going rate for argon and lease rates

[67cudafb]

Well I got a little lesson today from airgas in gvl. fl. I went in to exchange my 125 cu. $40 for refill and tank was 4 months out of date so it was $15 to trade so with tax $60.53. I guess need to keep eye on the date. New bottle good til 2010, Live and learn.

[everlastsupport]

Well I got a little lesson today from airgas in gvl. fl. I went in to exchange my 125 cu. $40 for refill and tank was 4 months out of date so it was $15 to trade so with tax $60.53. I guess need to keep eye on the date. New bottle good til 2010, Live and learn.

I keep the receipts. Prax has done that to me. Swap, back in a couple months, out of date (on an owner they swap you).. What... I bet it is a popular scam all over.

[NRM]

Cuda that sucks but I would take that price in a heartbeat .

[tom_tom]

[...]I bring a regulator with me and check the pressure in the new cylinder right there.

Dave, thanks for the epiphany . I have an extra argon regulator and will start taking it with me when I exchange bottles. I've gotten a couple of under-filled cylinders before but didn't make a big deal about it. Hey, if we're paying for a full bottle then let it be full!

The LWS I've used for years and apparently was bought out by Praxair pissed me off the other day which sent me on a quest and landed me a jewel of a LWS. It's a mom and pop-ish place but they're always stocked with consumables, filler wire, etc - aside from gas cylinders. The going rate around here for buying 125CF Ar is right around $250 and $18 - $22 swap (filled). I now have 3 of these. The store is right down the road from where I work so I can rotate the bottles and exchange on my way home from work. Doing that with a 300+CF would be a b**ch in my case. 200CF cylinders are much less common here so sometimes the LWS' don't have them on hand for exchange.

Tom

[DaveO]

Cool that you found a friendly and workable place. I make it a point to explain that I'm checking contents to avoid a duplicate trip, not because I don't trust them to fill a bottle properly.

[Brian Ski]

Well I got a little lesson today from airgas in gvl. fl. I went in to exchange my 125 cu. $40 for refill and tank was 4 months out of date so it was $15 to trade so with tax $60.53. I guess need to keep eye on the date. New bottle good til 2010, Live and learn.

New bottle good till 2010?????

The local place I go to as long as it has their company ring on it they don't even look at the date on it. Just swap them.

[67cudafb]

DUH brain fart was inspected 2010, good 2020. This is first time this happened to me. Color of bottle made them check mine was light gray newer bottle is burgundy color.

[Zoomie]

Yeah, I know this is an old thread but, 120/125?!? bottle of Argon was 33 bucks to swap at my LWS...

[performance]

Just swapped at my lws (airgas) for a little under 65 for C 18, 330 cu ft.

[nitris223]

Man I envy you guys in the States. I only wish I could get those prices on gas. I just phoned around today checking contracts and such. Here is what I pay in Saskatchewan Canada. 1 yr contract $75 - $80 3yr contract $181 - $191 for a S size tank and $110 - $123.50 for refills which is exchanged tanks for a full one. Only 2 place to pick from and only one place will sell tanks . The one LWS carries Praxair gas and the only size tank the sell is the S size which is 138 CF I think. $220 to buy the tank and $90 for refills. That has been the only real reason from picking up a tig welder was the cost of the extra contract. That and Miller was way to much for a tig welder for hobby use. Now that I found these Everlast welders the itch is on again. I can get away with a Q tank on my mig welder most of the time. About $58 to fill but I am not sure if the S size tank will be enough. I can get a T size tank From Praxair for $191/ 3yr contract and $162 for refills. That might be the most reasonable contract or buy the S tank and hope for the best.

To me the contracts are a money grab. They claim it is for pressure test and purging, blah , blah . If that's the case then I would like to know why I had 3 tanks that leaked after the first time opening them. I always shut my gas off after when I am done. 3 tanks on different occasions. I think there was junk in the tank and after I open it the first time the tank did not seal completely when the valve is off. The gave me full tanks free of charge but the time I wasted bringing them back and one time was on a Saturday when they are closed, needless to say they got a few nasty word thrown their way on Monday.