What to do with these cylinders

[smyrna5]

I hope I didn't do something dumb, but I bought these two cylinders for nearly nothing at a mechanics warehouse today. My thought was I could either get them exchanged, or cut them up for gongs.


http://www.atlantamusclecars.com/Trek/tanks.jpg

I don't know what CF size they are, but they are both about 55" high and 9.5-10" in diameter. One is an oxygen cylinder, and the other one is C25. They both have some gas in them.

The green one (O2) says Southeastern Gas on the collar, and has a Radnor/Airgas refill sticker on it, that says its oxygen. The last certification date I see on it was 09/89.

The gold colored one has a Union Carbide collar, but has Linde stamped on it, and has an Air Gas sticker. It was last certified in 09/02, as far as I can tell.

I figure I may be able to get them filled at AirGas, if I pay the re-cert fee. That is apparently who filled them last. Then I started thinking that since I don't have any sort of receipt worth the paper its written on, its anybody's guess who owns them.

They are really both heavier than I want to muscle around anyway. So.. should I take them to AirGas or Linde, and see if they will exchange them, or just cut them up for gongs?

[Rocky D]

At my LWS, they will take them in and trade for any size or any gas you want. They're worth close to $200 bucks a piece...they look like 200cf tanks.

[Meach]

Like Rocky says, take em to the store and have them filled. Although I do own my tanks, I have had them filkled at several different LWS and no one ever asks for a receipt or paperwork on them.

[dda52]

I might call first. In this area, those are rental only for the most part. There are some exceptions, but without papers, they would either confiscate them or simply refuse to service them.:( 225 and 250 cf and up are the main rental/lease sizes. They get very protective of them.


Rocky, fwiw, a 125cf cyl is around 265.00 here. Those are much more expensive.:eek:

[smyrna5]

I might call first. In this area, those are rental only for the most part. There are some exceptions, but without papers, they would either confiscate them or simply refuse to service them.:( 225 and 250 cf and up are the main rental/lease sizes. They get very protective of them.


Rocky, fwiw, a 125cf cyl is around 265.00 here. Those are much more expensive.:eek:

I will probably call both Linde and Airgas next week to feel them out on it. These are some big boy's tanks. Even with two of us loading them up, it was more weight than I care to handle. About 125 CF is about my upper limit on handling.

The character I bought them from wasn't a fount of information. He said they just worked on cars and that they got the tanks from a fabricator down the street. When they were empty they just turned em in to them for full ones. He claimed to know nothing about ownership collars, or certification dates. I didn't see any cars in the place though - just 2 pit bulls chained up to some equipment in the center and a big MIG sitting on the floor. Maybe I should have just kept walkng lol.

[Jim-Tx]

You might get them filled but I'm betting they belong to the places stamped on the collars. My LWS requires papers to fill cylinders that claim to be customer owned. Here's their policy.......

http://www.carrollwelding.com/cylinders.html

[smyrna5]

You might get them filled but I'm betting they belong to the places stamped on the collars. My LWS requires papers to fill cylinders that claim to be customer owned. Here's their policy.......

http://www.carrollwelding.com/cylinders.html

I can't say I disagree with their policy Jim. If they own them, they own them and its only fair. I guess I will see if I bought a pig-in-a-poke. Heck, I can't even say I wasn't warned about it in my readings.

[greywynd]

Use 'em up first!! It's not like the gas goes stale, you might as well empty them, or if you can't, loan them to someone who can. :D

[Jim-Tx]

I can't say I disagree with their policy Jim. If they own them, they own them and its only fair. I guess I will see if I bought a pig-in-a-poke. Heck, I can't even say I wasn't warned about it in my readings.

On getting them filled, I think it depends a lot on the LWS from what I've read. If they are out of test, you will have to pay for that but they might be willing to fill them to sell the gas. I just based my assumption on ownership based on what you said about the guy you got them from. Nothing more. From what you said, you got them cheap enough to not take a hit either way it turns out. At least you can annoy the neighbors with some loud gongs.:D

[crawler]

Union carbide should be customer owned since they've been out of business for a long time. I know Union carbide/linde bottles are considered customer owned at my LWS.

[556man]

Union carbide should be customer owned since they've been out of business for a long time. I know Union carbide/linde bottles are considered customer owned at my LWS.

Same here. One time Praxair gave me a oxygen tank with a Union Carbide marking on the collar. I asked them about it and they said the same thing that it's no problem since they are out of business and I would not have a problem exchanging it anywhere.

556man

[smyrna5]

Thanks guys. Perhaps these tanks are ok on ownership after all.

There is some interesting history behind the Union Carbide/Linde name. I didn't know before that Union Carbide acquired Linde in 1917, at least what was known as Linde at the time. In 1992 Union Carbide industrial gas division was spun off as Praxair. I'm not sure what the connection between the European Linde and the US version was, but in 2007 at least part of the US Linde operation was acquired by AirGas. I didn't find any info on the South Eastern Gas of Alabama, so they may have gone belly up or merged as well. What a tangled web it is, but interesting.

Both tanks have what look like serial numbers, so presumably could be traced by the gas supplier, but both are so old they may not be in any data base. At the least they have probably been written off the books several times.