Thread: Gas bottle rental

They say that it's safety. Cylinders can get damaged and a cylinder full of compressed gas is as lethal as a bomb, so they won't fill a bottle without testing it. Neither will Liquidaire. Or anyone else. I imported a lightweight aircraft oxygen bottle from the US, fully tested and certified and dated, still no go.
My oxyacetylene bottles only need filling every couple of years so the rental is more than the gas I use.

The only way BOC can control their product is by owning the cylinders. Gases are compressed to quite high pressures and it would not be reasonble for them to accept any old cylinder for refilling.

The problem is that cylinder rental is expensive for home workshops so unless you want to pay rental the disposable cylinders or gasless wire is your only other option. I have been told gasless wire will shortly not be available as the fumes are a health hazard. A BOC sales rep told me this and it is the first time I have heard about it.

I would imagine the pressure could be reduced to a safe level - same as LPG. Even if you only get 20 - 30 minutes out of it, that would be better than paying rent for a bottle that sits most of the time unused in the shed/garage. And the gas is non-flamable. So I still can't see why you must rent the bottles.

- Thanks for your reply.

What price is the rental?

For a "D" size cylinder, the gas is about $70 and the rental is about $11 per month.

In my previous life in South Africa the equivalent of BOC there introduced small gas bottles, at a guess about 5 L water capacity. These cost about 400 bucks a set to buy. That was for the Oxygen and the Acetylene bottle as a set. It worked on an exchange system after that, similar to the LPG system that operates in WA. They would not fill one's bottle but exchange it. That meant that they could check it before filling and that the bottles test was indate when one takes delivery. The contents cost a bit more per kg than buying an E size or larger bottle, but these smaller cylinders were very practical in that they didn't take up much room, was easy to cart to & from the supplier and one didn't lose much should the valve leak. The puchase price of the bottles was equivalent to probably 5 years rental.

A bottle filled with gas to a pressure of 200 bar ( old scuba bottle standard ) contains 200 times its own volume of gas. It is under huge stress and should it explode it wipes out everything around it, plus shrapnel fly a few hundred meters. For that reason they are pressure tested with water which is not compressable and should the bottle burst, the operator has a brown spot in his pants which is washed away by the sudden spray of water. No shrapnel etc flying tho!

LPG is not a gas in its bottled form but a liquid and as soon as the valve is opened it vapourises. For that reason it was possible to decant LPG from one cylinder to another, like water. The pressure inside the bottle will rise however with a temperature increase. Due to the relatively low pressure it is possible to store LPG in tin cannisters and aerosol cans.

My E size Argonshield bottle rental is $10-27 per month calculated over 3 month period. It is not excessive as it would cost me a lot more if I used either the disposables or shielded wire. At least I can use my mig when and for what I want to, without having to get in a queue at the welding shop. Its equivalent to about a months Saturday papers, the news of which one can get on TV, Radio or internet. As I don't buy the paper I put my savings towards the luxury af having my mig welder...................or so I bluff myself anyway.

I see -so the pressure can't be reduced to a level where it would be safe to use in a user owner cylinder. OK - I get it .

Thanks for all the replies.

R..

Industrial and medical gas cylinders have many safety devices including bursting disc's, fuseable reliefs and over pressure indicators. They require regular testing and sometimes x-raying, which costs a motsa. I'm glad we have the safety standards we have in australia having seen the results of what compressed gases can do...But I'm less than happy with BOC having a monopoly on the supply of many types of gas.

Not all cylinders are just empty cylinders. Some gases are held (for physical or safety reasons) within porous substances inside the cylinder.

Cheers

G'day.

I just forked out for a "E" bottle of MIGSHIELD from Liquid Air.
rental per year is $120.
gas is $71.

I feel it is worth the cost due to the high cost of gasless wire.
also, gas wire give a better weld, and you can see whats happening. Unlike gasless welding where the smoke blocks your vision of the weld..
I run a CIG Transmig 165.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
P.S.
look on ebay for cheap gas and gasless wire.
I picked up a 15kg roll of 0.6 gas wire for $45 + $15 postage.
Cost in the shops is about $116.

I've had D size bottles for Oxy welding for close to 25 years and Co2 (Carbon Dioxide) for my LASER machine for the last 9 years. For the last 6 years instead of CIG I've been using Supagas as my supplier and have been extremely happy with their service and supply of product.

Where I find them to be outstanding is in the delivery of goods to me. They are a Victorian based company (Dandenong) and nothing has to go to Sydney for directions of what to deliver and where. Which means when I order another bottle of something I actually get it and more importantly it's the correct bottle.

I also get free delivery (I know it's not free) but the real reason it's good is because it is illegal and dangerous to transport these cylinders in a normal enclosed vehicle and delivery is to my door.

Perhaps they may do weekly deliveries to Geelong, I don't know, but it could be worth a phone call or a look see at their website.

http://www.supagas.com.au/index.html

Mick.

For my needs at the moment the only bottle I need is for MIG welding. But I'll look into Supagas when my current bottle runs low (which may be a while). Looks like they have a depot in Sunshine. I prefer not to use gasless wire, as I use MIG indoors & I'm not keen on fumes. I also have a small inverter stickwelder for portable/outside use which has been great.

Cheers..

I have a CIG handyman oxy kit at home but like eveyone else is saying, :eek: the rental on the bottles is too much for the couple of times a year it would be used.
Thats why I am looking for a cheap 2nd hand arc welder in good nick. I borrowed one a couple of months ago and suprised myself how many times I used it in the time I had it.

Jon

My advice is to use arc welding, it's cheap and hassle-free. You can weld anything with it, some non-ferrous metals are hardER to weld with them due to the high heat conductivity of these metals, but it can be done to a reaosnable standard.

Forgive my ignorance, but what are these disposable bottles? Like aerosol cans? Which gases are available?

I was in Hare & Forbes (Parramatta, NSW) the other day, and they had CO2 and Argon in the disposable bottles, by SIP.

The bottles are just under 1 litre, and I think the label on the Argon said 60 litres of gas compressed into the bottle. They were about $30 each, or a bit less per bottle if you bought a box of 12.

Lots of labels saying "Not Refillable"

Cheers,
Andrew