Found possible welding or OBA tank?

[K85 Octane]

I found 3 tanks at my place of work. They have been sitting in a temperature controlled basement for 15+ years. They say "Carbon Dioxide", are painted orange on top, stamped CO2, and dates are 4/90 and 11/99. Not sure if I should jump on them or not. I saw them 10 years ago and forgot about them, luckily I refound them today since my mind was on welding. Not sure how to re-certify them either.

I could probably fit ~5 gallons of water in it.

 

[British Slave]

You can take them to a welding gas supply and have them re-valved for what you want. You will have to pay for a hydro test also. But it's a lot cheaper than buying new bottles.

Do they have an owners name on the ring? If so you will have to take them to a shop that handles that"brand" of tank.


You can trade CO2 bottles for Argon, O2, etc.


Here is a link to symbols


http://www.airgas.com/content/details.aspx?id=7000000000243

 

[K85 Octane]

would it be ok if I use some acid or paint stripper on the bottle to clean off the paint? I can hardly read what's stamped.

If I trade bottles in, is it still cheaper than going out and buying a bottle? Not sure how any of this stuff works, never messed with it before.

 

[British Slave]

You take the bottles to a supplier, and trade them for what you want. If the date is out, you MAY have to pay for a hydro test. Even at that, it's cheaper than buying new.

I wouldn't use acid, maybe a wire wheel. You should be able to see the dates very plain, theyare stamped pretty deep.

I have three bottles I salvaged from a dumpster at work. I had one re-valved for O2, and the other two I traded for a C75 and an Argon with no questions asked. That's about $450 worth of bottles for $50.

 

[K85 Octane]

I need to find a local re-filler, so I've started asking around and looking. For now, here are some pictures. What do you think?

 

[ryoken]

just a word of warning.. I am by no means an expert, but something I've always learned over the yrs is that these gas companies DO NOT like to deal with other peoples bottles... many will refuse to fill/service them.. unless they come from, and are certified/valved, by them, they often wont touch em.. and I can see their reasoning behind it too...

 

[British Slave]

just a word of warning.. I am by no means an expert, but something I've always learned over the yrs is that these gas companies DO NOT like to deal with other peoples bottles... many will refuse to fill/service them.. unless they come from, and are certified/valved, by them, they often wont touch em.. and I can see their reasoning behind it too...

Think that's what I said in post #2. LOL

 

[ryoken]

just reaffirming it... I know plenty of people that are "yeah, yeah, yeah", when stuff like that gets mentioned..

 

[K85 Octane]

I helps, cause I'd still try to find the closest place to take it, simply cause I don't know if it's the right kind of tank in the first place.


So, I hit paydirt right? 3 free bottles for me if they are usable anyway.

EDIT: O shap I found the place and their number. They are just down the street from my work in LA.

Services: Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Mixed Gas, Helium, Carbonic Gas, Beverage Supplies Repair

I hope they can help or at least re-certify the tanks.

 

[ryoken]

yup, if it's a local company, your golden.. it's just often, not, and they become scrapmetal at that point..

 

[British Slave]

As welding gas, they good IF you don't do a lot of welding. As air tank, not so good as the pressure drops in a hurry.

 

[ashman]

Not sure how to re-certify them either.

I went through this just a few months ago. I was worried about having to recertify out of date tanks myself. luckily, it's only $20-30 or so to have it done (around here at least), but what I found out was just don't mention it when you take the bottles in to exchange.

the guy throwing the bottles around doesn't give a crap, so it's likely he'll just move yours into the empty area and give you some full ones of the same size without ever really looking it over.

that's what happened with mine.