WTF is Up With Argon?

I go to a smaller regional supplier up in Alabama - They just swap out any tank you bring them, and fill out a receipt saying you own the tank.
I guess I'm spoiled.
At one time, I used to go to Airgas, a long time ago .......
 
G-ManBart said:
Arc3 likely has a hydro facility that simply pops the Airgas collar off and puts their own on it (or a blank)...they're just a press fit and any good hydro shop probably has the setup to change them.
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The idea of a press fit cap on a cylinder seems suspect to me, but I'd like to know if this is correct. Anybody know for sure?
 
Winegrower said:
The idea of a press fit cap on a cylinder seems suspect to me, but I'd like to know if this is correct. Anybody know for sure?
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It's not a pressure cap. It's a pressed on collar that goes over the top of the tank. If it's the common one with the threaded on "safety cap", it'll include those threads, but it doesn't seal pressure. It serves two purposes- The threads do get damaged, and you can't really machine a pressure vessle.... So it's first and foremost, "replacable threads" for the safety cap. Secondarily, and most notably, after it's invention it took about five seconds for the gas providers spot an opportunity to put a permanent brand mark on their tanks without doing anything to compromise certifications.

Zinc Plated Cylinder Neck Ring and Sleeves | Ratermann Manufacturing Inc

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Back when I was a scuba diver the oxygen tanks had a press fit high pressure plug that would blow out if the pressure exceeded 3,500 psi. I think.
I wouldn't want to be in the firing line of that plug.
 
Winegrower said:
Ah, thanks everybody. Learned a new fact. It’s a good day. :)
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When I first read about the rings being pressed in place one thing I had been told previously finally made sense. Experts will tell you not to pick up a bottle by the cap. It's unlikely, but it could pull the ring off and you drop the bottle with a suddenly unprotected valve. My friend owned the welding shop where I got most of my bottles and she said it was also because caps and threads get worn and she had seen a cap that would pop off if you lifted the bottle with it....all makes perfect sense when you think about it.

There's a YouTube video out there where a fire department (I think) does a test where they break the valve off a bottle under controlled conditions. It's actually surprising how far it goes even after hitting something and stopping!
 
G-ManBart said:
When I first read about the rings being pressed in place one thing I had been told previously finally made sense. Experts will tell you not to pick up a bottle by the cap. It's unlikely, but it could pull the ring off and you drop the bottle with a suddenly unprotected valve. My friend owned the welding shop where I got most of my bottles and she said it was also because caps and threads get worn and she had seen a cap that would pop off if you lifted the bottle with it....all makes perfect sense when you think about it.
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I have experienced that the threads get "crudded up" such that the cap is very difficult to thread on.
Weld spatter, grinding dust, etc.
I could see someone not knowing or not paying attention and believing that the cap thread had bottomed and was tight.

Brian
 
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