sucking in SK

[Colten Edwards]

So I purchased my argon tank. A little 55 size and I've gone through a couple of tanks now. Thought maybe I should consider upgrading the tank to one twice the size like the CO2 tank I have. It seems that the major welding gas suppliers do NOT sell any tanks larger than what I currently own. They are all leased. Even if I do find a larger tank, praxair/air liquide will not exchange them or refill. Any other ideas for welding gas suppliers?

 

[YotaBota]

Are you friends with any welding shop owners? Some shops have "extra" bottles that could be repurposed, for proper compensation of course.

 

[Brent H]

If you are “sucking” back the gas a lease tank makes sense. I have my larger 75/25 for general mig leased and it lasts a long time. The lease is like $18/month

 

[YYCHM]

How does a lease tank work? Is that just for the vessel or vessel and contents?

 

[David]

I bought a 110 cu ft AR tank for my new TIG. I'll be interested to see how it lasts.
I used to lease a 75/25 tank for my MIG. I happened onto a 20 cu ft tank but it's not big enough to be practical as I usually run about 15 cfh on my MIG. Need at least an 80 cu ft as MIG tends to be a bit faster so less time time with gas flowing.

 

[Chicken lights]

My lease on a K cylinder for oxygen is $80 a year, roughly, at Praxair

 

[Janger]

Welding supplies are such a racket. Don’t get me started I’ve ranted about this many times.

 

[Janger]

Should start a welding supply co-op.

 

[Tom O]

I have a 110 bottle I bought from Liquid Air and they just swap it out.

 

[Colten Edwards]

liquid aire doesn't sell large tanks anymore. Or at least in Saskatchewan. Neither does Praxair. Or Messier. I think I might need to take a drive and pickup from KMS. Of course there is then the problem of refills, since neither will refill an owned tank large than the 55 I currently own.

 

[YYCHM]

liquid aire doesn't sell large tanks anymore. Or at least in Saskatchewan. Neither does Praxair. Or Messier. I think I might need to take a drive and pickup from KMS. Of course there is then the problem of refills, since neither will refill an owned tank large than the 55 I currently own.

Use two 55s?

 

[CalgaryPT]

Back the late 1980s after Union Carbide was forced to spin off its industrial gases division (later to become Praxair) following the Bhopal disaster, I recall being introduced to MIG. Up to then I'd only had experience with O/A and stick, but remember even then companies were adverse to filling bottles belonging to individuals. It wasn't as bad as now, but still an issue. Then, somewhere, I think in the USA, there was another disaster where a customer-owned bottle sitting in a yard ignited and the whole yard blew. After that, all companies got real twitchy.

I grew tired of "having to know someone" to get a good deal and avoid charges associated with refills (now buried in the refill cost). So now I just suck it up and lease. Around the same time I switched to much larger bottles that only needed refilling every few years or so. But as I got older I downsized to "K's" which are 244 cubic feet I think. Their weight is about the biggest I can handle unassisted. Places like Praxair now refuse to help you load or unload anymore; they'd rather incur the risk of you injuring yourself using their own lift gate than hurting their backs, so it is what it is.

Don't mean to re-start the soapbox on this issue; I know we've all got our opinions on this topic. These were my lessons.

 

[Tom Kitta]

I re-charge my tank every year or so as it is large and heavy and I try to use stick for which I more or less have unlimited supply of every electrode type known to man since stick was invented. For TIG I also have rather good selection of metals. I am trying to get a MIG setup.

 

[Janger]

How can we fill our own tanks? You can get a used medical oxygen concentrator and people use those for gas torch setups. I also see bang good has some torch machine that dissociates water to make oxy hydrogen fuel. How can you harvest CO2 and Argon?

 

[Dabbler]

bang good has some torch machine that dissociates water to make oxy hydrogen fuel

HHO welders are really good at small brazing and jewelery work, so any jeweler would love it. Great for silver soldering carbides onto boring bars. After that they are useless. Not enough heat to do any more, even with an alcohol boost.

 

[Bofobo]

Co2 generators are used in green houses and commercially available

 

[Sailor]

How far into Saskatchewan are you? I know OxyPro has satalite locations like Vegreville in a shop. Id phone them and see if any in Lloyd.

 

[Bradells]

How can we fill our own tanks? You can get a used medical oxygen concentrator and people use those for gas torch setups. I also see bang good has some torch machine that dissociates water to make oxy hydrogen fuel. How can you harvest CO2 and Argon?

You could do what we do for diving and invest in a gas booster to move gas from rented bottles into our own.....

If you are doing O2 and ‘dirty’ gas, I’d keep a dedicated booster for O2 (we do O2 and Helium)

But the amount of gas we go through on CCR is fairly small, so the demurrage on tanks is huge...


Brad