Refill or exchange CO2 tank?

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Corbin

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I bought 2 soda kegs at a garage sale for less than $30. To compliment my newly acquired stainless steel beauties, I decided to get a CO2 tank, lines, fittings... the list goes on.

Now I've got this brand new shiny CO2 tank from Northern Brewer and I call the local gas place (Airgas - here in Johnson City, TN) and am told that they don't fill the tanks there. They keep filled tanks on hand and will have to swap me for a used filled one. Maybe I'm being childish, but the idea of handing over my brand new shiny tank in exchange for some frat's banged up 3 year old bottle with remnants of a "NOS" sticker still on the side doesn't appeal to me. What is more common for you to do: exchange your tank, or wait for it to get filled when you walk in?

Does anyone have any insight into the secrets of gas dealers in northeast TN?
 
I bought 2 soda kegs at a garage sale for less than $30. To compliment my newly acquired stainless steel beauties, I decided to get a CO2 tank, lines, fittings... the list goes on.

Now I've got this brand new shiny CO2 tank from Northern Brewer and I call the local gas place (Airgas - here in Johnson City, TN) and am told that they don't fill the tanks there. They keep filled tanks on hand and will have to swap me for a used filled one. Maybe I'm being childish, but the idea of handing over my brand new shiny tank in exchange for some frat's banged up 3 year old bottle with remnants of a "NOS" sticker still on the side doesn't appeal to me. What is more common for you to do: exchange your tank, or wait for it to get filled when you walk in?

Does anyone have any insight into the secrets of gas dealers in northeast TN?

I live in middle TN and there's simply no place to get a bottle filled. So you have to exchange tanks. I don't blame you, it sucks to give up a brand new tank. You could always sell the new tank on ebay and buy a used one. Also you can "buy" a filled one from the gas company and just trade that until you can find a place to fill your new one, mabey a fire extinguisher company.
 
Check out the local fire control places. They are the best prices in my area and they FILL it while you wait.

good luck
John
 
Here is a Google Search Result for fire extinguishers near Johnson City, TN. I'll bet that one or more of them will fill your new CO2 tank while you wait. I didn't want to exchange my nice, new aluminum CO2 tanks that I got from Micromatic. I found 5 fire extinguisher places within 5 miles of my house that fill tanks on the premises.
 
Check out the local fire control places. They are the best prices in my area and they FILL it while you wait.

good luck
John

The guy at the welding shop won't fill while you wait because he puts the tank in the freezer for a while to get it chilled...you get more CO2 in a chilled tank than a warm one.

He said: unless you're in a hurry, anyone who fills a warm tank is ripping you off.:mad:
 
The guy at the welding shop won't fill while you wait because he puts the tank in the freezer for a while to get it chilled...you get more CO2 in a chilled tank than a warm one.

He said: unless you're in a hurry, anyone who fills a warm tank is ripping you off.:mad:

I'm no expert but as far as I'm aware co2 tanks are filled by weight just like propane tanks the temperature of the tank should have nothing to do with the amount of co2 you get. You might get a short fill if the person filling doesn't have a booster pump and is just filling from another tank. you can also avoid this by venting some of the gas in the bottle this will rapidly cool the bottle. just like the paint ball guys fire off the remaining gas in the tank to cool it down before they fill them.

John
 
wildwest450: There is a Homebrewing store in Nashville called "All Seasons Gardening and Brewing". Unfortunately they do NOT fill tanks. I'm glad this was posted, I just got a new tank and haven't found a place to just fill the tank and not exchange it. I'll post if I find a place though.
 
wildwest450: There is a Homebrewing store in Nashville called "All Seasons Gardening and Brewing". Unfortunately they do NOT fill tanks. I'm glad this was posted, I just got a new tank and haven't found a place to just fill the tank and not exchange it. I'll post if I find a place though.

Yeah, I'm an hour and a half from Nashville. But thanks for the heads up.:mug:
 
Things worked out the opposite for me, I started with two beat-up old steel tanks in and traded them for aluminum ones. The local welding shop let's you trade or fill, but filling is overnight.
 
Thanks for all of the responses. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had the swap/refill dilemma. I'll check into the fire extinguisher thing and see what I can come up with. Concerning the cold-fill option, I'll see if my local place fills by weight or by pressure; If they fill by weight then temperature is irrelevant, but if they fill by pressure then temperature will be a significant factor. As for buying a pre-filled tank from the welding supply place, it was still cheaper to buy from Northern Brewer and pay for the swap than the outrageous price they wanted for a new tank. With that said I have already saved money, so this is less a question about economics and more a question of aesthetics. Thanks again for all your input!
 
If they fill by any other method than weighing the amount of liquid CO2 then I wouldn't use them. If I'm paying for 5 lbs of CO2 then I want 5 lbs of CO2. The temperature of the receiving tank is most definitely irrelevant when talking about the weight measurement of a liquefied gas being placed into that tank.

A cold tank WILL make it easier on the filling equipment to reach that tank's capacity.
 
One thing I found is that swaps are generally cheaper than fillups another lesson I learned is it's good to have a second tank so you might consider doing a 20 # swap out and a 5 # fill
 
Just an update, in case anyone was checking: All Seasons Brewing gave me a card for the CO2 place they recommend.

Volunteer Welding Supply, Inc.
815 5th Ave. South
Nashville, TN 37203
615.256.5658
Volunteer Welding Supply, Inc. - Home

Apparently they will either do a swap or fill and return the tank you give them. The person at All Seasons said they will fill a 20lb. tank for around $20

I'm going to be filling my 5lb. tank within the next couple of weeks, so i'll report back later.
 
I was calling around here in town for a place to get my shiny new 5lb CO2 tank filled, the first place offered to exchange it for $15, (welding supply).

Then I found a local paintball supplier/ outdoor store that would refill it for $8! (edit: and they did it while I waited :cool: )
 
I used the volunteer welding supply. It was easy and only took two minutes. It cost $11.47 for a 5 pound tank.
 
I am currently faced with an issue. I have a CO2 tank that was called "odd ball as ****." The local welding supply will not swap it, and they don't do filling. The only place in town that does to filling said that it needed to be hydrotested. Hydrotesting is down out of town and is a 70 mile round trip. So the cost of gas, the cost to test, the cost of filling, plus having to test it again in a few years just to pay everything all over again? Am I better off just buying a used one and having it filled for $83? On that note, if I am just swaping them, but I purchased one, I should never have to have one tested because it will be the responsibility of the merchant to test the equipment he's giving me, correct? Buying used and swapping sounds better than the filling option. Let me know!
 
Just as a follow-up footnote: I'm faced with the same dilemma, but in Renton, WA.

My LHBS will exchange cylinders, and so will every welding shop around here, for around $12-$16. None that I have found will fill on premises. For the record, the cheapest was Central Welding at $12.14 for a 5 lb exchange.

However, I have found that Kent Oxygen will fill on premise if you leave the tank. $20 for 5 pounds. I think I am going to go this route.

There are reasons I want to keep my brand new tank. I think the $4 or so is worth it. I can explain why, if necessary :D
 
I have a local welding shop charge me 10 bucks...My local LHBS will exchange my brand new tank for a crappy old one 25 bucks..I'll stick with the local welding shop...
 
I ran out of CO2 on New Year's Eve and was at the welding supply store 35 minutes before they closed trying to get my new aluminum tank refilled.
They had shut their pumps down at 2pm so they could not refill (the usual time I did not know about).
They swapped my 5lb new aluminum tank for a 10 lb steel tank for the same price as a 5 lb. fill.
They put my name on the aluminum tank and will swap it back when I'm done with the 10 pounder. I DIDN'T EVEN ASK, THEY OFFERED!
Rockford Industrial Welding Supply, you rule and saved New Years!
Hope everyone else has good experiences like this.
 
CO2 is CO2 in any grade. There is no 'food-grade' CO2 per se. If it's CO2, it's good regarless of the target market.

I have brought this up before, and I disagree. I believe there is food grade C02 and non food grade. It isn't the gas itself that is food grade, but the vessel they use to store it and dispense it that is food grade. Just think of it as SCUBA tanks. Compresed air is compressed air(work with me here) but if your tank has any rust or other contaiminants in it, it is no longer good usable air and causes serious problems when you breath it.
 
^^I would agree with that, but you're not actually breathing the beer co2 in. I would think that any sediment, rust, etc., would precipitate out to the bottom of the beer. Worst case is you're getting a little more iron in your diet :)
 
My supplier did say they fill tanks differently based on what they were used for. I didn't get the chance to ask him what the difference was (was @ work when he called to ask), but the food grade filling vessel makes sense. I should probably follow up on that when he drops it off.
 
I'm stopping by to have my "NEW" 5# tank filled at Praxair on my way home tonight!

I'll try and remember to ask them the difference. I'm thinking if their pump is "Wet/oil bath" rather than "DRY" that they would use a oil/air separator to remove the oil from the CO2 for the "Food Grade" stuff... But that's just me thinking off the cuff.

I'll find out tonight.

Cheers
 
Check to see if there are any commercial beverage gas supply houses nearby. There's a place near me that I think does primarily industrial and welding gases, but they also supply for beverage use. They're usually never busy when I go and can fill my tank while I wait. They can do CO2 or beer gas mix, but they're strict on the tank type - they won't fill a tank with beer gas mix unless it has a CGA-580 valve (typically, a nitrogen tank) and is painted black to indicate that it's not straight N2, argon, or helium. It has to be CGA-320 for plain CO2, but I don't think the tank color matters in that case.
 
Just got mine filled while I waited. 8.50 for the fill and 3.95 for WA Hazmat fee....Grrrr
 
Just got mine filled while I waited. 8.50 for the fill and 3.95 for WA Hazmat fee....Grrrr

Where was that?

I just wanted to follow up and say Kent Oxygen was a great experience - dropped my tank off in the AM and had a voicemail a couple of hours later saying it was ready to be picked up. Something like $18 for a 5 lb fill, pricey I know, but it's a small local business, and it was worth it to keep my pretty new Al tank.

20 lb fill there is $29. I plan on getting a bigger tank shortly.
 
Just ordered my kegging equipment including the previously mentioned shiny new CO2 tank. Called around today and most people want to swap tanks. Meh! Found a local place that wants $19 for a swap but they pointed me to their depot that does refills. They want $23.62 to refill.

So do I plan to spend $4.62 extra per fill to keep my shiny CO2 tank? You bet!
 
I bought a used 5lb CO2 tank about a month ago, and I'm still looking for a place to fill/swap it in Albuquerque. The hard part is finding a place that is close or just one bus ride since I don't have a car.
I just bought a nice aluminum oxygen "D" cylinder (415 liters) with regulator for $35 shipped off ebay tonight, so I'm gonna be looking for a place to fill that too. How many brews would that last me? (30sec*1 lpm=0.5 liters/brew, 830 brews) ???
 
wow...I've never had any problems with AirGas refilling my personal 5# tank. They offer exchange right now or fill personal tank for later pickup. All they asked was if it was hydro'd and since it was new and had right stamping they fill it no problem. think it's about $13 including taxes and fees.

I'm moving soon outta state so hopefully all the AirGas locations will do the same and I just didn't find the only location that does it.
 
I get mine filled while I wait at a fire protection place. But I really don't mind a swap on the steel tank. I have a nice aluminum 20lb power tank for my truck that I won't let go of. (It's also my back up keg gas.)
 
I know this is a way old thread, but I just got an answer from my local industrial CO2 company.

They said that there isn't a difference between beverage grade CO2 and industrial CO2 except for a certification (they sell both). For high-stakes applications (like maybe medical, I don't know... she didn't say) that require a certificate for everything, they go through an extra certifying process so that there's a paper trail. Industrial grade CO2 is what is used in all of the soda dispensing units, not beverage grade.

Just thought you'd like to know.:)
 
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