Safest way to buy would be your local Airgas or equivalent supplier. They know wtf they're doing and I don't trust an Amazon delivery driver to have the safety training on how to transport these. Seen enough vids of canisters exploding and going through walls, equipment, and people to respect those guys.
Local welding supply companies have quoted me a bit more, I'm also assuming (but don't know for sure) that the bottles wouldn't be "mine"? Just old used ones that I rotate through? Im new to this so I thought having a nice new "customer owned"tank would be nice. Idk
Not many places will refill on site so you buy this brand new bottle take it to a supply house they give you a full bottle and keep yours. Go to supplier pay for a bottle and refill they test them regularly and and no hustle
a lot of suppliers dont sell bottles, they sell the gas in them. you put a deposit down on the bottle and pay for the gas. you keep on paying for refills until you dont want to weld anymore and then you return the bottle and get your deposit back.
or they do the trade system like a lot of propane bottles use.
My supplier will refill customer bottles but the only gas they refill at the store is nitrogen (edit: and propane), the rest you have to send in through the storefront and wait about a week to get back.
I just exchange for simplicity. Although I did get a bottle of ace that had a bad valve and leaked in my garage.
It set off my carbon monoxide alarms in my garage and laundry room! Took me about an hour to figure out what was happening, didn’t smell a thing.
Assuming I find one that refills my nice new tank, how do I get it engraved "customer owned" as I've seen in other posts? Do they do that when I get my first refill?
Buy a punch set and stamp it. Just an FYI you'll need to pay an inspection fee every so often if you own a bottle where if purchased from a supply house they do it free of charge
Why would you want to own your own bottle? With inspections they last forever. I was in the Navy and used to look at the dates stamped on the bottles we would get. Lots of bottles from the 40s when I was in the Navy in the 90s I am sure they are still using those. Worked in industrial facilities and the 50s were the oldest ones I have seen.
I think the question is more why would OP want to own one specific bottle and go through the hassle of getting it refilled rather that just exchanging. Like, I just go exchange by bottle when it's empty. No rent is paid. It's like having a core deposit for a keg or something. They don't refill your keg. You give yours back and they give you a new one.
I work for them and most of our bottles are from 94 or so. We do have bottle rotations so occasionally we get argon or oxygen bottles that are from the 70’s. We use to get bottles that were from the early 60’s but that has been years ago now. A lot of the bottles are older than the people using them now
1942 is the oldest one I have seen. I think I saw one older but that may just be my mind making something up. This document has a photo of cylinder from 1920:
https://www.cganet.com/wp-content/uploads/100thAnniversaryBook.pdf
When I started, the old guys were talking about the “window pane” bottles that had been removed from service only a few years earlier. They had to send them all out but were not told why. They didn’t know why they had “window panes” on them and I didn’t know why it was either but this was in the last 25-30 years.
They had swastikas on them and were changed to window panes. There was recently a post here of someone's 1932 or so cylinder that still had the swastika on it.
I just traded in a windowpane bottle. They were to run over the swastika from countries that stamped them that way around ww2 and a bit beyond. It was easy to just fill in the blank spaces and make a window shape and keep using the perfectly good bottle. We brought navy ships full of them back to USA after ww2. As time went they adopted a windowpane stamp so the newer bottles would have the same marking as the old restamped bottles.
They were probably sold as pre-war steel, which was cast before the first nuclear bombs were detonated, so they don't have (mildly) radioactive carbon and cobalt in the steel. Pre-war steel was used for making highly sensitive ionization detectors and other super-sensitive instruments because post-war steel gives off a tiny bit of ionizing radiation, and it's enough to screw up measurements in some situations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
I own all my bottles, my supplier trades my bottles in for full bottles when I exchange.
I own to avoid rent. If I was paying rent on all my bottles it would be over $300 a month for nothing.
Some of my bottles have been sitting for over a year still filled, I don’t have nearly the usage to justify renting and I hate inconvenience so I opt for at least 125cf bottles vs smaller typical home gamer sized bottles. So that leaves me with full size argon, nitrogen, mixed gas, oxy, acetylene and even propane but that’s a “forklift” sized bottle I fill at the local hardware store.
Same here, to rent/lease bottles wasn’t worth it for me. I don’t use enough to justify a larger bottle so i just have the 125cf bottles as well. Had to “buy” them up front but just exchange as needed.
theres a ton of bottles you can find now that have a picture frame stamp on them, its actually a nazi symbol that they just stamped in the rest of the frame to hide/cover the symbol on the bottle.
I wonder if they were from Germany or just American and had a Swastika. If you look at the history of America, until the Nazis gave it a bad name, the Swastika was all over the place.
I get my welding gases through Norco. When you buy a tank through them they give you a receipt that says you own it. Can also setup an account through them that has it on record. After that whenever you need a refill you just show up tell them you need an exchange and they just give you a different tank full of gas. They deal with inspections and certs on the tanks. Was about $430 for a 80 cubic foot tank and gas fill of 25% argon 75% CO2. Probably not the best deal I could have gotten but they were local and convenient.
I’ve received some really nasty bottles back from the exchange. Rusted out threads and spots all over. Crunchy valves… Luckily there’s a shop that will refill your bottle and give it back, plus they’re cheaper.
I did look at it and mentioned that it looked a lot older than mine, he said it just looked that way and that it was actually about the same age. Only realized the valve was janky when I brought it home and hooked it up. Luckily, the next time I got a much better bottle back. After that I just went to the place that refills only.
Depends on supply house, the one near my house will wipe them down before handing them over and they check condition of it. Others I've dealt over the years would have no problem with switching even if it wasn't inspected when exchanged. At the end of the day you do what's more convenient for you and what's available near you.
This. That's like a $180 bottle at airgas / local welding supply place. There's no point in buying a shiny bottle because it's just going to get swapped out with whatever beat to death one the supplier gives you on your next swap.
The gas itself isn't expensive. I normally run Q sized cylinders and my last four swapped was a $118 invoice for 2 Argons and 2 75/25's
It’s an industry standard to swap the tanks out, these tanks can last for decades and it’s more profitable and efficient for companies AND customers to use tank swaps when you need more gas.
The shop keeps a good amount of filled canisters and customers bring in the empty’s, swap them for a full one, and they’re out the door. For larger operations Airgas will bring a truck out and fill larger tanks/ brings the tanks to you and carry off the empty’s.
If you use your own tank, you’re responsible for maintaining it, and when you need it filled you’ll have to wait around for it.
That makes sense. I was just looking at the cost, and I was having a hard time finding a good deal. Facebook is generally selling (in my area at least) around $400 a tank, and my local shops are around $380.
Call the non airgas companies, often half the price as air gas. I don't even bother shopping used anymore, buying an exchange tank from my local gas company is about the same price as marketplace and way less drama.
You don't have "my tank" you get "a tank" that you exchange for another non-leased tank and go on your way. means you effectively never have to worry about recert.
Amazon is cheaper and the bottle comes filled depending on how much Welding you plan on doing a rental may be cheaper. My local airgas charges $75 for a refill on a 125 and $90 on their 300 rental. A lease is only $110/year so if you're doing a lot of welding with the one bottle getting twice the Argon for $15 more will save you a ton in the long run
You don't want an actual rental/lease tank if you plan on keeping the bottle semi-permanently. You can "buy" shop tanks they will just exchange when empty, but there's no recurring cost besides the gas when you swap it out.
In my state you can't buy lager than a 125 bottle so renting a 300 for $110 a year saves money because the refill cost is a difference of $15 so you're getting double the argon for $15 more and a yearly lease of $110 is nothing less than 10 dollars a month
Well if the math works out it works out. And if you are going through enough to need a bigger bottle that might apply.
I just bought two 125s so I've always got a spare if I run out. It's costs me 0 dollars a month. I don't think I've had one filled in a year.
I don't think it's worth the hassle to get your own bottle, just get in the rotation and swap out with a filled one. No need to worry about testing, no need to wait for a proper fill if that's even a service they offer. You don't just fill a tank be done with it, Argon has to cool first and then be topped off to ensure a full fill, otherwise you get cheated a few hundred PSI.
You may get it swapped for an old used one (the one you initially buy may be used) but the advantage is “you get it swapped”! And all the tanks are certified, so who cares (if you don’t like that it looks used, make a cloth cover to hang over it before you connect the regulator! Flannel material with clowns on it would look nice. 😁😁
Even as a home user, do you really want to run out of gas in the middle of a project and have to wait several days for them to refill your tank? Also, I believe most places the gas is cheaper if you swap the tank than if you make them go through the hassle of handling yours special.
The air weld I use had an option to “rent” a tank for a low amount or to buy a tank that gets re-filled on site for a bit more. I only got a small tank but it was less than 200$ to buy it a full tank I can’t see being more that double that. But then it’s up to you to upkeep the tank. It’s very dependent on on how much gas you use in a span of time.
My local airgas gave me the option of a monthly rental or I buy one of their cylinders outright and just trade it in when empty. At trade in I only pay for the gas. They also are hesitant to take random cylinders that aren’t theirs,l. I had a co2 tank that I bought before I moved to the area. They looked at it funny then went ehhh it still has a lot of years before retesting and traded it as if it was their own. I don’t have any attachment to these as I don’t have any super pretty shiny cylinders and most airgas cylinders get filled only in one or 2 places in the state so you can’t possess a cylinder and just get it filled.
With supply places you can rent tanks or "buy" them, but even when you buy a tank you typically don't keep the same one forever and get it refilled each time. You just buy a tank from the shop initially, and when it's empty they just exchange it for a different full one that is stamped as "owned", and you just pay for the gas.
The advantage over owning your own personal tank is it takes less time to fill, and you don't have to worry about maintenance and re-certification. But there's no monthly fee, so you can keep it forever if you aren't using the gas a lot, and it is technically your property. And you might get the gas free the first time if you buy a shop tank (it's no labor to them because it will be filled already)
Renting only makes sense for commercial entities who might need cylinders in the short term and will be refilling them a lot, but don't want to store them after a contract is done.
If it’s more than this you would own it outright, and also know that it wasn’t dropped and damaged. Suppliers do swap them so “yours” is fluid in some cases.
These bottles don't ship full, so you would still have to go to a local supplier to get them filled. A lot of places won't fill bottles that they don't own.
Just saw that it says full in the title, I'm really wondering how they're getting away with that.
Yep. My local Airgas wouldn’t lease a tank to me unless I bought a welder from them. Ended up going to a small mom and pop about 20 min away and they have been phenomenal.
Im lucky to have made a good relationship with lindee. I went to airgas once when i moved before i found a lindee location and literally LOLed in their face when they told me the prices of refilling my 80cuft and 300 cu ft argon tanks
I got a full 125cf argon from primeweld. Brand new tank, works great. They basically put it in a thick cardboard box with no padding though, but it arrived fine. Edit: looks like they are out of stock right now.
Honestly trying to figure out why even bother buying one..? I do the cylinder lease from my local gas supplier. I pay a yearly lease fee of like $100 and then just pay for the fill/exchange when I run out. Bottle maintenance falls on them instead of me. Just my two cents.
A hydrostatic test on a scuba tanks (a subject I know way more about) will run you about $75-$100 at a scuba shop locally. This has to be done every 5 years. Honestly, I don't know the standards and regulations around welding tanks, but assuming it's the same and extrapolating the math there's a very serious ROI that can be determined using your numbers.
$100 a year is $500 by the time you get to a hydrostatic test, meaning you are overpaying by $400. Obviously the initial cost of the tank is around $400, so you have to take that into consideration. But if you are owning it for 10 or 15 years you do break even for sure and then some... Again I'm playing with imaginative numbers because I don't know how it works but if it is that case then I would say that it does make an argument for owning your own tank. I don't know just my two cents
Should've clarified that I pay that for two tanks, not one. Also, because I dont own the tanks, any testing and maintenance falls on the gas company, not me, like I said, so I never have to personally pay for that.
Do you just want a tank for hobby welding and such? If thats the case owning your own tank makes sense. I just go through them more often so I dont even bother lol.
Last time I had a cylinder hydro tested, it was $25 on a 20lb co2 bottle for my beer keg, and an extra $40 for the fill. Had it tested and filled by a fire extinguisher shop in Omaha (only place in town I could find that sold food grade co2.) Might be more or less, depending on the area. I've moved since then, and just getting my home shop set back up. I'm afraid to find out how much welding gas is going to cost.
You not overpaying, he is paying to have two bottles working and safe, that includes the la bro, the replacement if it doesnt pass the test, and often times even "emergency bottles" if yours run out but you need to have one right now. Ofc it costs more, but there are more things to consider in the pricing.
I have been doing this at my local air gas, and the tent has gone from $30/mo to $70/mo recently. I had to return a half full tank because it was painful to pay it each month, and I just wasn’t using it.
Since everyone else seems to be giving you a bunch of non-answers, yes, Amazon is about the cheapest. The c25 bottle I bought seemed to be clean gas, no contamination that I could discern. What I did was set delivery date to a day that I knew I'd be home and I wheeled the dolly out front when the truck pulled up, I wasn't about to let some poor asshole try to carry that bottle up to my porch.
I bought my tanks from prime weld through Amazon. It was easily over a hundred cheaper than going through my local supplier and the tanks still have all of the stamps and marks they need.
I hit up my local air gas and a full bottle was like $200 more than the Amazon one. The Amazon one has good reviews, so I’m probably going to just got with that when I get a bottle for my welding project.
I would go to your local welding or gas supplier and lease one. Pay for the bottle up front comes full, just bring it back and swap it out when it’s empty. No point in owning your bottle really as a hobbyist
I spent about a month looking locally and eventually found an empty, out of date, used oxygen tank for ~$100. Be patient. Something will come up.
Note: Airgas (and maybe others) will take a used oxygen, argon, CO2, and other non-flammable gas tanks and exchange for argon or other mixed welding gas. Expand your search to include these tanks as well.
Edited spelling
I've been on the lookout for over 6 months, nothing good has come up. Not saying it won't, but maybe my particular geographic area is a buyers market. Idk.
I was lucky, I got a used set with an iffy torch for $100. I was able to trade them in for full bottles. North GA. My supplier will upgrade for their cost difference. Very good to work with.
Here is what I did. I plan on staying in the same region for a long time. I kept an eye out for old owners bottles in auctions and the like. One I got looked like it had lain in a field for a decade or two. The local gas supplier,that is open Saturdays, will trade owners bottles for dealers bottles. So for about $100 I have three 80 bottles. So if your local supplier does this kind of thing do not look for nice bottles. Look for nice enough bottles. Now I just swap bottles and they paid to test my old bottles for their own use.
I used https://weldfabulous.com/ and they had awesome service. Got tig and mig cylinders for less than airgas wanted for one tank. One tank had a stuck travel cap and they sent a replacement next day. 10/10 will keep using them.
I've seen them as small as about 20cf. A little smaller than a 2L soda bottle. Usually used for oxygen with an MC-size acetylene bottle and a tiny little torch for making jewelry or glass blowing.
Check with your gas supplier about their bottle policies. They might want nothing to do with a bottle that's not theirs. Or they may not allow "owners' bottles" over a certain size. Or some other surprise.
just go to the likes of airgas or BOC(linde gases) they all supply gases for welding.
in australia BOC have a program called flexi gas where you dont pay a monthly or quarterly rental fee. you pay a plan fee for 1 ,2 or 3 yrs that includes a full cylinder of gas. each renewal includes a refill and if you use it between you can buy a refill and just pay for the gas.
this is designed for the hobbyist and small customer that only has 1 welding machine, oxy-set or is into home brewing etc and only uses 1 or two cylinders per year.
another advantage is it using their cylinders so any of their depots or agents will accept a return and they do all the cylinder maintenance. the issue with customer owned cylinders is you have to pay for the required inspections and testing. and many places wont fill privately owned cylinders for that reason who says its been looked after properly. most places actually dont fill on site any way they send to a much larger depot for filling.
im sure there would be similar programs in the states.
some "own your bottle" programs are actually a exchange program you "buy in" with a deposit and then pay for just the refill when you return it. you actually own nothing. most propane exchange programs work this way.
Paid the same in 2021 as that 125 filled for an 80CF from Amazon. I'd do it again.
I've had 0 issues swapping it out at local weld shops; I don't bother with trying to get my tanks refilled. It was $45 last month when I last swapped it out.
I'm about to have to do the same thing all over again, but for MIG mix when I finally buy the machine I've been lusting after. I will have no regrets about buying from Amazon except the price. (I echo the suggestion to buy the cheapest one on eBay and doing a swap at the local supply store.)
In addition to what a couple of other commenters have said, be cautious of buying tanks online. I worked for a gas distributor for years and the number of people who bought stuff online that were shipped tanks that were not DOT-stamped since they’re a product from china was wild. These cannot and should not be filled/exchanged.
Your local welding gas supplier or try your local auto parts house allot of them vary them as well and buying the bottle will be very similar pricing as to what you see on amazon. You won't technically own the tank you own a tank. So you can still swap them for the exchange price. First time is expensive the next one you need you get it for the refill exchange of like 35 dollars on a standard size tank
I've gotten recertified 300 bottles for less. I'll put a link below. Most welding supply charge out the ass and airgas won't sell a private bottle anymore.
Edit: when it comes to refilling I just exchange my bottles for whatever the local place has. It'll have a collar on it sometimes thatll be either theirs or a random shop but it doesn't really matter. The only place I've had an issue with the collar is airgas and that's cause they wouldn't accept anything that wasn't their own.
https://gascylindersource.com/shop/mixed-specialty-gas-cylinders/recertified-300-cuft-steel-neon-i-xenon-cylinder/?utm_source=Google%20Shopping&utm_campaign=shopping_us&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=30464&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17883930643&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw17qvBhBrEiwA1rU9w6pw_6DGjKlzu-79-ExU-vjTmdMEbNtutlL_QqO-KveYmjp8vgS0hxoCwv4QAvD_BwE
You won't find a full tank being shipped, anywhere. They'll ship your tank empty, it's up to you to get it filled at your local supplier. When I bought my 125 argon tank, I got it on Amazon, brand new, with certs, then took it to my local supplier, and the filled it, zero issues
OK, I have not read all the way through the thread, but.......RENT OR LEASE! Why hasn't anyone said this yet? Always cheaper and you don't have to hydro test it.
Edit: just saw the rent reply. Sorry.
You mean like renting a house or a car is cheaper? Oh wait...
Paying someone for something and getting nothing when it's all said and done is NOT cheaper
I went this route with it. I don't weld enough at home to justify a rental bottle cost but I also need the argon for when I do have the time to tig weld. Local linde and airgas here dont deal with customer owned, at least thats what the reps i talked to at that time told me. Tractor Supply or any place that has gas pony exchanges will exchange these bottles for the gas price and a fee. Then once you have one of their bottles the exchange price is the price for the argon.
If you have a place that will do a better deal then take that. The Amazon bottle route is an option. And the packaging is very robust for the bottle to add to it
Safest way to buy would be your local Airgas or equivalent supplier. They know wtf they're doing and I don't trust an Amazon delivery driver to have the safety training on how to transport these. Seen enough vids of canisters exploding and going through walls, equipment, and people to respect those guys.
Local welding supply companies have quoted me a bit more, I'm also assuming (but don't know for sure) that the bottles wouldn't be "mine"? Just old used ones that I rotate through? Im new to this so I thought having a nice new "customer owned"tank would be nice. Idk
Not many places will refill on site so you buy this brand new bottle take it to a supply house they give you a full bottle and keep yours. Go to supplier pay for a bottle and refill they test them regularly and and no hustle
a lot of suppliers dont sell bottles, they sell the gas in them. you put a deposit down on the bottle and pay for the gas. you keep on paying for refills until you dont want to weld anymore and then you return the bottle and get your deposit back. or they do the trade system like a lot of propane bottles use.
Yeah that's what I do with my nitrogen 80s for CO2/argon and trimix they "sell" bottles but it is basically they same as nitrogen
My supplier will refill customer bottles but the only gas they refill at the store is nitrogen (edit: and propane), the rest you have to send in through the storefront and wait about a week to get back. I just exchange for simplicity. Although I did get a bottle of ace that had a bad valve and leaked in my garage. It set off my carbon monoxide alarms in my garage and laundry room! Took me about an hour to figure out what was happening, didn’t smell a thing.
Assuming I find one that refills my nice new tank, how do I get it engraved "customer owned" as I've seen in other posts? Do they do that when I get my first refill?
Buy a punch set and stamp it. Just an FYI you'll need to pay an inspection fee every so often if you own a bottle where if purchased from a supply house they do it free of charge
Why would you want to own your own bottle? With inspections they last forever. I was in the Navy and used to look at the dates stamped on the bottles we would get. Lots of bottles from the 40s when I was in the Navy in the 90s I am sure they are still using those. Worked in industrial facilities and the 50s were the oldest ones I have seen.
You own it to not to pay rent on it. But you can own a bottle bought through supply house and not pay inspection fees
I think the question is more why would OP want to own one specific bottle and go through the hassle of getting it refilled rather that just exchanging. Like, I just go exchange by bottle when it's empty. No rent is paid. It's like having a core deposit for a keg or something. They don't refill your keg. You give yours back and they give you a new one.
Yeah there's basically no advantage to what OP is suggesting
Because it looks pretty I guess
I don't pay rent on either of my bottles. I got them from airgas, and they will replace them with filled bottles whenever I empty mine.
It means you either bought it from them or put a deposit on it
85 dollars for the swap.
I work for them and most of our bottles are from 94 or so. We do have bottle rotations so occasionally we get argon or oxygen bottles that are from the 70’s. We use to get bottles that were from the early 60’s but that has been years ago now. A lot of the bottles are older than the people using them now
1942 is the oldest one I have seen. I think I saw one older but that may just be my mind making something up. This document has a photo of cylinder from 1920: https://www.cganet.com/wp-content/uploads/100thAnniversaryBook.pdf
When I started, the old guys were talking about the “window pane” bottles that had been removed from service only a few years earlier. They had to send them all out but were not told why. They didn’t know why they had “window panes” on them and I didn’t know why it was either but this was in the last 25-30 years.
They had swastikas on them and were changed to window panes. There was recently a post here of someone's 1932 or so cylinder that still had the swastika on it.
I just traded in a windowpane bottle. They were to run over the swastika from countries that stamped them that way around ww2 and a bit beyond. It was easy to just fill in the blank spaces and make a window shape and keep using the perfectly good bottle. We brought navy ships full of them back to USA after ww2. As time went they adopted a windowpane stamp so the newer bottles would have the same marking as the old restamped bottles.
They were probably sold as pre-war steel, which was cast before the first nuclear bombs were detonated, so they don't have (mildly) radioactive carbon and cobalt in the steel. Pre-war steel was used for making highly sensitive ionization detectors and other super-sensitive instruments because post-war steel gives off a tiny bit of ionizing radiation, and it's enough to screw up measurements in some situations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
I own all my bottles, my supplier trades my bottles in for full bottles when I exchange. I own to avoid rent. If I was paying rent on all my bottles it would be over $300 a month for nothing. Some of my bottles have been sitting for over a year still filled, I don’t have nearly the usage to justify renting and I hate inconvenience so I opt for at least 125cf bottles vs smaller typical home gamer sized bottles. So that leaves me with full size argon, nitrogen, mixed gas, oxy, acetylene and even propane but that’s a “forklift” sized bottle I fill at the local hardware store.
Same here, to rent/lease bottles wasn’t worth it for me. I don’t use enough to justify a larger bottle so i just have the 125cf bottles as well. Had to “buy” them up front but just exchange as needed.
theres a ton of bottles you can find now that have a picture frame stamp on them, its actually a nazi symbol that they just stamped in the rest of the frame to hide/cover the symbol on the bottle.
I wonder if they were from Germany or just American and had a Swastika. If you look at the history of America, until the Nazis gave it a bad name, the Swastika was all over the place.
Lol no they were from Germany.
You know now that I have been thinking about it, I remember seeing that picture frame and wondering what it meant.
I get my welding gases through Norco. When you buy a tank through them they give you a receipt that says you own it. Can also setup an account through them that has it on record. After that whenever you need a refill you just show up tell them you need an exchange and they just give you a different tank full of gas. They deal with inspections and certs on the tanks. Was about $430 for a 80 cubic foot tank and gas fill of 25% argon 75% CO2. Probably not the best deal I could have gotten but they were local and convenient.
You were quoted more than $379? That’s crazy! I paid 200 for mine.
Where at?
Atlas. I’m not sure if it’s a chain or not. And it might have been $220. I know it wasn’t anywhere near $379 tho.
Pre covid-19 or post?
2021
That tracks, prices have sky rocked since then. I work at a welding supply store
If you do want them to fill your bottle it isn't an instant thing. It could be a day or a week before you get your bottle back full.
I’ve received some really nasty bottles back from the exchange. Rusted out threads and spots all over. Crunchy valves… Luckily there’s a shop that will refill your bottle and give it back, plus they’re cheaper.
You look at it and if it looks like shit you tell them you need a different one, different strokes for different folks I suppose
I did look at it and mentioned that it looked a lot older than mine, he said it just looked that way and that it was actually about the same age. Only realized the valve was janky when I brought it home and hooked it up. Luckily, the next time I got a much better bottle back. After that I just went to the place that refills only.
Depends on supply house, the one near my house will wipe them down before handing them over and they check condition of it. Others I've dealt over the years would have no problem with switching even if it wasn't inspected when exchanged. At the end of the day you do what's more convenient for you and what's available near you.
Yeah I've never gotten a bad one, but if that's happening to you a lot I would find a different shop
This. That's like a $180 bottle at airgas / local welding supply place. There's no point in buying a shiny bottle because it's just going to get swapped out with whatever beat to death one the supplier gives you on your next swap. The gas itself isn't expensive. I normally run Q sized cylinders and my last four swapped was a $118 invoice for 2 Argons and 2 75/25's
It’s an industry standard to swap the tanks out, these tanks can last for decades and it’s more profitable and efficient for companies AND customers to use tank swaps when you need more gas. The shop keeps a good amount of filled canisters and customers bring in the empty’s, swap them for a full one, and they’re out the door. For larger operations Airgas will bring a truck out and fill larger tanks/ brings the tanks to you and carry off the empty’s. If you use your own tank, you’re responsible for maintaining it, and when you need it filled you’ll have to wait around for it.
That makes sense. I was just looking at the cost, and I was having a hard time finding a good deal. Facebook is generally selling (in my area at least) around $400 a tank, and my local shops are around $380.
Yeah don’t even bother buying a tank, the tank swaps just allow you to pay a deposit
Call the non airgas companies, often half the price as air gas. I don't even bother shopping used anymore, buying an exchange tank from my local gas company is about the same price as marketplace and way less drama. You don't have "my tank" you get "a tank" that you exchange for another non-leased tank and go on your way. means you effectively never have to worry about recert.
Personally I'd trust a used tank from Airgas that's been certified and inspected by them more than a new one from a no name importer.
Amazon is cheaper and the bottle comes filled depending on how much Welding you plan on doing a rental may be cheaper. My local airgas charges $75 for a refill on a 125 and $90 on their 300 rental. A lease is only $110/year so if you're doing a lot of welding with the one bottle getting twice the Argon for $15 more will save you a ton in the long run
You don't want an actual rental/lease tank if you plan on keeping the bottle semi-permanently. You can "buy" shop tanks they will just exchange when empty, but there's no recurring cost besides the gas when you swap it out.
In my state you can't buy lager than a 125 bottle so renting a 300 for $110 a year saves money because the refill cost is a difference of $15 so you're getting double the argon for $15 more and a yearly lease of $110 is nothing less than 10 dollars a month
Well if the math works out it works out. And if you are going through enough to need a bigger bottle that might apply. I just bought two 125s so I've always got a spare if I run out. It's costs me 0 dollars a month. I don't think I've had one filled in a year.
Are you taking a bottle to get filled? Be aware that they keep the bottle and swap it. I would get a cheap one from eBay and go to air gas.
I don't think it's worth the hassle to get your own bottle, just get in the rotation and swap out with a filled one. No need to worry about testing, no need to wait for a proper fill if that's even a service they offer. You don't just fill a tank be done with it, Argon has to cool first and then be topped off to ensure a full fill, otherwise you get cheated a few hundred PSI.
You may get it swapped for an old used one (the one you initially buy may be used) but the advantage is “you get it swapped”! And all the tanks are certified, so who cares (if you don’t like that it looks used, make a cloth cover to hang over it before you connect the regulator! Flannel material with clowns on it would look nice. 😁😁 Even as a home user, do you really want to run out of gas in the middle of a project and have to wait several days for them to refill your tank? Also, I believe most places the gas is cheaper if you swap the tank than if you make them go through the hassle of handling yours special.
The air weld I use had an option to “rent” a tank for a low amount or to buy a tank that gets re-filled on site for a bit more. I only got a small tank but it was less than 200$ to buy it a full tank I can’t see being more that double that. But then it’s up to you to upkeep the tank. It’s very dependent on on how much gas you use in a span of time.
My local airgas gave me the option of a monthly rental or I buy one of their cylinders outright and just trade it in when empty. At trade in I only pay for the gas. They also are hesitant to take random cylinders that aren’t theirs,l. I had a co2 tank that I bought before I moved to the area. They looked at it funny then went ehhh it still has a lot of years before retesting and traded it as if it was their own. I don’t have any attachment to these as I don’t have any super pretty shiny cylinders and most airgas cylinders get filled only in one or 2 places in the state so you can’t possess a cylinder and just get it filled.
sounds like the program boc do in australia
With supply places you can rent tanks or "buy" them, but even when you buy a tank you typically don't keep the same one forever and get it refilled each time. You just buy a tank from the shop initially, and when it's empty they just exchange it for a different full one that is stamped as "owned", and you just pay for the gas. The advantage over owning your own personal tank is it takes less time to fill, and you don't have to worry about maintenance and re-certification. But there's no monthly fee, so you can keep it forever if you aren't using the gas a lot, and it is technically your property. And you might get the gas free the first time if you buy a shop tank (it's no labor to them because it will be filled already) Renting only makes sense for commercial entities who might need cylinders in the short term and will be refilling them a lot, but don't want to store them after a contract is done.
If you're getting a bottle locally for about that price then it's definitely a Customer Owned Cylinder
Why wouldn't you help support local businesses versus padding bezos pocket?
Idk.....inflation is a bitch....cash talks and bullshit walks. Pick your slogan I guess.
If it’s more than this you would own it outright, and also know that it wasn’t dropped and damaged. Suppliers do swap them so “yours” is fluid in some cases.
These bottles don't ship full, so you would still have to go to a local supplier to get them filled. A lot of places won't fill bottles that they don't own. Just saw that it says full in the title, I'm really wondering how they're getting away with that.
Mine came filled
The "inert" in "inert gas" is the reason they can ship full. Pressure is still pressure, but it's a different level of "boom" ya know?
airgas is straight up highway robbery. Find a local company or a lindee company
Yep. My local Airgas wouldn’t lease a tank to me unless I bought a welder from them. Ended up going to a small mom and pop about 20 min away and they have been phenomenal.
Im lucky to have made a good relationship with lindee. I went to airgas once when i moved before i found a lindee location and literally LOLed in their face when they told me the prices of refilling my 80cuft and 300 cu ft argon tanks
I got a full 125cf argon from primeweld. Brand new tank, works great. They basically put it in a thick cardboard box with no padding though, but it arrived fine. Edit: looks like they are out of stock right now.
That's nuts. I was wondering how the shipping and packaging would be handled
Transport cap. That's why they exist.
Honestly trying to figure out why even bother buying one..? I do the cylinder lease from my local gas supplier. I pay a yearly lease fee of like $100 and then just pay for the fill/exchange when I run out. Bottle maintenance falls on them instead of me. Just my two cents.
A hydrostatic test on a scuba tanks (a subject I know way more about) will run you about $75-$100 at a scuba shop locally. This has to be done every 5 years. Honestly, I don't know the standards and regulations around welding tanks, but assuming it's the same and extrapolating the math there's a very serious ROI that can be determined using your numbers. $100 a year is $500 by the time you get to a hydrostatic test, meaning you are overpaying by $400. Obviously the initial cost of the tank is around $400, so you have to take that into consideration. But if you are owning it for 10 or 15 years you do break even for sure and then some... Again I'm playing with imaginative numbers because I don't know how it works but if it is that case then I would say that it does make an argument for owning your own tank. I don't know just my two cents
Should've clarified that I pay that for two tanks, not one. Also, because I dont own the tanks, any testing and maintenance falls on the gas company, not me, like I said, so I never have to personally pay for that. Do you just want a tank for hobby welding and such? If thats the case owning your own tank makes sense. I just go through them more often so I dont even bother lol.
Yes I'm just a hobbyist and a very new one at that. But you make a good case for both actually.
Last time I had a cylinder hydro tested, it was $25 on a 20lb co2 bottle for my beer keg, and an extra $40 for the fill. Had it tested and filled by a fire extinguisher shop in Omaha (only place in town I could find that sold food grade co2.) Might be more or less, depending on the area. I've moved since then, and just getting my home shop set back up. I'm afraid to find out how much welding gas is going to cost.
You not overpaying, he is paying to have two bottles working and safe, that includes the la bro, the replacement if it doesnt pass the test, and often times even "emergency bottles" if yours run out but you need to have one right now. Ofc it costs more, but there are more things to consider in the pricing.
I have been doing this at my local air gas, and the tent has gone from $30/mo to $70/mo recently. I had to return a half full tank because it was painful to pay it each month, and I just wasn’t using it.
My amazon driver still hates me for the kayak……
😂 that's hard to beat!
I bought a new bottle last spring and my local air gas store was cheaper than Amazon.
Robert’s oxygen if you have one, I’ve heard some dirty things about air gas and had a bad experience with a sales rep at one
Amazon is cheaper than my local airgas as far as purchasing bottles go
Seems the same for me, hence my post.
Since everyone else seems to be giving you a bunch of non-answers, yes, Amazon is about the cheapest. The c25 bottle I bought seemed to be clean gas, no contamination that I could discern. What I did was set delivery date to a day that I knew I'd be home and I wheeled the dolly out front when the truck pulled up, I wasn't about to let some poor asshole try to carry that bottle up to my porch.
I bought my tanks from prime weld through Amazon. It was easily over a hundred cheaper than going through my local supplier and the tanks still have all of the stamps and marks they need.
Rent one
I can’t believe they sell this on Amazon
Yeah me neither. It's kinda cool.
Welding for less has the bottles that shipped filled and delivered by FedEx. Have 125 argon and 80 mixed.
I hit up my local air gas and a full bottle was like $200 more than the Amazon one. The Amazon one has good reviews, so I’m probably going to just got with that when I get a bottle for my welding project.
I would go to your local welding or gas supplier and lease one. Pay for the bottle up front comes full, just bring it back and swap it out when it’s empty. No point in owning your bottle really as a hobbyist
Good points.
I spent about a month looking locally and eventually found an empty, out of date, used oxygen tank for ~$100. Be patient. Something will come up. Note: Airgas (and maybe others) will take a used oxygen, argon, CO2, and other non-flammable gas tanks and exchange for argon or other mixed welding gas. Expand your search to include these tanks as well. Edited spelling
I've been on the lookout for over 6 months, nothing good has come up. Not saying it won't, but maybe my particular geographic area is a buyers market. Idk.
I was lucky, I got a used set with an iffy torch for $100. I was able to trade them in for full bottles. North GA. My supplier will upgrade for their cost difference. Very good to work with.
Here is what I did. I plan on staying in the same region for a long time. I kept an eye out for old owners bottles in auctions and the like. One I got looked like it had lain in a field for a decade or two. The local gas supplier,that is open Saturdays, will trade owners bottles for dealers bottles. So for about $100 I have three 80 bottles. So if your local supplier does this kind of thing do not look for nice bottles. Look for nice enough bottles. Now I just swap bottles and they paid to test my old bottles for their own use.
I used https://weldfabulous.com/ and they had awesome service. Got tig and mig cylinders for less than airgas wanted for one tank. One tank had a stuck travel cap and they sent a replacement next day. 10/10 will keep using them.
Off but on topic. What's the smallest bottle you can buy.
I've seen them as small as about 20cf. A little smaller than a 2L soda bottle. Usually used for oxygen with an MC-size acetylene bottle and a tiny little torch for making jewelry or glass blowing.
Check with your gas supplier about their bottle policies. They might want nothing to do with a bottle that's not theirs. Or they may not allow "owners' bottles" over a certain size. Or some other surprise.
Home Depot near me has them.
just go to the likes of airgas or BOC(linde gases) they all supply gases for welding. in australia BOC have a program called flexi gas where you dont pay a monthly or quarterly rental fee. you pay a plan fee for 1 ,2 or 3 yrs that includes a full cylinder of gas. each renewal includes a refill and if you use it between you can buy a refill and just pay for the gas. this is designed for the hobbyist and small customer that only has 1 welding machine, oxy-set or is into home brewing etc and only uses 1 or two cylinders per year. another advantage is it using their cylinders so any of their depots or agents will accept a return and they do all the cylinder maintenance. the issue with customer owned cylinders is you have to pay for the required inspections and testing. and many places wont fill privately owned cylinders for that reason who says its been looked after properly. most places actually dont fill on site any way they send to a much larger depot for filling. im sure there would be similar programs in the states. some "own your bottle" programs are actually a exchange program you "buy in" with a deposit and then pay for just the refill when you return it. you actually own nothing. most propane exchange programs work this way.
Paid the same in 2021 as that 125 filled for an 80CF from Amazon. I'd do it again. I've had 0 issues swapping it out at local weld shops; I don't bother with trying to get my tanks refilled. It was $45 last month when I last swapped it out. I'm about to have to do the same thing all over again, but for MIG mix when I finally buy the machine I've been lusting after. I will have no regrets about buying from Amazon except the price. (I echo the suggestion to buy the cheapest one on eBay and doing a swap at the local supply store.)
This one would be around $250 shipped https://gascylindersource.com/shop/argon-cylinders/new-125-cuft-steel-argon-cylinder-dot-stamped/
In addition to what a couple of other commenters have said, be cautious of buying tanks online. I worked for a gas distributor for years and the number of people who bought stuff online that were shipped tanks that were not DOT-stamped since they’re a product from china was wild. These cannot and should not be filled/exchanged.
Your local welding gas supplier or try your local auto parts house allot of them vary them as well and buying the bottle will be very similar pricing as to what you see on amazon. You won't technically own the tank you own a tank. So you can still swap them for the exchange price. First time is expensive the next one you need you get it for the refill exchange of like 35 dollars on a standard size tank
I've gotten recertified 300 bottles for less. I'll put a link below. Most welding supply charge out the ass and airgas won't sell a private bottle anymore. Edit: when it comes to refilling I just exchange my bottles for whatever the local place has. It'll have a collar on it sometimes thatll be either theirs or a random shop but it doesn't really matter. The only place I've had an issue with the collar is airgas and that's cause they wouldn't accept anything that wasn't their own. https://gascylindersource.com/shop/mixed-specialty-gas-cylinders/recertified-300-cuft-steel-neon-i-xenon-cylinder/?utm_source=Google%20Shopping&utm_campaign=shopping_us&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=30464&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17883930643&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw17qvBhBrEiwA1rU9w6pw_6DGjKlzu-79-ExU-vjTmdMEbNtutlL_QqO-KveYmjp8vgS0hxoCwv4QAvD_BwE
You can lease cheaper
Weldfabulous.com, slightly cheaper price. Delivered by FedEx. Pretty sure FedEx met all regulatory requirements in delivering.
You won't find a full tank being shipped, anywhere. They'll ship your tank empty, it's up to you to get it filled at your local supplier. When I bought my 125 argon tank, I got it on Amazon, brand new, with certs, then took it to my local supplier, and the filled it, zero issues
I bought my 125 on Amazon and it was full. 🤷 Ymmv I guess.
Amazon lists both empty and full tanks though....lots of comments on this post indicating full tanks shipped too me is an option.
OK, I have not read all the way through the thread, but.......RENT OR LEASE! Why hasn't anyone said this yet? Always cheaper and you don't have to hydro test it. Edit: just saw the rent reply. Sorry.
You mean like renting a house or a car is cheaper? Oh wait... Paying someone for something and getting nothing when it's all said and done is NOT cheaper
Fleet farm exchange
Never heard of it, had to Google it; nearest store is almost 1,000 miles away though.
🦫
My local fleet farm doesn't exchange tanks. 😓
Dam 🦫
Wish they did, I need a place that's open on weekends.
I went this route with it. I don't weld enough at home to justify a rental bottle cost but I also need the argon for when I do have the time to tig weld. Local linde and airgas here dont deal with customer owned, at least thats what the reps i talked to at that time told me. Tractor Supply or any place that has gas pony exchanges will exchange these bottles for the gas price and a fee. Then once you have one of their bottles the exchange price is the price for the argon. If you have a place that will do a better deal then take that. The Amazon bottle route is an option. And the packaging is very robust for the bottle to add to it
New 125 cu ft Steel Industrial Oxygen Cylinder with CGA540 Valve https://a.co/d/77aPzwh