Walter Kidde tank recalls

[Damselfish]

Originally Posted by fire diver

I see these 6351 AL80s being sold on Ebay every single day. I don't understand it. Are there THAT many divers who don't know that almost all dive shops refuse to fill these anymore? $50-80 bucks plus ~$35 shipping for a useless tank?

Maybe there are some people in the know looking for a sucker. But I'll bet a lot are being sold by people who don't dive locally or at all anymore. There's no reason for them to have kept up with this stuff; if they aren't reading magazines, surfing dive boards, or trying to get those tanks filled they will have no idea. And just like with other used dive gear, people often have a misguided idea of the value.

I was given a couple AL80s by someone who didn't dive in a long time and just wanted them out of her garage. Although she gave them to me, I'm pretty sure she thought they were a real catch and probably would have asked way too much if she'd wanted to bother selling them. As it turned out the dates were borderline but neither tank was bad alloy. But she was clueless about this stuff or other things about tanks.

[scubadiver888]

Originally Posted by captain

I think they need to change "All other tanks made before 1990 (except Catalina)" to all other ALUMINUM tanks made before 1990, because steel tanks are not subject to sustained load cracking.

The Happy Divers Den website has some layout issues. If you go to the main page and surf to the link I gave you, you'll see the article is under 'Aluminum Tanks'. I'll make a note to update the page as well for people who are going directly to it.

[mm2002]

Originally Posted by cummings66

Other than the alloy it's made of, there is no current recall on it. Use it until it blows up. Seriously, many dive ops won't fill the older cylinders like that WK of yours and that's it. I assume it has had an eddy current test? It should have had that done at any rate. Maybe it was missing that notation and that's why they refused it as well.

No, this one has never had the eddy current test. "Use it until it blows up?"......ummmmm....you've been in the water with me and this tank. I'm sure glad it didn't blow up then, or I'd have that guilt to live with.......wait a minute, dead people don't feel guilt......so I guess I'd still be ok!

Originally Posted by baywatch106

You can now make a wind chime out of it now.

That would be more like a wind GONG....wouldn't it?
Seriously, I'm thinking more along the lines of cutting the top off and making a deep fryer out of it. How many catfish nuggets would fit in there, and how much oil would you need? Anyone tried this?

[cruzan]

Originally Posted by fire diver

Since the questio has been answered, I'm going to take this on a tangent.

I see these 6351 AL80s being sold on Ebay every single day. I don't understand it. Are there THAT many divers who don't know that almost all dive shops refuse to fill these anymore? $50-80 bucks plus ~$35 shipping for a useless tank? I have two of these. I got several years of use and now I am trying to figure whether to make lamps or get more and make the giant windchimes that I'm sure will annoy everyone (including the wife).

Get the extra tanks, I know of somebody in St Croix who made them into bar stools. I'm sure your wife will love them, recycling you know.

[divinginn]

I had a shop tell me this weekend, that they will not fill older steel 72s,I asked why and he told me they were prone to blowing up. I just let it go,I have never heard of one blowing,maybe if it was rusted almost completely through.

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by divinginn

I had a shop tell me this weekend, that they will not fill older steel 72s,I asked why and he told me they were prone to blowing up. I just let it go,I have never heard of one blowing,maybe if it was rusted almost completely through.

Oh please do tell what dive shop is THAT stupid!

[ColdPass]

I've got a couple of WK tanks. They passed eddy current testing and my shop still fills them. One's in the trunk of my car now. With the additional testing I figure that they're safe.

[chilly willy]

Originally Posted by IndyDiver

It is not even just a 6351 issue. I see more and more dive shops (2 in my area) that just have a blanket policy that they don't fill any AL tanks made before 1990. It saves them the trouble of traning the staff, is easy to post and enforce etc. I don't think I would bother with any old AL tank because the one time I wanted it for a "don't miss" dive would be the time I was at a shop that wouldn't fill it.

There are a couple dive shops in SoCal that will not fill any AL80 tank older than 20 years, and one shop that wont fill an AL80 older than 15 years. This seems to be happening more and more.

[Damselfish]

I've also heard a number of times "all Walter Kiddie tanks are bad." And the dive shop I visit most often actually has a policy not to fill any WK tanks. I don't know if it's true or just a matter of convenience same as rules like "no tanks before '90." But it doesn't matter if it's true, if they won't fill them they won't fill them and it will at the least probably be an ongoing nuisance.

[boat]

Hope my two 1983 WK's don't blow up - they're sitting next to our newer car.

I'm kind of hoping one of them eventually fails an eddy test so I can buy an HP steel 100.