Worthington Cylinder Special Permit Renewal

[PhilEllis]

I thought this might be of some interest to ScubaBoard members, given the intense discussion in the past regarding "exemption" steel cylinders produced by a number of cylinder manufacturers.

Worthington previously manufactured 3342 PSI cylinders under DOT special permit E14157. This special permit expires on March 31, 2007. The US DOT has issued a new special permit for the continued production of Worthington cylinders and has changed to now refer to such cylinders as "Special Permit" cylinders. The new specification, SP14157, has been issued to Worthington and does not expire until January 31, 2011. For those interested, I have provided a link to a copy of that new Special Permit on our Dive Sports Online website. Thanks.

Worthington Cylinders Special Permit - SP14157 - Expires January 31, 2011

Phil Ellis

 

[H2Andy]

so basically this is a "waiver" for not conforming to all DOT specs?

 

[SparticleBrane]

As long as this means that my cylinders can still be hydro'd, I'm good to go.

 

[PhilEllis]

so basically this is a "waiver" for not conforming to all DOT specs?

No, not at all. A Special Permit is issued when the DOT has not adopted a defined classification for the metallurgy the manufacurer chooses to use for a cylinder. ANY manufacturer who wishes to produce a steel scuba cylinder with metallurlgy different from the 3AL, 3A or 3AA specification must request a Special Permit. For years and years, aluminum 3000 PSI cylinders were manufactured under a Special Permit. On occasion, we get one in our store.

Regardless of the cylinder involved, ALL Special Permit scuba cylinders (aluminum, steel, or otherwise)are subjected to exactly the same qualification test. They must withstand 10,000 cycles to 3/2 of the working pressure, then they MUST fail after a minimum of 10,000 cycles in a "leak before burst" failure mode.

Phil Ellis

 

[H2Andy]

A Special Permit is issued when the DOT has not adopted a defined classification for the metallurgy the manufacurer chooses to use for a cylinder.

ok... so it's a waiver for not using pre-approved metallurgy


so long as it's ultimately safe (as shown through this waiver), i dont' have an issue with it. i love my Worthingtons

 

[douglasville diver]

I have the 14157, it is also stamped 3A so I guess I'm confussed as to what 's going on.

 

[NJMike]

Yeah, I'm confused too. But I'm new to diving so that's my excuse!

Seriously, I was thinking about buying a Worthington HP X7-100. If I do, does that mean in four years I may have a problem getting it filled?

 

[CompuDude]

Yeah, I'm confused too. But I'm new to diving so that's my excuse!

Seriously, I was thinking about buying a Worthington HP X7-100. If I do, does that mean in four years I may have a problem getting it filled?

Possible but not probable. I don't think the PST permit has been renewed and I haven't heard of anyone refusing to fill those.

The X7-100 is a great tank. I have two myself.

 

[Hoosier]

Possible but not probable. I don't think the PST permit has been renewed and I haven't heard of anyone refusing to fill those.

The X7-100 is a great tank. I have two myself.

As we know, PST SP will be expired by August 31, 2007. But, I believe that the new joint venture company will renew SP as soon as they strat the new tank delivery.


Otherwise, we can get an individual renew with a minimum hassle.

I still have four PST tanks and won't sell it anytime soon.

 

[CompuDude]

There's ya go. Knew it was either up, or up soon.

Regardless, solutions exist. Should be safe to buy Worthington. (Or used PSTs, for that matter)