Welding Gas Bottle Policy? Airgas and others?

So if I want to get an O2 bottle I should buy the bottle from them? I have a small argon bottle. I don't suppose you could put o2 in that? I assume oxidizers use a different setup?
Robert

Edit: It appears that you can go from an O2 bottle to Ar but not the reverse.
R
 
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You can go from O2 to argon with a valve change, because they are 3000 psi tanks. You can't do the opposite, because systems need to be "clean for oxygen" which used to mean a freon wash to get the hydrocarbons out. It's not worth trying to hang on to a particular tank, what you get from exchange is usually a fresh hydro, valve, and paint. It doesn't matter how old a tank is, my dad had a set of five 4500 psi tanks that were made in the 1930s by Union Carbide that passed hydro year after year. One O2 bottle I have now is from WWII. It's clean and was freshly tested when I got it.

I can't believe Indiana limits you to 80 cubic feet. That's a baby tank. I've never been asked for papers of any kind in CA, WA, and NV. I assume it's the state DOT flexing its oversight?
 
pontiac428 said:
You can go from O2 to argon with a valve change, because they are 3000 psi tanks. You can't do the opposite, because systems need to be "clean for oxygen" which used to mean a freon wash to get the hydrocarbons out. It's not worth trying to hang on to a particular tank, what you get from exchange is usually a fresh hydro, valve, and paint. It doesn't matter how old a tank is, my dad had a set of five 4500 psi tanks that were made in the 1930s by Union Carbide that passed hydro year after year. One O2 bottle I have now is from WWII. It's clean and was freshly tested when I got it.

I can't believe Indiana limits you to 80 cubic feet. That's a baby tank. I've never been asked for papers of any kind in CA, WA, and NV. I assume it's the state DOT flexing its oversight?
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As far as changing gases, I've just done that with at the time of a tank swap. That's why I a fan of lots of backups, of everything, 2 tanks per machine. But they're smallish tanks.
I'm not sure it's a law about the size thing, maybe just one of those unwritten things among suppliers.
 
Didn't we just talk about this?
I just paid big bucks for the big tanks, Co2, Argon plus the Argon tank plus the O2 and Acety.
I own them. The guys at the welding shop know me. I exchange them, they charge me for the gas and off I go.
If I move out of their market area?
I assume I would have to pay.....
This process is full of holes and us consumers pay.
 
Joeman77 said:
In this area the biggest tank you can ""Own" in shielding or Oxygen is 80 cubic foot,
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That's crazy I have a 330 cubic foot oxy tank, a 300 cubic foot tank for acetylene and two 150 cubic foot tanks for my shielding gas.... I own them all no leased tanks....

Over here I buy used tanks from Craigslist and take them to Baker's Gas they charge me a $40 test fee and give me a new full tank
 
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The way I see it when it comes to compressed gas tanks, possession equals ownership. I have acquired tanks from various sources and never had an issue getting them filled or exchanged, regardless of the name on the tank or where I was getting it filled. The only thing that comes up sometimes is the tank test has expired then I have to pay an additional fee for a tank test. On that note, I now ask for a recently tested exchange tanks as I sometimes take a couple years to go through a whole tank of gas.
 
My local the largest customer owned tank is 60. Really makes me sad. You go through that in no time. Cost about $38 to fill.
 
All I can say is run don’t walk away from air gas. I almost lost a battle with them for my oxy tank they said was theirs and wanted a lease for over 500.00 bucks. My tank is clearly marked as customer owned tank. I have owned that tank for over 25 yr. i have had it refilled when the local company was my welding shop before Air gas holes bought them out and jacked the price to the sky. I have now bought an acetylene tank from a private owned shop. I could not be happier. I will never deal or buy from any company that I don’t know the owner by his first name.
CH
 
COMachinist said:
All I can say is run don’t walk away from air gas.
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Problem is Air gas bought up all the little guys in and around Charlotte. There is no other place to go. I own my bottles but they say air gas on them. I just pull up to the dock. Drop off the empty. Go inside and tell them what I need and they pull out a full bottle of the same size and off I go. Now their Argon prices are all over the place. Different from day to day and from counter salesman to counter salesman. One day I stood in line for half an hour because they were short staffed. For my wait they only charged my 25 bucks for my bottle of Argon (normally $60). So obviously they are over charging the little guy.
 
Welding suppliers are suppliers, and suppliers have different tiers. Just like NAPA auto parts. The lowest volume pays the highest price. This is where it pays to know people, either behind the counter or in front of it. If you know someone with a business account, ask if you can use it for cash transactions. My dad was a Praxair regional rep, so I learned that trick early.
 
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