Buying a used C25 bottle for my Lincoln 180MIG

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Jake18v

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I have a Lincoln 180 and I've been using it as a flux-core machine for some beginner projects. I ran out of flux-core and I've been thinking about buying a Argon/CO2 bottle. I was looking through FB marketplace and found a local wrought iron fence company selling all of their equipment today and I see 2 bottles for sale in their ad. The contact person doesn't know what gas it is or what size the tanks are. She guesstimated that the smaller bottle is 4 feet high. I'm hoping that's a 125cf bottle (weighs about 75lbs) or smaller bottle. I'd like to put it on the back of my little welding cart.

How do I know if the tank is C25? Is there a marking on it? Will my local gas provider fill it up? They are all closed today, and the welding equipment is being sold off today yard sale style - so I can't call the gas providers to confirm.

The price says best offer. What should I offer for the smaller of the 2 tanks in the picture?
 

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My local airgas wouldn't fill that tank if you brought it to them. They are pricks about it. Most tanks need a bill of sale showing ownership.
If you have a local shop they might be easier to deal with.

Joe
 
My gas supplier will not fill bottles from 150CF-300CF unless you have a contract to rent the bottles. Bottles up tp 125CF can be purchased bottles {roughly 40" tall}.
Unless you can take over his contract, you may not be able to fill them. I just paid for my renewal for a argon/carbon dioxide mix150CF bottle and was $125.00 Canadian about $80.00 US funds.
That being said if you know your welding supplier he may fill your bottles.
Martin
 
Thanks guys. I’d imagine my local gas provider won’t refill someone else’s bottle. I’m in super regulated nyc.

When I priced locally it was $250 for a full 60cf c25 bottle. 45 to refill.

I might just go with that. My welding cart probably can’t handle more than that.

IMG_2706.jpg
 
That is about what it cost me for a oxygen tank. The costs to own a set of torches anymore is crazy.
Joe
 
Another option is to test the bottle for argon/co2 level and make an offer based on the fill level.

If it’s cheap enough I might just junk the bottle when I’m done with the gas.
 
There are a lot of unknowns related to this particular bottle. Without knowing the local gas suppliers policies I'd probably pass. You don't know what gas is in it or even if you will be able to get it filled. If they were doing iron gates it could be straight CO2 which is much cheaper than C25 which makes it hard to even determine a value of the gas in the bottle. If you buy a tank you also get the size you want.

I bought my bottles at a local supplier and they have been easy to work with. I just swap bottles with them, quick and easy, no worrying about testing, and if I want to change to a different gas, they will let me do that as well.

C25 is supposed to be nice to use, but it is about 4x the price of 100% CO2. CO2 has worked fine for me.
 
The small tank looks like an acetylene tank, the big one has the Company name around the neck and looks like a rental oxygen.
 
When you buy ANY gas bottle, always look at what it's last certification date is.
Some people try to dump bottles that are likely to fail certification.
 
I purchased my tanks from a local supplier. Keep the receipts to prove ownership. When I go to get them filled they just swap tanks.
Fairly easy. Have fun. Al.
 
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