Scuba Tank Sizes

[Papa Bear]

It all goes to show you that size counts, but it is also in how you use it!

[acelockco]

Thanks for that.
let me get this straight - even if you have a small and a larger tank - both filled with 3000psi. Am i under the assumption that you will have longer underwater with the larger tank??

What dive shop do you use? How many dive shops are there in your area?

[hbh2oguard]

Thanks for that.
let me get this straight - even if you have a small and a larger tank - both filled with 3000psi. Am i under the assumption that you will have longer underwater with the larger tank??

I thought this would have been taught in OW, or for sure in AOW. Not to be mean but isn't this just common sense

[yohanson]

On the west coast we have 1/2, 3/4. and day boats where you bring your own tank. And you get hot fills. But boats pump to 3000psi without a problem and they cool to around 2700 to 2800. still 15% over fill! If you own your own compressor you would know how hard it is on them. That is why it takes so long for that last 500psi! You must be getting a slow fill or it is in a cold climate! Live aboards usually have 80qft @ 3000 and they consider a good fill to be 2800psi!

Or filled in a water tank. I don't have my own compressor but none of the local dive shops seem to have a problem filling my tanks. Getting back to the LP95/HP119, how can the LP95 be preferable to the HP119 when they're bascially the same tank with a different burst disk? The 119 has 95 cu. ft. of gas at 2640, 107 cu. ft. at 3000 and 119 cu. ft at 3442 psi.

[yohanson]

So psi's is the force behind the air, cubic feet is the amount of air available to breathe.

I would rather have 100 cubic feet available at 2500 psi's than 80 cubic feet available at 3500 psi's, all other things being equal.

And you would have a much larger and heavier tank in that scenario.

[lottie]

I thought this would have been taught in OW, or for sure in AOW. Not to be mean but isn't this just common sense

It probably was mentioned in the OW book (will have to have another look to check) - maybe i didn't understand it as much as I do now and didn't take in the information.
And it probably is common sense...but i couldn't remember hence why I asked.

[lottie]

What dive shop do you use? How many dive shops are there in your area?

How is that relevant?

Most of the dive places here are attached to a resort. There are a couple that are independant (and they cost more), but they are up in the north (about a 90 min drive, to then have the boat come back down south to do the actual diving)

[acelockco]

Just wondering what shop you use?

I have a friend going to St. Lucia for a vacation shortly.

[Like2dive]

I'm not an expert on this. My wife & I just switched over to Steel Tanks 2 months ago. I wish I had switched sooner. We had alum 80's. Actual capacity on an alum 80 is 77 CUft. On our steel 80's it is 80 CUft.Pressure rating for our Alum 80 was 3000 psi on our steel 80 it is 3550 psi. So I am carrying 20% more air in a much smaller tank. The steel tank is 9 inches shorter than the equiv. Alum tank. I was able to shed 8 pounds of lead from my belt, I now dive with only 4 lbs instead of 12 lbs and I do not go buoyant and the end of my dive. Pamela has shed all her weights. Lets see... mmmm... lighter smaller package that carries 20% more air and lets me shed up to 10 lbs weight. Since you have to wear a tank anyway - It's a no brainer Steel ROCKS!! We do a lot of deep wreck diving, I find myself surfacing with 1500 - 1600 psi after a deep wreck dive, the extra air increases my safety margin, and the higher capacity in the smaller package has made our diving experience much more satisfying.

[hbh2oguard]

Lotte as long as you learned and everything is clarified, the post was well worth it!