Refilling used Oxygen Tank

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Eoin

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I picked up this Mada Cylinder III tank on craigslist for $5.00 and I'm not sure how to get it refilled in the South Jersey area. It seems that people have issues with filling Medical tanks, but I thought I would send it to the group for thoughts.

O2tank.JPG
 
Most people won't touch them without a prescription. At least that's what I found when I was researching buying one of those.
Damn nice tank for $5 though. Nice score!
 
If it's full it's got enough for many years. If not you need a perscription. You would need to remove that label( probably has the medical companys info who actually owns it) and you can try to bring it to your gas supplier, he might swap it for a non medical tank. I had a very large medical tank and they swapped it at no charge for a smaller welding o2 tank I just had to pay for the fill.
 
Find someone with a prescription and have them fill it, or worse yet, swap it with one of theirs!
I'm Kidding!!
 
I spoke to our local welding supply company that also does medical refills and they said I definitely need a prescription. But they did say they would fill it with the welding O2. How does that differ from the medical grade? Would using that O2 require a inline filter to remove impurities that could infect the beer or is pretty much the same?
 
I am pretty sure its the same gas, just different tanks.
Most homebrewers are using the oxygen from a hardware store which is sold for welding.
 
Welding O2 is not filtered as much and actually may contain trace amounts of other gasses. Medical grade oxygen SHOULD be 99.99% pure. I know what you're saying...oxygen is oxygen. And it is.... But industrial or welding oxygen takes are just refilled when empty. Therefore there is a chance that it isn't pure/clean and may actually contain trace amounts other gasses or even dirt particles. On the other hand medical grade oxygen tanks are "supposed" to be cleaned, emptied under vacuum, tested and then refilled.

Not to freak anyone out but that's basically it. Oxygen is oxygen, you just may be getting anything from a few particles of dirt to trace amounts of Acetylene to god knows what from an industrial grade/welding tank. Not downing someone on here that sells propane and propane accessories (King of The Hill reference). Some suppliers care and some don't. I'm just stating what you could get with a non medical grade oxygen refill.
 
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