How long will my gas last?

[mikey_d05]

Thinking about buying a 20 cubic foot cylinder from Praxair. 2' tall, $100 to 'buy' the tank and $25 a fill after that.

#1. Good deal or bad deal?

#2. How long is a tank of that size liable to last. I'm not a serious metal fabricator, but I am gonna try and weld 90% of buggy cab next weekend. How often can I expect to refill a cylinder of that size when it's used occasionally?

 

[dremu]

Thinking about buying a 20 cubic foot cylinder from Praxair. 2' tall, $100 to 'buy' the tank and $25 a fill after that.

#1. Good deal or bad deal?

#2. How long is a tank of that size liable to last. I'm not a serious metal fabricator, but I am gonna try and weld 90% of buggy cab next weekend. How often can I expect to refill a cylinder of that size when it's used occasionally?

I have a cylinder that gets filled to 138SCF, whatever that is. 'Bout three and a half foot tall, maybe 7" diameter.

Anyway, I think I pay about thirty bucks exchange, i.e. refill, and it lasts me a few months of intermittent use. It will invariably go empty on Friday afternoons, real close to 5PM, in the middle of a big project, but that's Murphy for ya.

If your 20cf can is really that much smaller than mine, it won't last long at all -- but I betcha 20cf is the "real" size and the 138 number is gas capacity?

-- A

 

[big83chevy4x4]

my tank at home is i believe a 40 cf tank (??) (4" tall 7-8" diameter). i paid $150 for a lifetime lease and it costs me about $47 to exchange it. it lasts me just about 1 11 pound spool of wire.

for comparison, the tank i have at work is the big "T" tank, (5.5' tall 10" diameter). that lasts about a 45 pound spool of wire, or 3-4 days (Yes i do ALOT of welding at work)

 

[mikey_d05]

Hmmm...so it'd probably be smarter to run a 40 cf cylinder if I can get one for a reasonable price. I'd like it to last through more than a 5 pound spool.

 

[tRustyK5]

Depends on the gas really. At work we use the 80CF bottles. the 92/8 we use for microwire seems to last through about 50 lbs of wire. The straight CO2 we use for flux core seems to last about forever...I'd guess close to 100 lbs of 1/16" flux core to one 80 CF bottle of CO2.

All you can do is start welding and see just how long it does last you and go from there. Chances are it'll last you a good while as you're not gonna lay down anywhere near the amount of wire that a shop would. I can kill a 60 lb reel of flux core in a 10 hour shift...

The funny part is the gauge on the 92/8 reads about 2400 psi when full, the CO2 reads about 500 psi. You'd think the CO2 would go quick but it doesn't...

One day I'll ask our gas rep the how's and why's of the whole deal, been meaning to do that for a while anyways.

Rene

 

[mikey_d05]

I got a 5 year lease on an 80 CF bottle for $90 + a $43 fill charge, same as it would have cost to 'buy' a 40 cf bottle. I figure in 5 years I won't be around my hometown anymore and might have to switch suppliers anyways.

 

[grimjaw]

IOC has 80cf cylinders for $150 shipped on Ebay.

 

[mikey_d05]

It's in my garage...along with 140' of steel.

 

[bigblock72]

If your regulator is set at 20-25 CFH then you'll have about an hour of actual weld time. It's actually a lot more cost effective to go with the biggest bottle you can store and/or afford to buy. You'll get more gas for the money come refill time, it only costs about half as much more to get twice as much gas.