CO2 Tank Bought Second Hand - Didn't Get Papers

I purchased a co2 tank second hand. The guy who sold me the tank never gave me papers for it. I took it to get filled at the preferred shop in town, and they said they couldn't fill it without ownership papers because it was stamped by a welding company in town. They showed me two separate places the tank was marked identifying the shop. Either the welding company sold it to him, or he was renting it.

I took it to the welding place in hopes of getting this straightened out. They didn't take the tank from me, but they said to find out who the owner is and get the papers from him. I called the guy I bought it from but he doesn't have the papers and lost contact with the previous owner who did. I am not even sure if it was a rental or purchased.

Am I SOL on the purchase of this tank? It was a good deal, but apparently too good to be true.

Take it to an AirGas outlet and swap it...

Cheers!

airgas asked if it was hydro tested within 5 years, which it isn't

Even so, I bet if you actually take the tank to an AirGas outlet they'll swap it...

Cheers!

What size tank is it? Is the name stamped in or raised letters molded into the tank? I had one with with stamped in name. Some bondo and paint and your good.

JRems said:

What size tank is it? Is the name stamped in or raised letters molded into the tank? I had one with with stamped in name. Some bondo and paint and your good.

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There are all sorts of serial numbers and stuff stamped, they pointed out 2 things that identified the name, but how do I know nothing else identifies it?

Some airgas or welding shop or paintball store or industrial supply place will swap the tank. sorry you're having such a tough time with it.

weeple2000 said:

There are all sorts of serial numbers and stuff stamped, they pointed out 2 things that identified the name, but how do I know nothing else identifies it?

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Just post pics here. They might just be stupid and are confusing the name of the tank manufacturer with a gas supplier

It was stamped by the welding shop, the second place I took it to. The first place recognized their stamp. The welding shop said the tank was dot regulated so they couldn't fill it for me without proof of ownership. They identified two parts of the stamped letters and numbers as identifying them.

Have you tried other shops? When I bought my 20lb tank, it was out of date. I took it to west air and they swapped it out without even looking or asking.

schristian619 said:

Have you tried other shops? When I bought my 20lb tank, it was out of date. I took it to west air and they swapped it out without even looking or asking.

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x2. 20#'s are swapped right out at Airgas. The hydrotest is built into the Co2 charge, you may be paying $1-2 every time you get CO2 (built straight into the price) so that it covers the hydrotest overall.

MC

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1zangem5zw6fkjr/lzHPN8pO_V

Here are some pics of the stamp. Should I paint/bondo part of it? They said the "bw" and "bwsup" identified the tank but there is a DOT # on it too. Does airgas swap DOT tanks?

Praxair and airgas swap tanks, anywhere else?

I'm pretty sure all tanks have some kind of DOT stamp. All of mine do...

Cheers!

DOT is department of transportation, the BW******* things is likely the tank serial number, the numbers that are 4-5 digits are when it was retested, there is a 3 digit number which is the empty weight. those tanks are mass produced and don't usually have a specific company mark unless it was for a really large company, like Praxair, BOc, Linde etc.

There's got to be somebody that will swap it out for you, so I wouldn't say you are at a total loss. I know a hydroponics plant store in Chicago that will do it, if you are that desperate. You could even end up with an aluminum tank.

You must be trying to take your tank to Madison Recharge.

I have the same problem with a couple of Pepsi tanks. I called Pepsi, and the guy was a major ******* and said he wanted the 20+ year old tanks back. Yeah right.

I'll likely bondo the Pepsi stamps off, repaint the neck, and take it to Airgas (don't get your refills here). They'll swap it out even if its out of date.

Just to update, I finally took care of this. Paint and bondo add about fifteen dollars to the cost of the tank. Doing a swap is much cheaper if you need a hydro test.

Thanks everyone.

weeple2000 said:

Just to update, I finally took care of this. Paint and bondo add about fifteen dollars to the cost of the tank. Doing a swap is much cheaper if you need a hydro test.

Thanks everyone.

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Where did you take it? I bondo/painted one of mine, but the paint scratches off easy, and I'm afraid it will somehow be tracked back to me.

What was the swap process like?

evandena said:

Where did you take it? I bondo/painted one of mine, but the paint scratches off easy, and I'm afraid it will somehow be tracked back to me.

What was the swap process like?

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Cash is your friend.

thatjonguy said:

Cash is your friend.

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Yeah, as long as Airgas doesn't make you set up an account.

evandena said:

Yeah, as long as Airgas doesn't make you set up an account.

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I am pretty sure they just bill it under a walk in account. That is how I have had swaps done before and I even upgraded from 5lb to 20lb.

thatjonguy said:

I am pretty sure they just bill it under a walk in account. That is how I have had swaps done before and I even upgraded from 5lb to 20lb.

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Thats how my Oxarc cash/walk-in account works for swapping bottles.

I need gas, they have gas, they give me gas. no fuss about tracing or hydro-testing bottles, just glance at the bottle size.