Personally, I love TS for many things, but competency with their welding gear is not one of them.

Their welding gas policy is not reasonable and prices are higher than dedicated welding supply houses.

Find a welding supply place near your home or work. Be prepared to put up with some crap because you are a hobbyist welder. But they will be more than happy to sell you anything you need or ask about that will help you with you projects.

 

I know what you mean about TS when they opened there first store around here they had everything you would have needed for repairs around the farm and home. All kinds of feed, cloths, boots, truck stuff, tires, hardware, welding, mowers, etc, etc,. Now they only carry a limeted supply and stopped selling a lot of things. I don't go there much anymore only when they are having a sale and have something I want.

 

Tractor Supply in Wisconsin did the same thing. Shut down their gas cylinder sales and exchanges. This happened over a year ago.

 

Thoroughbred who supplies the gas for Tractor Supply and a few others got sued by Airgas and possibly a few others and either lost or settled out of court. I know they settled out of court over this back in 2009, but I want to say they got sued again back around 2012 over the same thing. Airgas had claimed Tractor Supply and other Thoroughbred dealers were accepting air gas cylinders for exchange, even though the customers did not own the cylinders. Thoroughbred then repainted and remarked cylinders that were not theirs.

The end result was that Tractor Supply would no longer accept any cylinder not marked as Thoroughbred even if it was customer owned. At the same time IIRC most gas suppliers would not accept any Thoroughbred cylinders, even if the customer showed proof of purchase.


My guess is that the number of cylinders a store deals with doesn't make it worth while to deal with all the hassles involved with stocking cylinders for exchange. No big surprise. Think about all the possible sizes and gas types. How many customers will need a 20 cf C25 cylinder this week? how many will need a 40 or 60 cf one? Now add in the bigger sizes... What if they instead want CO2, O2, Argon or acetylene? You end up with a bunch of cylinders on hand just in case one customer wants/needs one. Now what happens if you get a 2nd customer who wants the same size that week, or maybe 3 or 4 others? You can bet customers won't be happy if they show up and there isn't a full one available for exchange...

 

The end result was that Tractor Supply would no longer accept any cylinder not marked as Thoroughbred even if it was customer owned. At the same time IIRC most gas suppliers would not accept any Thoroughbred cylinders, even if the customer showed proof of purchase.
...

My main concern is getting stuck with almost $1000.00 worth of empty tanks with no one to fill them.

 

I never knew they did gas cylinder exchanges for anything besides propane.
Maybe that was their problem.

 

Most welding shops will fill privetly owned tanks, you just cant swap them.
Then when you need a hydrostadic test you are down a tank for how ever long that takes.

 

Problem is finding a privately owned shop. Around my area almost all of them have either closed or been bought out by bigger chains. Those chains will not fill private cylinders. They only exchange, and then only ones below something like 150 cf. If you own larger cylinders you are SOL unless you can manage to get one of the guys to look the other way when you go to do an exchange. If that does happen, technically it's no longer your cylinder that you have, it's now one of theirs.

 

Even my local welding gas supplier had problems with his supplier stealing tanks that had been his for decades. There was and still somewhat is a problem of people selling tanks that aren't theirs, however with the shrinking market of gas suppliers, they've been feeling very entitled to all larger tanks, whether it is there's or not and whether it's a hobbyist, professional or even a small independent dealer. This will get worse before it gets better and the civil court's lack of familiarity on the subject won't help at all. It will take an organized effort of welders large and small to make it so that these vital gasses are available freely and at a fair price. Otherwise better learn to stick weld or fire up the forge!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

It won't be much longer and The Owners wont let you guys have gas anyway. Too dangerous. Have to keep you safe. Those tanks could be used....blablablablablab. Terruh !