What is the cheapest way to hire industrial gas

Scary Des · 13 December 2005, 15:08

Currently hiring argon from Air products and it’s costing me a fortune

there has to be a better way, Des.

Mark Halliday · 13 December 2005, 16:03

Hi Des

No cheap way that I have found .............................. yet.
I will watch this with interest.
What we need is some feedback from someone, say in S Wales, with an engineering shop for a garage.

BTW How much are you paying Air Products? I bet it is less than I pay BOC.

Scary Des · 13 December 2005, 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Halliday

Hi Des

No cheap way that I have found .............................. yet.
I will watch this with interest.
What we need is some feedback from someone, say in S Wales, with an engineering shop for a garage.

BTW How much are you paying Air Products? I bet it is less than I pay BOC.

Less the gas price, cylinder hire is 0.25p per day inc. the dreaded vat

which doesn’t sound bad but it soon adds up and every time I walk by it I start Calculating what it is costing me for it to sit there

I need oxyacetylene for occasional jobs but not enough to pay too much for it

So any idea would be good Des.

Mark Halliday · 13 December 2005, 16:36

S'about the same as BOC. I have used about 1/2 a cylinder of argon in 2 years. It would be cheaper to get someon else to do the welding, but wheres the fun in that?

Can you still hire "portapack" oxyacetylene on a charge per cylinder basis, like calor?
It's a long time since I had a gas axe, so things have probably changed. I used to have mediun sized cylinders, but my, aheeerm, "source" dried up.

codprawn · 13 December 2005, 16:45

I am still trying to get hold of a cheap bottle of Argon for my TIG - still no joy- if I can get hold of an empty bottle from airmaster I can just pay for refills from a company in swansea with no rental - still looking though!!!

Scary Des · 13 December 2005, 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Halliday

.....-Can you still hire "portapack" oxyacetylene on a charge per cylinder basis, like calor? ......

No joy on this front

only found silly little disposable bottles that last just long enough to burn the paint off

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

.....- if I can get hold of an empty bottle .....I can just pay for refills ....... with no rental - ......

Ahh so that’s the trick

give me your address and I’ll send you a jiffy bag full just to tide you over

Des

jwalker · 13 December 2005, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

..I can just pay for refills from a company in swansea with no rental - still looking though!!!

Can you? You might find they'll realise the cylinder is not on your account and then it shortly will be.

The guys at BOC told me that the rental charge can be dodged if you take a new cylinder and return it before the charging date at the end of the month because the rebate is pro-rata monthly. You'll need to get the dates right though. I've not needed gas for a short enough period to try it out.

Scary Des · 13 December 2005, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Can you? You might find they'll realise the cylinder is not on your account and then it shortly will be. ....

Doh

sounded too good to be true but I was trying to give CP the benefit of the doubt

All in all this is quite a restrictive practice and I am surprised you can't buy the cylinder which might be cheaper in the long run

Des

Pete7 · 13 December 2005, 18:07

Used to have my own Argon cylinder for diving (filling the drysuit not me) jsut took it along to one of the better dive shops and they would top it up. Think it used to be about 1ppl but that was a while back. A 3L clyinder @ 232 bar will be about £70 to buy but you will only get the decanting pressure from the Dive Shops cylinders.

Pete

BOG RAT · 13 December 2005, 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

I am still trying to get hold of a cheap bottle of Argon for my TIG - still no joy- if I can get hold of an empty bottle from airmaster I can just pay for refills from a company in swansea with no rental - still looking though!!!

Hey perhaps I can help!!!! some chap has just moved in to the yard next door to us at work, he sells gas in all sorts of bottles, in all sorts shapes & sizes of bottles etc, just tell me what you your looking for for & I'll go get it, I'm sure he wont mind, as we found his sons wondering around our yard last week, "looking for their lost kitten" wots good for the goose etc..

SOLENTER · 13 December 2005, 23:12

If you chaps want gas bottles go to your local tip or recycleing plant
as thay call them these days
Thay have a compound with all sorts in them and if you cant
find what your looking for see the lads that work there cash talks remember
thay dont do plastic

Come to think of it as recycleing or doing your bit for the planet
good hunting

codprawn · 13 December 2005, 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRUMPY

If you chaps want gas bottles go to your local tip or recycleing plant
as thay call them these days
Thay have a compound with all sorts in them and if you cant
find what your looking for see the lads that work there cash talks remember
thay dont do plastic

Come to think of it as recycleing or doing your bit for the planet
good hunting

Bloody good idea - saw a load there other day but didn't pay much attention - mainly calor gas etc but you never know!!!!

Talking of recycling did you see what happens to some of the rubbish - people seperate it all out for the bin man - then local councils etc just stuff it all into containers and ship it to China!!!

hard1 · 13 December 2005, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Talking of recycling did you see what happens to some of the rubbish - people seperate it all out for the bin man - then local councils etc just stuff it all into containers and ship it to China!!!

Do you actually FOLLOW your rubbish?

codprawn · 13 December 2005, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by hard1

Do you actually FOLLOW your rubbish?

No but the TV crew did - they actually retrieved a womans letters etc from a waste tip in Indonesia and brought it back to her!!!

Jono · 14 December 2005, 08:39

Just remember, you "eagle-eyed" Cylinder re-cyclers.. they won't get filled if they're not in current test and good condition....

Mark Halliday · 14 December 2005, 09:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7

Used to have my own Argon cylinder for diving (filling the drysuit not me) jsut took it along to one of the better dive shops and they would top it up. Pete

Would the argon be be pure enough? It's like using brewers CO2 for Mig. It works, but not very well.

Pete7 · 14 December 2005, 15:24

Not sure, I don't weld, just use it to fill me drysuit and keep warm.

Pete

codprawn · 14 December 2005, 15:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Halliday

Would the argon be be pure enough? It's like using brewers CO2 for Mig. It works, but not very well.

If it is intended for use with people I should imagine it is very pure. Also unless welding aluminium Argon is usually mixed with CO2 anyway.

What I am hoping to do is to buy pure Argon for use with my TIG and then couple it up to a CO2 bottle for use with a mig to make my own argoshield mix. CO2 alone for welding is horrible.

Jono · 14 December 2005, 15:48

post deleted....

Poly · 14 December 2005, 21:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

If it is intended for use with people I should imagine it is very pure.

There is no reason to make a gas pure - just becuase people are handling it. purity and toxicity are not related.

Argon for TIG welding is usually recommended at 99.998% purity. HP grade argon that is used for diving applications is only 99.9% pure. The main differences are the trace amounts of oxygen and water - which are important to welding - but clearly not harmful to us. I would also suspect that the bottled purity from a diving shop may be less than this as they may not purge all the lines / regulators enough.

HTH.

NEIL