Carbon Fiber?

[yankeefan21]

Do they sell carbon fiber tanks for SCUBA? If so, why are they so hard to find?

[medic001918]

I've never seen them. And I doubt they're made. Many people use a heavier material such as steel for tanks since they need the weight to offset their bouyancy. A carbon tank would be light, but would always be positive and you'd have to carry extra weight somewhere to compensate for it.

Shane

[fire diver]

Ditto what medic said. They don't sell them, becuase there's no market for them. Why carry a 4500 psi tank that weighs 5 pounds, but needs 40 pounds of lead to sink it? Plus they have to be hydro'ed every 3 years instead of 5, and have a service life of like 12 years. After that, they are required to be destroyed.

FD

[cummings66]

http://www.luxfercylinders.com/news/...0021022b.shtml

These are composite tanks.

[cummings66]

I forgot to add, the last two are the tank specifications. The tanks aren't that horrible, lighter weight than the same size steel tank would be for example but about 3 lbs positive empty.

http://www.luxfercylinders.com/produ...imperial.shtml

[fire diver]

It's five years after that press release, and still I haven't heard of anyone diving them or shops selling them.

FD

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I forgot to add, the last two are the tank specifications. The tanks aren't that horrible, lighter weight than the same size steel tank would be for example but about 3 lbs positive empty.

http://www.luxfercylinders.com/produ...imperial.shtml

Well, now THAT'S interesting. Much different composition than our fire service tanks. Those listed look quite nice in their characteristics. I wonder what the price is? I wonder if they still fall under the 3 year hydro and condeming rules?

[cummings66]

I have trouble getting good reliable 3500 psi fills, can you imagine a fill of 4350 psi? You'd never find good fills anywhere. I suspect that is one reason you don't see them, the second is cost. I'd imagine that it's through the roof. First did you notice the valve threads being different, that means a low volume valve and also tank. One way products become cheaper is by mass production. This one is very low and I bet extremely expensive.

I have also by the way run across a place that sells these tanks, or rather they can sell them. I never filed that info away but I suspect a call to luxfer Monday could tell you where to find them.

Interspiro made tanks similar to this as well for what it's worth. I don't know if you could find them in the US but they do exist outside of the US and are very expensive according to my LDS. He's a fanatic of that product name/company and has lots of trivia stored away, pictures and all.

From what he told me a long time ago I gather it was a complete diving system much like the fire SCBA systems by Scott, MSA, Draeger etc. I don't think you could buy one item, it was a matched set and probably for the same reasons the Luxfer tanks aren't common. I bet it cost as much as one of the good SCBA setups do.

At this point it's all useless trivia, I know they exist. If anybody here could say what the price is Joe or Larry could. They sell Luxfer tanks and I'll wager have seen it at DEMA.

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I have trouble getting good reliable 3500 psi fills, can you imagine a fill of 4350 psi? You'd never find good fills anywhere.

Heh, I can! I fill 95% of the time here at the fire station. I'm the one in charge of the compressor and cascade system anyway. Our cascade is filled to 6000, and the fill station is regulated down to 4500 for our scba.

FD

[yankeefan21]

Originally Posted by fire diver

Our cascade is filled to 6000, and the fill station is regulated down to 4500 for our scba.

Same here. If your local volunteer fire dept is using the newer SCOTT's, they have either a cascade system or a compressor that fills to 5000-6000psi. Filling a tank to 3500 is a simple matter of adjusting the tank pressure - which is cake to do on the fly.

Thanks for the links, cummings. 3lbs positive isn't TERRIBLE - but I guess I wouldn't actually need all that air anyway. I typically start to approach my decompression limits long before running out of air. I just thought it might be nice for diving against stronger currents when you actually suck down some air.

Anyway, you gave me a good place to start my research so thanks!