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Refilling your Argon Bottle...
Since I planning on using a 6cf tank for my drysuit bottle I guessing Im might get 3 dives out of it per fill. I was wondering if any of you have a 40-80CF tank to refill it so you dont have to run back to the dive shop everytime to get it refilled?
If so what do I need other then the xtra 40/80cf AL?
I have 2 X 6 cu ft Argon bottles... I usually refill at the dive shop after every outing. Sometimes I leave 1 there and then do the swap thing when I am rushed for time but usually filling argon is pretty fast. Also they charge per cu ft so no need to wait till its empty anyway...just have them top it off all the time. I think having an extra tank would be better used for a deco or stage... just get a second argon tank it'll be cheaper in the long run.
Today I went to look at Drysuits... and came home with a tube of Aquaseal :(
Or get a 13, and you have enough to dive the whole weekend, top off your buddy when she burns through her second 6 CF on dive #3 on Monday, and still have enough to fill the tires of your Cart when you get home.
:-D
13 CF = Argon hero
-Ken
You've got some new momentum - you better keep on going
Tomorrow soon will be your yesterday
You've got some new momentum - you better keep on going
You've got to move to make it all the way... - NM
THAT is a wonderful idea, and I love it.
"Oooo, darn, I'm out of argon.... Ahem! Trick or Treat??!?!?"
I love having three 6-cuft argon bottles...but then my buddy's got my back if I miscalculate on a dive when we're breathing helium mixes.
On nitrox dives, I slip my back-gas drysuit hose under my harness so I can switch to breathing gas if the argon goes phffffft.
~~~~~
Claudette
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." --Albert Einstein
Hahahaha.... I love the smell of bus tires on a sunny holiday weekend!Originally Posted by Mo2vation
yeah, what he said.
I'm in denial of the number of times I tried to squeeze 3 "CK" dives out of one 6cuft argon cylinder.
It always ends with useless mashing of the d.s. inflator valve... and a team pause while I fish out the back-gas inflator hose. *sigh*
If we're breathing helium, there is NO WAY I'd start a 3rd dive on one argon bottle.
I've put helium in my drysuit, and it's a one-trial learning event.
brrrr.....
~~~~~
Claudet-t-t-t-t-te
"Practice is the shortcut to skills. There is no shortcut to experience."
--Mo2vation.
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." --Albert Einstein
For nitrox dives I just use backgas.
For helium dives I like to have a fresh alu6 bottle for every dive.
I've only run an alu6 from full to flat once ... At 350' ... Brrrr... Buddies had alu13's and gave me a hard time.
I have some converted "Survivair" ~12 cuft steels I've been using for argon. Made by PST, ~3 5/8" diameter x 14 1/2 long. Fill them to 3K and you have about 15 cuft of gas. These tanks used to be dirt cheap, they were an early SCBA tank, and when the hoop wrapped tanks appeared these little steels went to the scrap pile. Now they are getting hard to find.
An alternative is the faber 12 / OMS 13. almost the same dimensions and they take a standard scuba (3/4 straight thread) valve. The Survivair tanks require some machine shop magic to mate a scuba valve to them.
They are a weekend of diving.
Having Ar banked @ 4200 psi makes refills quick and simple.
Tobin
We have a couple of these bottles floating around and I have always thought they would be perfect for argon. I was excited when I saw your "machine shop magic" version - if I recall you turned down a valve to fit them?
Yes, they have the same neck threads as a medical (D, E etc.) medical O2 bottle.
Tobin
I use one 6 cf and it'll last me about 3-5 dives -- depending on the dive profile. I guess I'm too shrink wrap and need to be more generous. I use a whip and refill from an air (Airgon) tank in the parking lot (or bring a second bottle on a boat). I haven't yet equalized between the 6 cf bottle and an O2 clean one with my blended 32%... because I know where that 6 cf has been last summer. Yuck!
Anyway, you just need a whip and another source of gas. For boats, they can just direct-connect from the fill station. I like the size of the 6 cf bottles. Better to have two or three for a live aboard. I tend to never use the boat for fills anymore, bring everything... unless it's the Marissa -- I trust their fills won't shorten the life of my tanks or increase the number of overhauls on my regs.
We need to get together and dive again!
I replaced my Argon bottle with a Santi heated vest . . .
"What other sport is there where a cute woman has trouble getting rid of her underwear?" Doppler
How does that work for taking the squeeze off?
The more squeeze, the closer to me the heat is
"What other sport is there where a cute woman has trouble getting rid of her underwear?" Doppler
I assume you still use the argon bottle when you are diving TMX (?)
Tom
Diver Steve knows his stuff!
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