going rate for argon and lease rates

[Depdog]

Just bought a 125 CF Argon tank. 250.00 full, 38 for a refill. Lease on a 330 is 89.00 a year, 78 for a refill.

Glenn

[RichardH]

I just bought a size T (300/330 CF) Argon tank: $245 filled; $50 refill or exchange. Cert's good for another 9 months, so I'll need to be smart about timing my exchange.

At 60F degrees, my gauge reads 1750psi. I see elsewhere that a full tank ought to be closer to 2200 or 2500 psi, so my $50 fill may not compare to someone else's. (However, it'll be at least 60 degrees hotter during the summer, and I'd hope they factor that so the tank doesn't go overpressure later.)

Cheers,
Richard

[Rambozo]

Sounds like you got a light fill.
When argon is stored as a compressed gas, it doesn't have the wide temp/pressure swings of a liquid like CO2.

Did you get your power plug sorted out? I just looked and noticed they didn't include the plug diagram they had in the other manuals. You can find it in the 250EX manual. Since they can run on single phase or 3 phase, the wiring is a little different.

[RichardH]

Sounds like you got a light fill.

I suspected as much. No worries, it'll still last me a very long time. I'll be more educated the next time.

[DaveO]

The LWS will swap it for a full if you return it right away- light fills happen, and they understand that. It could also be a faulty valve, leaking continuously, so your bottle that appears to be down by just 1/8 may dissipate to nothing. It's your call, but it may also be worth painting the valve with some soapy water, looking for bubbles, then laying the bottle down, valve facing up, and dripping some soapy water in there too.

For me the LWS hours and location are just far enough out of synch with my work schedule and commute that I bring a regulator with me and check the pressure in the new cylinder right there. It's 60 seconds' worth of bother that may prevent a return trip.