European Tanks

"Lee Bell" wrote ...
> There are 10 tanks in my home. All of them are full. New tanks are
> supposed to come pre-filled.

Brand new ones do -- at least if you buy them from the local dive shop...
They also come with inflated prices, but when the shop throws in the free
air fill cards, it makes it worthwhile to buy them (at least AL80s) locally
instead of mail order... Steel tanks are even more inflated in cost... I've
got 7 tanks at home (3 AL80s and 4 steel-72s) and had been wanting a higher
capacity steel tank for back gas, but wasn't willing to pay the usual
inflated prices on them... Assuming I can get these hydroed, inspected, and
filled, I'll have come out pretty good -- $115 for the two tanks with
DIN/yoke fittings, $22 each for the hydro, inspection, and air fill for a
total of $159... Steel tanks last nearly *forever* anyway -- I've got some
steel 72s from 1969 and 1970 that are still in good shape (i.e. they pass
hydro and inspection without so much as a tumble needed)... Assuming this
works, I've ended up with $159 for 240 cu-ft of tanks... That's not a bad
deal for 1994 tanks... I think I'll have enough gas to do the Oriskany
now -- 240 cu-ft on my back, 160 cu-ft on my sides... <grin>

Yo, Karl... Can I get an air fill before we hit the Oriskany?

"Grumman-581" wrote

> Yo, Karl... Can I get an air fill before we hit the Oriskany?

He could probably orally inflate them to 3500psig@140*F for you.

Curtis

"Curtis" wrote ...
> He could probably orally inflate them to 3500psig@140*F for you.

Is that what one would call a "hot fill"? <grin>

Lee Bell wrote ...
>There are 10 tanks in my home. All of them are full.
> New tanks are supposed to come pre-filled.

Well, these didn't come prefilled, but they were waiting by my front
door when I got home this evening... They're 15.1 liter tanks, so they
are definitely 120 cu-ft tanks... They're in surprisingly good shape...
I'll take a wire brush to them to remove the paint and get them back to
a more normal raw galvanized exterior... I removed the boots and there
wasn't any oxidation that needed to be removed... One thing I found
interesting about the boots was that they had a built-in roller on the
bottom edge of them... Not planning on using them, but it was
definitely a different design from what I was used to... They also had
some plastic handles mounted on the neck of the tank so as to give
someone with shorter arms a way to carry them without holding them by
the valve... The only thing that I could find wrong with them was that
the O-rings needed replacing...

So now that I've got 240 cu-ft of back gas, what am I going to do with
it? <grin>

"Grumman-581" wrote

>> New tanks are supposed to come pre-filled.

> Well, these didn't come prefilled . . .

They aren't new either.

> One thing I found interesting about the boots was that they had a built-in
> roller on the
> bottom edge of them... Not planning on using them, but it was
> definitely a different design from what I was used to...

If it originated here, it's also a very old design. I've seen them before,
but can't recall when or where.

> They also had some plastic handles mounted on the neck of the tank so as
> to give
> someone with shorter arms a way to carry them without holding them by
> the valve...

I suspect they are there to allow them to be rolled more conveniently. I've
seen the plastic handles too. Be careful using them. We're talking
plastic, possibly old and somewhat brittle plastic and tanks that are
heavier than the average, particularly when full.

> So now that I've got 240 cu-ft of back gas, what am I going to do with it?
> <grin>

Try to find somebody in the States to Hydro, visual and/or fill them?

Lee

"Lee Bell" wrote ...
> They aren't new either.

Well, they're new to *me*... <grin>

> If it originated here, it's also a very old design. I've seen
> them before, but can't recall when or where.

Can't be too old, the tanks are only 1994 models... I suspect the boots came
on the tanks initially since the bottoms are rounded... Are the bottoms on
all steel tanks somewhat rounded? All of *my* steel tanks are rounded, but
that's not exactly a definitive sample...

> I suspect they are there to allow them to be rolled more
> conveniently. I've seen the plastic handles too. Be
> careful using them. We're talking plastic, possibly old
> and somewhat brittle plastic and tanks that are heavier
> than the average, particularly when full.

The plastic is still in good shape... Still fairly flexible... No UV
deterioration or such from what I can tell... They held up well enough
without any bending or cracking when I was carrying them to the garage... I
wasn't aware of the rollers at that point...

> Try to find somebody in the States to Hydro, visual
> and/or fill them?

Of course... But after that? Not much use for them in Lake Pontchartrain
considering how shallow it is, even if I did want to dive in 12 ft of mud...
I think I've got enough capacity for my next trip to Jackson Blue...
Especially if I combine it with two AL80s as stages / sidemounts... <grin>
Damn, that would be a lot of weight to be carrying around... At least 200
lbs of gear... Yea hawh!

Grumman-581 wrote:

> Can't be too old, the tanks are only 1994 models... I suspect the boots came
> on the tanks initially since the bottoms are rounded... Are the bottoms on
> all steel tanks somewhat rounded? All of *my* steel tanks are rounded, but
> that's not exactly a definitive sample...

Only the Heiser Worthington tanks from Austria have segmentoidal rounded
bottoms with e definite edge, all other I know have completely rounded
bottoms.


Matthias

"Matthias Voss" wrote ...
> I don't expect them to be galvanized.
> The better ones of europeen tanks tend to be sandblasted, then hot zinc
> sprayed, then laquered. If in doubt, I would check the paint thickness
> using an ultrasonic gauge.

Definitely looks like galvanizing... They look just like my steel-72s after
having been gone over with the wire brush attachment to the angle grinder...

> Obviously french design.

Why, because the French are too lazy to carry their tanks nomally?

> D15 is a bit short on the back to do valve drills

They don't seem much different in length to the Al80s, so I don't see how it
would be much worse than them... On the other hand, I've had enough broken
bones that reaching my valves is not that easy anyway...

> A single 120 is fair enough fo warm water rec dives to 65m, with/or an
> overall time of 60-75 minutes.

I've got a pair of them, so I'll be putting both of them on my back
eventually...

>Subject: Re: European Tanks
>From: "Grumman-581"

>One thing I found
>interesting about the boots was that they had a built-in roller on the
>bottom edge of them...

Underwater Kinetics used to make boots like that as I recall.

Capt. Bill

"LaBomba182" wrote ...
> Underwater Kinetics used to make boots like that as I recall.

Interesting... These have "SPIRO" molded into them... They're an interesting
concept, I guess... The axle probably needs to be lubed a bit since it
doesn't roll that readily... Perhaps with the extra weight of the air fill,
it might... On the other hand, it might make a good flower pot... <grin>