if I sound clueless on the matter, it's because I am.

 

[Gilldiver]

If it has a J valve it is most likely pre-1985. The working pressure is 2250 psi. The first thing is to look at the valve thread: is it about 1/2" if so it is real old, mid 60's or older and has a pipe thread valve, and you should probaly junk it, if it is about 3/4" it has the newer thread and any standard K vale will fit.

If it is 3/4", I would open the valve and blow it down, then take the vale off and drop a small light down - use either a small pelican light on a string or get a light rope from Home Depot. If you see a lot of flaky corrosion - scrap it. If it has a flash rust or some small pitting, have it tumbled and hydroed. If the surface looks like it is wet or glossy, you have a resin coated 72 from the mid 70's - a very nice find.

It can be hydroed by and LDS or you can do it yourself. Check out some other threads and you should find someone posting the link to a DOT list of approved retesters. Or check the yellow pages for fire equipment supply and ask about getting a tank hydroed - should cost about $25 for the hydro and then you will have to pay for a LDS visual or they will not fill it.

 

[covediver]

I have an old 72 and took it to a local dive shop for hydro and VIP. The technician suggested that I take it to a place that does hydrotests on fire extinquishers and other cylinders for the hydro and then bring it back to him for the visual. He said he could take it and send it in, but he would have to charge me extra and it would probably take longer if the shop did it as they only had periodic pickup. I did as he said since the test center was closer to me than the dive shop.

 

[justleesa]

We have gotten our vintage tanks hydro'd thru Dive Oahu (Kewalo Basin)

 

[fishb0y]

Everyone sends thier tanks to Island Hydro, even Da' Kine Scuba...

I've had 6 hydro'd in the past year, everything from fairly rew (1980ish) to old pipe thread tanks. It was a crap shoot on wether they will past hydro or not, I tumbled them myself.

 

[HarveyO]

Ditto on Island Hydro.

 

[itch808]

Well I got a chance to look inside before taking it down, the inside looked great! It only looked like some little surface rust. Not bad for a tank made in the mid 70's. I ended up going to GasPro since they're closer than DaKine.

Except when I dropped off my tank the guy looked at me like I was talking gibberish when I asked them to "tumble" it.

I tumbled them myself.

What's the procedure to do this and what would I need? I'm also confused with the VIP, let's say I take my tank down to Island Divers to get the visual. Does that mean only IDH will be willing to fill it up?

 

[fishb0y]

If it has a VIP anywhere will fill it. You may have been better off just taking it to IDH for both. Anyhow, let me know if you try to get a fill at OC, I am curious to see if they say you need a Visual+ (which you definitely don't)

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

If it has a VIP anywhere will fill it. You may have been better off just taking it to IDH for both. Anyhow, let me know if you try to get a fill at OC, I am curious to see if they say you need a Visual+ (which you definitely don't)

Hey dont mess with my experiment.

 

[fishb0y]

I was gonna test my hypothesis sometime this week. I'm betting they won't fill them because there is no visual plus