Thread: small tig / mig gas bottles

Originally Posted by steveG

Looking forward to when we can buy bottles down here

Steve

Do you have any friends/relatives that regually drive to Ballarat ? Just grab a camerons bottle. Note: They are quite small. But given the sparodic use of most DIY people, you'll probably only use a couple a year .... Which is $110 a year for gas rather than $220 a year for rental.

If you use your MIG a lot, it's not going to be cost effective .....

The guy at Camerons reckons the biggest problem they are having with the bottle exchange is getting enough stock................. They sell so many bottles there struggling to keep up!

seeya,
Shane L.

Sounds like there's a business opportunity in Melbourne here. Who's volunteering? I'll take one.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

We only really have BOC gasses in ballarat. Speedygas seems to be a Sydney thing. I'm sure it'll explode nation wide once they realise how MASSIVE the DIY market is for MIG gasses

seeya,
Shane L.

Speed Gas (not SpeedeGas) do trade through Gasweld who do have stores all over but it does seem their only store in Victoria is in Dandenong.

Guess that is a bit far though.

Garry

I have a bottle of Argon here too. Not used it for about 3 years.
Just a thought, could I use an aircon compressor or endless air to suck the argon out and into an empty evacuated propane bottle. Then I could return the argon bottle and use the gas at my leisure. When it runs out, get another , do the same then return the bottle straight away.

Thoughts?

Keith

Originally Posted by 123rover50

I have a bottle of Argon here too. Not used it for about 3 years.
Just a thought, could I use an aircon compressor or endless air to suck the argon out and into an empty evacuated propane bottle. Then I could return the argon bottle and use the gas at my leisure. When it runs out, get another , do the same then return the bottle straight away.

Thoughts?

Keith

I'm not sure you understand the pressures/volumes involved. For example, my welding gas bottle is rated at 200 Bar pressure at 100% full, or around 2800 psi. A propane tank is rated at a working pressure of 25 Bar (2.5 MPa or approx 350 psi). Lets say your argon bottle is at 100 Bar and therefore you need a propane tank at least four times the physical volume to safely handle the pressure. Eight times as big to handle a full argon bottle's worth. The gas in my 20 litre WC "D" sized argon bottle would be too much for a typical 108 litre WC household bottle to handle.

I'm also not sure why you need to pump the argon, construct a high pressure connection pipe (with gauge) to the propane tank and steadily bleed the argon out until the propane tank pressure stabilises. You'll have transferred the bulk of the gas.

You are right. I lay awake thinking it through and came to the same conclusion. Make a transfer line from hydraulic hose put a gauge in it and transfer to purged and evacuated house gas bottles keeping the pressure below the propane bottles working pressure untill its down to a couple of hundred psi or so then suck the last bit out with the pump.
May need a few bottles but they have heaps at the dump shop.
I can go back to bed now

I ordered an "E" cylinder of Argon/CO2 mix at lunch time yesterday and it was delivered within three hours.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Do you have any friends/relatives that regually drive to Ballarat ? Just grab a camerons bottle. Note: They are quite small. But given the sparodic use of most DIY people, you'll probably only use a couple a year .... Which is $110 a year for gas rather than $220 a year for rental.

If you use your MIG a lot, it's not going to be cost effective .....

The guy at Camerons reckons the biggest problem they are having with the bottle exchange is getting enough stock................. They sell so many bottles there struggling to keep up!

seeya,
Shane L.

Probably the main reason that they are struggling with demand is the small size of the C bottle. The DIY market would love this service. For the amount of gas I use in a year the 3hr trip to Ballarat almost looks worthwhile. Fortunatley at the moment I can get a discounted rate through a mate of mine but will keep this option open.
One advantage of the C size is if you forget to close the valves you will not waste too much gas.