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eskimo3883
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Prefered hydro facility for Steel 72s in San Francisco Bay area?

Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:17 pm

It's time to hydro half dozen steel tanks. A local dive shop charges $50 per tank and that really adds up. Any suggestions on where to go in the San Francisco Bay Area where they are comfortable with vintage tanks and have reasonable rates?
“A skin diver is a fellow who pulls on a pair of fancy swimming trunks, some rubber fins, a diving mask and canvas gloves, then fills his lungs with air and noses down into the ocean looking for two fisted trouble.”

BigSwell
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First Name: Kevin
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Re: Prefered hydro facility for Steel 72s in San Francisco Bay area?

Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:35 pm

You might look for a gas supplier in your area, Praxair etc and call to see if they will do it. I get all my air hydros done directly a local gas supplier, only use a dive shop which has an onsite hydro station for my O2 tanks.

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captain
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Re: Prefered hydro facility for Steel 72s in San Francisco Bay area?

Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:44 am

Also fire equipment companies usually are able to do hydros.
Captain

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SurfLung
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Re: Prefered hydro facility for Steel 72s in San Francisco Bay area?

Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:44 am

I looked up "Cylinder Qualification San Francisco" and found this:
https://www.statcomm.com/services/dot-c ... ification/

:D
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

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eskimo3883
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Re: Prefered hydro facility for Steel 72s in San Francisco Bay area?

Mon Oct 12, 2020 12:45 am

I dropped off 2 aluminum 80s and 2 Steel 72s for hydro at Acme Fire Extinguisher Co. (1305 Fruitvale Ave,
Oakland, CA). I had them tumble one of the steel 72s as it had been without air for several years and I could see light rust. The hydro was $25 ea and tumbling was an extra $12. Overall I found them good folks to work with. They do not perform official visual inspections (meaning no VIS sticker or fill) but do inspect all tanks before hydro. Reason stated is they do not want the responsibility to install expensive chrome scuba valves and own any damage or scratch that might occur. When the LDS did the official VIS and fill they said all 4 tanks were exceptionally clean. Would use them again for hydro. I picked up some ceramic media at Harbor Freight that they sell as vibratory deburring. It is listed as "rust cutting abrasive resin" and is in the form of a 0.25" pyramid. ~$15 for 5 lbs. Have not tried it out yet. I need to remove an epoxy coating on two narrow necked tanks. Not sure if this will be aggressive enough. Easy enough to find out.

Side note: They said they no longer tumble small neck steel tanks because its a bear to get the tumbling media out of the tank.
“A skin diver is a fellow who pulls on a pair of fancy swimming trunks, some rubber fins, a diving mask and canvas gloves, then fills his lungs with air and noses down into the ocean looking for two fisted trouble.”

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