Can I get a 300cf tank filled?

[700R]

I highly doubt it. Airgas doesn't even want to deal with me, and it's THEIR name on the tank. Grinding it off, I believe, would give me a much better chance elsewhere though. Seems like the Airgas big wigs have brainwashed our region into thinking that people can't own anything over a 125. Spouting out DOT regs and the that the feds won't let them sell that size tank, blah, blah, blah...
They've lost all my business from now on. I'll take my smaller tanks to Arcet and pay a little more just because...

[gnm109]

I might be grinding the "Airgas" name off the collar and sanding it flush this weekend. Seems to be a lot of panties in a wad over what name is on it.

You're kidding, right? That could turn the cylinder into scrap. The reason is says Airgas on it is that they don't sell that size. They re always leased/rented....but that's been mentioned in this thread before. There may be some Airgas stores that refill customer-owned 300's but not around me. But we're now beating a dead horse.

I wouldn't want a 300 anyway. They are too big to handle for me at least. I have two 160 customer-owned argons. That gives me the relative ease of handling with 320 cu. ft. When I run out, I've always got a backup.

[vwguy3]

Do yourself a favor and do not grind or sand unless you want to make a bell.Grind marks,arc strikes or burns make instant scrap.

My line of thought is that Airgas has aquired companies that sold any size cylinder they had. To me that means Airgas bought the liability to fill cylinders that by company policy they cannot sell.If they refuse you they are,in essence, calling you a theif simply because you happen to own a cylinder they don't sell.

[700R]

Do yourself a favor and do not grind or sand unless you want to make a bell.Grind marks,arc strikes or burns make instant scrap.

My line of thought is that Airgas has aquired companies that sold any size cylinder they had. To me that means Airgas bought the liability to fill cylinders that by company policy they cannot sell.If they refuse you they are,in essence, calling you a theif simply because you happen to own a cylinder they don't sell.

You really think I'm gonna leave grind marks on it for everyone to see? I ain't that dumb. Bondo and paint are something I have plenty of...

It will be a last resort.

And I agree with your second part...that is exactly how the counter jockey acted and talked to me...

[vwguy3]

I never said or implied you were dumb just saying an altered neck ring can make a cylinder scrap in a heart beat regardless of how much work you put in to it.
Bottom line is it's your cylinder and you'll do as you see fit

[drujinin]

Grinding the raised letters off will solve part of your problem.
Color matching the paint is the second part of the problem.
Like the other fellow said, walk in and say exchange please.....

I always say I borrowed it and need to return it full.

[Charles Brown]

It is a waste of time dealing with AirGas as an individual.

To solve the problem, find a hole in the wall mom and pop local welding supply hovel.

Guess what? This shop more than likely has an account at AirGas who handles their cylinder filling wholesale.

That way, you don't have to deal with the put down attitudes behind the counter at AirGas as a retail customer.

Instead, become the retail customer of the hole in the wall welding shop. If you go in there regularly, you will graduate from being a customer to being a friend.

Once you become a friend, you will never have any cylinder problems again.

[Oscar]

It's Thanksgiving, not Halloween. Stop conjuring up the dead.

[smithdoor]

Yes your out of money
The gas company is in business to make money.
Best way is to purchase the tank.
Most like 80 cf to 120 cf tank size I think that is about 30 pounds of CO2

Dave

I haven't been around much lately, but I've ran into a problem and figured this is the best place to get an answer.
Early this past spring, I bought a 300cf O2 cylinder from a large seller on Ebay for a good price. He had about 40-50 of them available. I bought one and had it shipped to me. Upon receiving it, I noticed it had Airgas stamped into the collar. I thought, No problem right? I deal with Airgas for my smaller cylinders anyways. I call them to get a price quote on having it filled, and they said they couldn't fill it as I cannot "own" a cylinder that large. It must be leased from them. For them to fill it, I would have to sign at least a 1-year lease.

Most of you guys on here knew this already, but for me...I'm just a home hobbiest and knew nothing about it.
So what do I have here? A 100lb paperweight? What happens if I sign a 1-year lease to have it filled, then never renew it? Will they attempt a repo of sorts on my cylinder? Freeze my account with them voiding any future cylinder fills on my smaller ones too?
Is there any way they would "trade" me for a smaller cylinder? (On that point, whats the largest tank that I can OWN and have filled just like my current 80cf cylinder?)

I just feel like I got shafted out of $250 that I can never get back...

[Oscar]

Yes your out of money
The gas company is in business to make money.
Best way is to purchase the tank.
Most like 80 cf to 120 cf tank size I think that is about 30 pounds of CO2

Dave

Dave look at the original post date (and also read the replies).

[Kelvin]

It's Thanksgiving, not Halloween. Stop conjuring up the dead.

...along with evil monsters like Airgas!

If they were the only place to buy gas, I'd quit welding.

[ronsii]

...along with evil monsters like Airgas!

If they were the only place to buy gas, I'd quit welding.

LOL!!!!! you wouldn't believe how many guys I've talked to at the metal shops that say the same thing

[walker]

300 cf cylinders are lease only here too, doesnt matter if it has a name on it or not. I have seen plenty of name rings ground off here, not even that good of a job either. Paint color doesn’t mean a thing here, paint it pink for all they care. They usually repaint them after a hydro test.
Im with everyone else, find a local LWS that is not Airgas, develop a relationship, and your bottle problems disappear. Hopefully you can make a nice gong out of your current culinder and recoup your money.

[smithdoor]

I can not why most would use a 300 cf tank
They are big and heavy .
They hold 60 pounds of CO2 and tank is almost 200 pounds.
It size you use if going through a lot bottle's a week.
That what was responding too.

FYI: At time my I would go through over 20 bottles 337cf of oxygen a week and that is not fun.

Dave

Dave look at the original post date (and also read the replies).

[Kelvin]

I can not why most would use a 300 cf tank

Much cheaper per cubic foot of gas to swap them out, compared to smaller bottles.

[Welder Dave]

A lot of neck rings are just pressed on and can be popped off.

[M J D]

A lot of neck rings are just pressed on and can be popped off.

Yes, but technically that would be considered theft.

[smithdoor]

I was paying under $10.00 per bottle 337cf for oxygen in 2003

Dave

Much cheaper per cubic foot of gas to swap them out, compared to smaller bottles.

[weldnhack]

AirGas is getting pretty crappy and even worse they don't care who knows it. they go up every year and last year tried to charge me nearly 150 bucks to swap out a 330 o2 cylinder. I didn't raise any fuss in the store but as soon as I left I called the outside sales guy that I deal with and he pulled it up and found they had tried to charge me the same rate they would charge some poor sucker off the street. I cant remember exactly what I paid but I believe it was around 65 bucks. we have a new mom and pop shop here and when my lease comes up I intend to turn it in and lease from the new guy. The down side is I have a 330 argon and a 330 C25 that belong to me that I haven't had any trouble swapping out at airgas and since the new guy has already sold one store to airgas I am reluctant to give up my airgas stamped tanks that belong to me. I also have a 80 C25, an 80 argon, and a O2 and acetylene 150 and 125 I think, all with airgas neck stamps so I don't have to worry about hydros they just swap them out. the tanks at work don't worry me but my personal tanks are another story.

[gnm109]

It is a waste of time dealing with AirGas as an individual.

To solve the problem, find a hole in the wall mom and pop local welding supply hovel.

Guess what? This shop more than likely has an account at AirGas who handles their cylinder filling wholesale.

That way, you don't have to deal with the put down attitudes behind the counter at AirGas as a retail customer.

Instead, become the retail customer of the hole in the wall welding shop. If you go in there regularly, you will graduate from being a customer to being a friend.

Once you become a friend, you will never have any cylinder problems again.

This is true . AirGas is expensive and difficult to deal with. I would always opt for the smaller LWS. I used to be with AirGas and originally bought customer-owned 160 c.f. cylinders for Argon from them. That was a long time ago and they were cheaper then.

I quit using them when they raised the price on a 160 Argon to $75 for an exchange. I went around the corner to a small store and the price was $45. I've been there ever since.

By the way, AFAIK, the only cylinders that AirGas sells are the 160's. They like to lease anything larger.

[Welder Dave]

Airgas is now owned by Air Liquide. They're all about $$$$. They make their money from selling industrial gas. Selling welding supplies is just a convenience for some of their customers. I toured a $150 million Air Liquide cogen plant. They make enough money from selling just the argon that everything else is gravy. 1000 tons of oxygen per day. Any extra power they make is sold to the Alberta power grid. A 25,000 HP turbine powers the GE 80 MW generator. The heat from the exhaust produces steam they sell to Shell. They also capture the CO2 emissions from the Shell plant, that would normally go into the atmosphere, and purify it so sell to other customers. I asked about the difference between medical oxygen and welding oxygen. Exact same thing from the same tank but welders are more fussy about having the highest purity. There are monitors that constantly test the the purity.

Removing a neck ring is considered theft but having a lease cylinder that was never offered for sale isn't? They're trying to do cylinder tracking but it's never going to work. There are millions of cylinders out there that nobody knows the history of. Back when I first leased cylinders in 1981 it $25/cylinder per year which was reasonable. Need an extra cylinder in case you run out, no problem just bring the empty back in a couple days and no extra charge. Now it's just ridiculous what they charge. A guy up here left Air Liquide and started a welding supply and made millions selling and filling all sizes of cylinders. The established gas suppliers weren't happy. Years earlier they were charged with price fixing. A lot of people think diamonds have huge markup. Not even close to the markup on industrial gas. Oxygen can be 600%-800% or more. The initial cost of the air separation apparatus is why there are limited suppliers of industrial gases.

https://www.icis.com/explore/resourc...shell-s-plant/

[smithdoor]

Odds are AirGas is look for large users
If buy 1,000cf of gas per month they have a good price.

Dave

This is true . AirGas is expensive and difficult to deal with. I would always opt for the smaller LWS. I used to be with AirGas and originally bought customer-owned 160 c.f. cylinders for Argon from them. That was a long time ago and they were cheaper then.

I quit using them when they raised the price on a 160 Argon to $75 for an exchange. I went around the corner to a small store and the price was $45. I've been there ever since.

By the way, AFAIK, the only cylinders that AirGas sells are the 160's. They like to lease anything larger.

[shovelon]

Odds are AirGas is look for large users
If buy 1,000cf of gas per month they have a good price.

Dave

At that quantity you would be on contract pricing.

[smithdoor]

At one time in my life I was buying over 24,000cf per month and getting great price.
Great contract price each bottle cost under $10.00 of 337cf to fill

Dave

At that quantity you would be on contract pricing.

[danielplace]

Most original neck rings are not just pressed on. See that weld around the neck. That attaches it to the bottle. They do regularly machine them off and reinstall new ones at some reman facilities.

Of course they sell faux covers that go over existing neck ring and make the tank appear to be "customer owned".

I see people laughing and saying a tank is ruined scrap if you grind the name off. That is anything but true. In all of Florida at ANY supplier at least. Grindoffs are everywhere and are totally legit by every one of the suppliers.

A very high percentage of "customer owned" tanks in any given suppliers inventory are not real but rather "grind offs" where the name has been ground off. They are often done horribly and NO ONE cares. They are traded freely as "customer owned" after that. It is actually getting harder to find/get exchanges for your customer owned bottles that are actually customer owned they want to swap you for. It is either take their grind off or no gas. I have even waited weeks for them to special order in customer owned from their main refill facility. Guess what. They were both grind offs.