When will the Argon shortage end?

[erikmannie]

Posted on 8/23/22:

I just went to refill my spare cylinder of Argon, and I was *very* lucky to buy their last one in that size. It cost me $65. I am in the Bay Area, California, and the company is Matheson Gas.

They said to make it last because I will not be able to find any Argon in this area until such time that we get past the Argon shortage.

This also applies to C25, as that is 75% Argon.

Matheson Gas has existing contract customers, and they try to fill those contracts. They are not accepting any new contract customers, at least not for these shielding gases.

They have plenty of acetylene and oxygen.

The supply of CO2 is also a little tight, but there is not a critical shortage as with Argon and C25.

Does anybody know anything about when this shortage might end?

I will reserve my Argon on hand for only aluminum and titanium jobs, and only MIG (I use C25) when I can’t use gas or stick on that job. I wonder if I will end up trying 100% CO2 for MIG.

Many people have said that gas welding is dead or dying. I don’t know what else I would use on thin steel if I can’t TIG or MIG. I won’t use a 1/16” stick electrode on anything thinner than 1/16”.

 

[RJSakowski]

Argon is .9% of the atmosphere do there's plenty of raw material around. As for CO2, well they're frantically trying to get rid of it. Argon is produced by liquefying air and distilling off the argon. CO2 is a byproduct of power plant operation and ethanol fuel production and it is a mystery as to why it should be in short supply.

 

[MrWhoopee]

My SIL works at an ethanol plant. They are making big bucks from the sale of CO2. Hard to imagine there is anything other than an artificial shortage. Haven't priced argon recently, but I found it cost half as much 90 miles from home instead of 45. I also found that going directly to the producer (Airgas) does not get you a better price. It cost more to buy direct than from a distributor. It pays to shop welding gasses.

 

[G-ManBart]

First I've heard of it. I posted a similar question on a welding forum to see if others have heard of anything along these lines. I've got spare 330 CuFt bottles of everything I use so I'm not overly worried, but it would be good to know so I can plan ahead.

 

[NCjeeper]

First I've heard of it.

Same here. Not an issue around here that I know of.

 

[great white]

Might be something local. I have no problems getting replacement bottles (Albe) from the LWS....

 

[benmychree]

Posted on 8/23/22:

I just went to refill my spare cylinder of Argon, and I was *very* lucky to buy their last one in that size. It cost me $65. I am in the Bay Area, California, and the company is Matheson Gas.

They said to make it last because I will not be able to find any Argon in this area until such time that we get past the Argon shortage.

This also applies to C25, as that is 75% Argon.

Matheson Gas has existing contract customers, and they try to fill those contracts. They are not accepting any new contract customers, at least not for these shielding gases.

They have plenty of acetylene and oxygen.

The supply of CO2 is also a little tight, but there is not a critical shortage as with Argon and C25.

Does anybody know anything about when this shortage might end?

I will reserve my Argon on hand for only aluminum and titanium jobs, and only MIG (I use C25) when I can’t use gas or stick on that job. I wonder if I will end up trying 100% CO2 for MIG.

Many people have said that gas welding is dead or dying. I don’t know what else I would use on thin steel if I can’t TIG or MIG. I won’t use a 1/16” stick electrode on anything thinner than 1/16”.

I used straight CO2 for many years on steel, it gives the best penetration of all gasses, buy the welds are not as pretty as with 75/25. When I worked at Kaiser Steel, they made all the tunnel liners for BART rapid transit, most of the welding on them was done with MIG with CO2, except with the skin plate to the side flanges, which was done with sub arc, with the MIG welds, they were done with a machined weld prep for (nearly) full penetration.

 

[erikmannie]

I should have called the other 2 suppliers in town before I posted this thread. I just called both of them, and neither one are having an issue with this. At this point, it looks like the issue was localized to Matheson, or even that one Matheson store!

Praxair said that they make their own at a plant in Pittsburgh, California. Praxair charges $65 for an exchange which is the same that I paid at Matheson this morning.

I called Airgas, & they charge $200 to exchange an empty customer owned cylinder for a fully charged cylinder of Argon. To their credit, they have it in stock. I thought he had misquoted me the price, but this is actually the price for the same thing that the other 2 suppliers in town charge $65.

Now I feel comfortable TIG welding if I want to.

 

[great white]

Many people have said that gas welding is dead or dying. I don’t know what else I would use on thin steel if I can’t TIG or MIG. I won’t use a 1/16” stick electrode on anything thinner than 1/16”.

Can't see gas welding "going away" anytime in the near future. Sure, there's plasma welding, electron beam welding, laser welding, friction welding, etc. But they're all quite expensive, require very specific equipment or are not really that portable.

Plus, I can't see the thousands/millions of little welding shops all around North America throwing out their portable gas units (that are most likely paid for) and either paying a lot of money for a portable new welding system or trying to make all their customers come to their shop.

Kinda hard to bring a busted 20 ton excavator to the LWS if you can't even move it.....

 

[OCJohn]

Interesting topic. I know nothing about it, but found this after a little reading...

US CO2 shortage: More plant closures set to impact supply in the coming weeks

“I believe this is going to be a challenging summer/fall. CO2 demand continues to outpace the capacity being added and the current outages are only adding to that stress,” that’s what Ned Lane, CEO of CK Supply, told gasworld earlier this week in relation to the...

www.gasworld.com

Ammonia plant closures due to scheduled maintenance occurs every year after the fertilizer season, so it is well known to the industry for planning purposes,” according to Maura Garvey, Principal, Intelligas Consulting. “The challenges surrounding the Denbury source have just made the logistics planning significantly more difficult. Since this issue is an annual occurrence, the industry and end users should be developing a longer-term plan to create a fly-wheel for the peak summer months.”

Ammonia production is a key sourcing route for CO2 production. In fact, ammonia plants have traditionally been one a large source of food-grade CO2 and while in the past decade other sources of CO2 have been invested in, including those raw gas streams from chemical operations and bioethanol plants, ammonia remains one of the largest sources.

Related and potentially devastating concern:

Shortage of CO2 could threaten nation’s beer supply​