Shop Uses for Scuba Tank?

[SteveHGraham]

I have two scuba tanks which are full and in near-mint condition. I do not dive. It's not my thing. I'm not even certified. I only used them when something was wrong with the boat.

Is a scuba tank useful for anything around a shop? I don't want to sell them and then find out they were useful.

I also have a commercial fishing rod with a 12V motor. I can't seem to get anyone to buy it. I was trying to come up with a use for the motor, but then I remembered I had no power source. I guess a clever person could use it to run a welding positioner, on a lawn mower battery.

[choprboy]

I have two scuba tanks which are full and in near-mint condition. I do not dive. It's not my thing. I'm not even certified. I only used them when something was wrong with the boat.

Is a scuba tank useful for anything around a shop? I don't want to sell them and then find out they were useful.

Portable air supply for a plasma cutter?

[chief]

Steve, don't know about where you live, but in a lot of places you can't even get the tanks re-filled without a cert card.

Terry

[TomB]

I could get my old tank refilled but only if they were within the tank certification date limits. Getting an old tank rectified was quite expensive. I believe the process involved removing the valve, inspecting the inside of the tank for corrosion and then pressure testing the tank in a water bath. I refilled my tank once after it's certification expired. I did by borrowing an old compressor that the guy who use to fill my tank used when he first went into that business. It took and hour to fill the tank but that was just about how long it took in 1958. Probably was not the safest way to do things but at least the tank was submerged while it filled so it should not have been more dangerous than recertification testing.

[SteveHGraham]

I know about the problem with getting them filled. It makes me wonder what people do when they want tanks of compressed air for things other than scuba. Surely you don't have to get certified in order to have a compressed air tank for a workshop.

I thought about using a tank for the plasma cutter. I wonder if the air in scuba tanks is dry enough for plasma without an air dryer.

I'll probably put these on Craigslist and see if I can get a hundred bucks for them.

I have never understood why people dive. All that work and expense, to look at a fish! I used to snorkel for lobster, but it wasn't exactly exciting.

[TomB]

Just a second thought on using old SCUBA tank for plasma air. I seem to remember that a tank held 70 or 75 cubic foot of air at the recommended maximum tank pressure of 2150 psi. I remember we use to cheat that number and fill to about 2300 or 2400psi on the excuse that the tank was quite hot after it was filled and when it cooled the tank would be at about max psi. I don't know if I ever knew how much air was required for the plasma cutter but I know it was more than my electric portable compressor could put out and I had to buy a gas driven wheelbarrow type compressor to use the plasma cutter on the ski mountain snowmaking pipes. I some how think that flow would empty a SCUBA tank before you cur very far with a plasma cutter.

[BadDog]

I agree

[chief]

A lot of high end air rifles are called PCP for pre-charged pneumatics and operate at quite high pressures, around 3000 psi. Sometimes they use scuba tanks as a portable refill source. You can even get hand pumps that go north of 3500 psi. They look like old fashioned bicycle pumps, but I'm guessing they take a lot of strokes to fill a scuba tank! LoL

[LIALLEGHENY]

Wind chimes! or a Gong!

[SteveHGraham]

They're $250 each new, so I suppose I'll be lucky to get $75 for the pair.

[Magicniner]

They're $250 each new, so I suppose I'll be lucky to get $75 for the pair.

They're old tech and need testing, that gives them a value of approximately tuppence and a balloon

[SteveHGraham]

The ignore list prevents me from seeing the last post.