Would you consider buying a used tank?

[scubatexastony]

old 72 steels (new hydro) for 55 bucks each.....will make a nice little doubles setup. I have been buying new AL 80s and 63s from one of my LDSs since he gives a card for 25 fills with each tank, that's like a $100 discount on each tank.

tony

 

[pchelp]

EANDiver,

From St. Pete? I can tell you where to buy a new 13cf pony for $79 (locally).

I did purchase a pair of HP120 Nitrox tanks a couple of months ago, original Hydro 2000, new vip, $275 for the pair, on ebay. Shipping was $40 total. Not a bad deal.

rusty

 

[eandiver]

Could have used that help 3 weeks ago pchelp!


Mark

 

[Wreck/Tec]

Do the math...............A steel tank has something like 10,000 cycles of being filled to 4,000 lbs.. Thats equivilant to a hydro every day for 27 years. An aluminum tank has a life span about a 10th of a steels. They won't endure repeated over filling like steel either. Obviously, if you look at the date of manufacture, and or hydro stampings, not to mention the genneral condition inside and out, you should be fine. Some history of the owner would also be a plus. There is no reason, with reasonable care why a tank wouldn't last several divers life times..................
Wreck/Tec

 

[scubaredneck]

no reason why not. I recently had a "shortie-80" given to me. The guy was gonna toss it for scrap. It was out of hydro so I declined the $20 he had asked for it and he just up and gave it to me. It passed hydro just fine and I can't wait to try it out.

 

[427HEVN]

That would mean aluminum tanks have a life of about 1,000 fills or just about a fill every day for three years.

I think your figures are misleading in that a properly cared for and filled aluminum tank should cycle 100,000 times before failure. Not sure what your beef is against aluminum, but they certainly last longer than the 1,000 cycles you imply.

Now overfilling is another matter. That would reduce the life cycle of steel and aluminum by some margin, depending on the overfill.

 

[Ziggys_Friend]

That was the plan until Pressed Steel announced the new E-Series ... now I'll wait

Then again, if anyone has a new Pressed Steel E8-119 or E8-130 I'll be happy to take it off your hands

~Paul <//><

P.S. Mr. Ivey, are you listening?

 

[Fred Anderson]

When I first started scuba diving I bought two used steels, a 72 and a 65. Had them inspected, hydro'd and used them. Traded them in on my new steel 100, they are now paint ball tanks. They were a cheap and effective way to get my own equipment and I sold or traded them in for about what I paid for them. I would buy a steel 100 high pressure right now if I found one at the right price.

 

[Redshoerider]

Ok, I've got a 50 cent question for you all. On the HazMat squad where I work, we use Carbon Fiber wrapped Alumimum tanks. They're 80cf, and we charge them to about 3500 pounds. The tanks are nice because they're very light (about 23 pounds filled). I asked the people who "know stuff" there if you could use such a tank for diving. They had no idea. So...I toss the question out to you all. Can a tank that was originally intended for the fire service be used for diving? I mean, outside of the obvious stuff like hydro and vip. Are the valves the same thread....those sorts of things.
Not that I can get my hands on one of them right now, but just in case I ever could....

ut:

 

[427HEVN]

Redshoerider,

Theoretically, you can use scbas for diving (although more than likely the threads are different, so you would need a special valve). However, DOT has not approved them for use as dive tanks, so getting a fill would be difficult.

Looks like it took Luxfer 4 or 5 years to get approval for their hoop wrapped tanks. Not sure if they are trying to get a full wrapped carbon tank approved. My guess is no because the bouyancy characteristics would be terrible.