Worthington closing plant where scuba cylinders are manufactured

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I've got a guy here that will buy every one of them. He prefers the x7's because he can overfill them to 145, but he'll take the X8's

What's wrong with fabers? I like fabers.

Indeed Faber's are very good cylinders, having visited the Faber factory a few times I can vouch for the R&D and quality control that goes into their production.

When I think back to the old Jos Heiser factory in Austria (now owned by Worthington) and the technology, R&D and machinery they used, and THEN look at Faber,.... its like comparing an old V Dub beetle with a Maserati.

Nothing against V.Dub Beetles I might add, or the older Heiser cylinders,.. I owned both and loved them, but mention it more just as a point of comparison.

 

[Jared0425]

So is it confirmed that we will no longer be able to get Worthington Cylinders?

 

[MrChen]

What's weird is that the XS website doesn't mention Faber whatsoever. What my LDS mentioned could be completely rumor mill in the industry, but it aligned with this topic so I brought it back to life hoping to see if anyone had new details.

 

[scubafanatic]

Divegearexpress is sold out of Worthington X7-120's and X7-100's. Scubatoys is sold out of the X7-120's. Not seeing ANY HP Worthington's at all @ Leisurepro.

 

[joystershell]

DGX still has plenty of the X8-130's available, as well as a few odd single cylinders. And has the high HP Faber's on order, hopes to have them the beginning of June.

 

[scubafanatic]

DGX still has plenty of the X8-130's available, as well as a few odd single cylinders. And has the high HP Faber's on order, hopes to have them the beginning of June.

I was browsing the WWW tonight, checking out the pricing on those 'new' HP Fabers, they're noticeably more expensive than their Worthington equivalents (monopoly pricing ?) :

Worthington HP 120 @ $ 450.00 (US)
Faber HP 120 @ $ 528.00 (US)

...what's worse, they're PAINTED ! (not hot-dip galvanized) (and I'll resist the temptation to get into their weight and buoyancy characteristics.)

 

[MrChen]

Got my pair of 120's this week. One from Scott L and the other from Sheeper. I'm set.

 

[D_B]

Just checked for the expiry of the special permits for the cylinders. The permits were renewed(SU4957) June 3 2011 in Canada and (SP 14157) July 31st 2011 in the US. The Canadian one will expire on June 3 2013 if not renewed and the US on July 31st 2015 if it was renewed for the maximum allowed 4 years (not sure if it was).

Am sure now it expires--February 28, 2015

and if it is not renewed, what does that potentially mean to those of us with worthington cylinders?

Edit: oops .. didnt see this post , thanks

FYI from XS Scuba:

Thank you for your question. We can confirm that the Tilbury, Canada plant has been slated to close in Q1 of next year. The assets and machinery of the facility have been sold to Norris Cylinders. However, Worthington has not been bought by Norris at all. They are simply closing a production facility.

There is no worry or concern with the Special Permit #14157, as it will continue to be maintained by Worthington indefinitely. Your ability to have your cylinders hydro tested will not be affected now or in the future.

We hope this sets your mind at ease. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

~XS Scuba

 

[scubafanatic]

Got my pair of 120's this week. One from Scott L and the other from Sheeper. I'm set.

I took delivery of the very last (2) X7-120's @ Scubatoys last weekend. Ordered (2) more via WWW this weekend from another supplier, guess I'll find out soon if they really have them in stock or if they forgot to update their WWW site and find out that they're really sold out too.

 

[scubafanatic]

I took delivery of the very last (2) X7-120's @ Scubatoys last weekend. Ordered (2) more via WWW this weekend from another supplier, guess I'll find out soon if they really have them in stock or if they forgot to update their WWW site and find out that they're really sold out too.

Guess I'll have to manage with those very last 2 X7 - 120's after all, the other purchase fell through, vendors have been slow to update WWW sites.

At least it appears I'm reasonably set for galvanized tanks though, had all 7 of my galvanized PST HP 100's / 120's all survive hydro/visual, picked them up from Scubatoys today...WHEW ! Now waiting for all my LP Fabers to come back from hydro testing, probably won't be back for a couple weeks though, but I don't expect any issues there either.