O/A bottles

[BKD]

I'm wondering if it's better to lease your O/A bottles or to purchase them outright.

How much does it cost to have a bottle hydrotested every 10 years? If the cost is comparable, I'd think I'd rather go the lease route than having to deal with getting my bottle tested.

Has anyone here made this comparison?

Thanks!

[slowrev]

Not sure on the retesting cost. However here is something else you might want to consider. I own my tanks, but trade them in for a different full one at my local gas distributor so I never pay for a certification, they take care of that.

Tractor Supply has a similiar setup at my local store. Buy your tanks and just keep trading them for full ones.

[uncrichie]

#1 Find out if your refill station will fill bottles purchased from another source, in case you buy elsewhere, this seems to be a big issue with some shops. #2 Do you have the manpower and vehicle to lug large tanks back and forth from the fill station. #3 you may have to do the math to see which is cheaper in your area according to your usage. #4 I haven't reached the 10 yr point on my purchased tanks but scuba tanks cost $35 a few years ago for hydro. #5 if you purchase you may loose your acetylene tank for a few days while it gets sent out as almost all stations do not transfill like they do for oxygen and argon mixes. There are a ton of variables. I decided that I wanted my own tanks, my local weld shop has no problem filling the bottles taht were all purchased from Harbor Freight. By the way I did find that the local welding shop had very competative prices on purchased bottles. It may come down to what your weld shop will do for you that make your final decision. Uncrichie...

[hankj]

BKD,

Check with your local supplier, but I'm pretty sure it'll be like slowrev said - exchange your tank for a full one. As long as you "own" your tanks, you won't have to pay for a hydro test with the "swap" method. If you decide to abandon the craft, or move from the area, most shops will buy back the tanks for what you paid for them.

Be well.

hank

[klsm54]

If you "purchase" cylinders, you should be purchasing the right to use that size cylinder forever. You do not want to purchase a certain cylinder. If you purchase a certain cylinder, you are then responsible for retests, bad valves, and will have to wait to get it filled. It should not be a common practice to sell you a certain cylinder, any distributor who won't exchange your customer owned cylinders, is not a distributor who I would be dealing with.

That being said, the distributor must protect himself too. So ALWAYS make sure you get a legitimate bill of sale when purchasing cylinders, and make sure you put it somewhere that you can find it ten, or twenty, years from now. It is your proof of ownership, and you will need it if you switch distributors, move, or have your distributor bought out.

Buying is the way to go. Leasing has lower up front costs, but leaves you open to increased lease prices at renewal time, and binds you to refill your cylinders at the distributor who leased them to you. The tactic that many distributors will use to discourage you from buying is a life-time lease. Good for them, bad for you. It still binds you to get your cylinder filled at their company only, and, in many instances, distributors will start billing an annual maintenence fee to life-time lease holders. Just because they don't do it now, doesn't mean they won't do it 2,3 or 5 years from now.

I have worked for a distributor for many years, and I can assure you, if you are dealing with reputable distributors, there is no downside to owning your own cylinders. All the scare tactics that distributors use to tell you how leasing is better are just marketing hype. They want you to lease so that you will always have to get cylinders filled from them. Good distributors are not afraid to sell you cylinders because they know how to treat their customers and are not afraid of losing business on refills to competition.

[BKD]

kslm54,

Thanks!! That's great advice. I'll keep it in mind when I go to get my gases. Right now I'm just going to get some O2, I think I'm going to go with propane right now for fuel... may get some acetylene down the road too if I decide to learn to gas weld and braze.

Thanks again!!!

[timw]

Another plus to owning your own, if you want to go to a larger cylinder my local dealer will take the smaller one and give credit towards the larger size.
I have owned my own, Ox Act 75/25 and Argon for years and had no problems. But something to consider, I think it's DOT reg , you can't get cylinder filled and put it in a car. Locally you need a truck or they won't fill it. I ask why didn't this apply to my SCUBA tanks and they didn't know.

[slowrev]

BKD,
My OXY cylinder has SOLD stamped on it and the ones I get in exchange also say SOLD, I check that everytime.

[evaporator]

I rent my tanks for $4.00 a month each, no lease, can change up or down on tank size any time I want. I figured at about $1.00 acf per tank, my 60 act, 120 O2. and 120 25% would cost me about $300.00, plus another $17.00 sale stax, which art $12.00 a month is just over two years. When I started with oxy/act I wasn't sure how big of tanks I wanted, and if I was going to stick with it enough to justify the expensiture. Now that I've been doing it for a couple of years, I guess I'll buy, but I'll keep my eyes open for some used ones my shop will accept into the rotation. I would have bought my own if you got to keep them, but you don't, so you're gonna turn in your new shiny tank and get a more seasoned veteran, anyway.

[cope]

Originally posted by timw
Another plus to owning your own, if you want to go to a larger cylinder my local dealer will take the smaller one and give credit towards the larger size.
I have owned my own, Ox Act 75/25 and Argon for years and had no problems. But something to consider, I think it's DOT reg , you can't get cylinder filled and put it in a car. Locally you need a truck or they won't fill it. I ask why didn't this apply to my SCUBA tanks and they didn't know.

Scuba tanks are smaller and safer gas. This may be the reason.

[Portable Welder]

SCUBA tanks are not filled with pure oxegen and should not excellerate burning any more than the air that we currently breath it is equal to a air compressor tank minus the oil that a pump might add. This is my guess just using common sense.

I have been questioning my gas supplier about this very question, I lease about 10 tanks at $4.00 a month x 12 months
= $ 360.00 a year, I have been told that the state wont let you own large tanks, I'm in Michigan and maybe my state is different,
He did say He would look into the lease for life but never got back with me.
I own a few of the smaller tanks and he just exchanges those so I never pay for a retest.
I will check back to see if any one has more info.

[klsm54]

timw , Federal DOT laws do not prohibit transporting cylinders in cars. There is a limit to the amount of flammable gas you can transport in an enclosed vehicle. Propane, and MAPP and Propylene cylinders must be transported standing up, as their safeties are meant to work on vapor, and since these tanks are filled with liquid, could fail when the cylinder is laying down.

There are many recommendations, mainly that the cylinder is secured, so as not to become a projectile in an accident, but Oxygen, acetylene, and other Hi-pressure cylinders may be transported in cars. That does not mean that a state law may apply in your state, or the company you are dealing with may have a common sense safety policy, since it is much more advisable to transport the cylinders in a truck.

Portable Welder , Your dealer should offer you some sort of savings over your monthly rent. Federal law does not prohibit owning larger size cylinders, I do not know about Michigan. Sadly, I have heard dealers tell people that law prohibits them from owning cylinders, when it is not true, just so they can tie up the business with a lease.

The least a dealer should do is to offer an annual lease at a significant, 25-40% discount over monthly rent. After all, the deaaler saves the cost of sending out 11 bills a year and processing 11 payments. If they don't offer a 99 year or lifetime lease, it would be strange. I have never heard of a dealer who did not offer one(selling the cylinder) or the other (long term lease).