C02 refills

Anyone ever have trouble getting their tanks filled at the welding shops? I have had trouble in the past with bottles for welding and getting the "its not one of our tanks, you need to use one of ours" type stuff. Any of this happen when taking in your new tanks you got with your kegging set up?

Do they fill your tank while you wait or what is the scenario? With my welding mix and since I had to buy/rent a bottle from them they just swap me bottles since they have them filled in the back waiting for people to come and pick them up.

GaryA said:

Anyone ever have trouble getting their tanks filled at the welding shops? I have had trouble in the past with bottles for welding and getting the "its not one of our tanks, you need to use one of ours" type stuff. Any of this happen when taking in your new tanks you got with your kegging set up?

Do they fill your tank while you wait or what is the scenario? With my welding mix and since I had to buy/rent a bottle from them they just swap me bottles since they have them filled in the back waiting for people to come and pick them up.

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Sounds like thats what they encourage ( rent their tanks, greedy bastards)

MY tank was old and handed down to me from a friend and AirGas ( commercial company) swapped it with no questions.

However when I asked them to swap/fill my 50lb tanks they wouldn't because they said those are not sold to individuals ( I obtained it from my restaurant I work at). He even asked if it was stolen.

Thanks for the info., my wife is thinking of getting me a kegging set up for Christmas so I am trying to do as much research as I can so she knows what to get without having to learn about all this stuff. I would hate to have her buy me a shiny new bottle just to have the welding shop keep it and give me some old crusty bottle out of the back room. If that is what Im going to get I would rather just get the crusty bottle from them to begin with.

have them fill it with acetlyne and use that for kegging!

Some homebrew suppliers can fill them. If they can't, they can CERTAINLY tell you where you can have it done locally.

also make sure you call any fire extinguisher service companies in your area. mine charges less per pound than anyone around and fills on the spot. hey tuck they also have one hell of a deal on a #50 paintball refill tank $75 otd.:rockin: anything over #15 is,<$1 per the#50 is like 35-40

I ran into that myself, I got two new kegerators for under the bar, and took the new shiny bottles to KINT who supply Co2, oxygen & welding gases. They have an exchange policy where you throw your bottles into the mix and you get two used bottles, but they have been gone over, filled and a new compression gasket all bottles after so many years must be taken out of service. With this program, your bottles never expire, and if you want out they give you a deposit back on the bottle. Sometimes the valves go bad, or things get stripped etc. I thought it was a decent program, and how long are you going to stand there and look at shiny bottles while you drink home brew anyhow? Plus you never have to work about maintenance on the bottle. Also for it to be used in Pa all Co2 bottles must be painted silver, and have the appropriate label attached. And by the way just an F.Y.I I recently paid $12.75 for a 5 lb bottle.

my suggestion is to buy your bottle from the gas supplier. Get the regulator and stuff from a homebrew supply shop. That way you aren't giving away a brand new bottle. Otherwise search out a place that actually fills bottles. I've found that many gas supply places around me don't even have filling equipment. They just exchange bottles with another company that operates outside of town. It's funny cause all their bottles have multiple layers of spray painted company names.

you think that's bad:

i got two 5lb cylinders from the ONLY welding shop in town. when I got both, they said I was paying a deposit on the tanks, years ago. they only swap tanks on saturday, and that's the only day I can drive clear out to their location.
plus, I could get my deposit back, so it sounded like a fine idea.

later on, i upgraded one to a 10lb tank, for the difference in the deposit. sweet.

when i tried to do the other one, I got the run around, that i needed my receipt from when I PURCHASED the tank. I told them it was leased. They looked at me like I'd just admitted to having relations with their grandmother....then told me "we don't do that".

I never had a 'new' tank from them, always one labeled with their numbering system..sometimes i get a crappy beat up steel tank, other times a shiny, newer aluminmum clyinder.

I don't know what their game is, but it sucks.

/rant

Sounds like I have some calls to make to find out which is my best route to go. Thanks everyone for all the info.

eriktlupus said:

also make sure you call any fire extinguisher service companies in your area. mine charges less per pound than anyone around and fills on the spot. hey tuck they also have one hell of a deal on a #50 paintball refill tank $75 otd.:rockin: anything over #15 is,<$1 per the#50 is like 35-40

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+1. the fire extinguisher place charged me $10. Last time I went to AirGas, it was $22.

Sure enough I went to the welding supply shop that I got my welding tank from, and they don't fill they only exchange. So they would have wanted my shiny new tank and given me some piece of crap from the back room. Their price is $83 for a filled 5lb tank. I think I will be looking other places.

GaryA said:

Sure enough I went to the welding supply shop that I got my welding tank from, and they don't fill they only exchange. So they would have wanted my shiny new tank and given me some piece of crap from the back room. Their price is $83 for a filled 5lb tank. I think I will be looking other places.

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BUT how much is the exchange? if it's cheap enough, the initial investment may be worth while

shafferpilot said:

BUT how much is the exchange? if it's cheap enough, the initial investment may be worth while

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$14 exchange

I just found a brew shop that fills onsite for $2.50 per lb.

$12 exchange for a 5 pounder here...while you wait and usually newer tanks

do the fire extinguisher places sell tanks?

mine does
35 for 5lb and up to 75 for 50lb

I scored a 20# tank a while back that was out of date and empty. I just got it hydro tested and filled along with a fill on my 5# er for a c note. Not a bad price around these parts. I have a steel tank that is also out of date and just about empty. Guess i'll try to sell it or swap it locally.
One 20# tank is enough for me along with the two 5# tanks I have.

I get mine filled at my fire extingusher place.

I got a 5 lb. tank for $58 + shipping from beveragefactory.com and there's a local gas supplier that filled it for $8, including testing fee.

If you live in a decent size town or small city there's bound to be somewhere that will fill one on the cheap.

look for restaurant/beverage supply companies. i'll be calling my fire extinguisher companies tomorrow for sure! i have a 20lb air gas tank that i usually just swap but the one i got the other day is extra pretty.

I just took my empty 20# bottle to Airgas and the bastards said they couldn't fill it and were pretty sure no welding outfit would fill it because it has coca-cola stamped on the bottle...!!

The guy basically told me I got ripped off (bought the tank on ebay, full for 98$)...since I couldn't fill it at welding shops, etc...

Anybody else encountered this...? What should I do..? I haven't tried anywhere else yet....maybe a fire extinguisher service co.


Oh yeah, and my keg is full of brew 5 days old...;(