tank tests

[sharkbait]

Apologies to those who have seen this on diverforum but I still can't get any consensus on this in my club:
Just took a couple of tanks in for test, only to be told that because there are a couple of marks on the outside, with a hint of rust and that they will probably fail.(add the best part of ?50 quid to the test)
Seems a tetch harsh. Its not exactly as if they are going to lead to imminent structural failure. I'm also told we are not allowed to paint the outside of our tanks as we might cover up the rust. (I rather thought that the idea was to use paint to stop corrosion.)
Are things getting a little over the top here?

Any tips for cylinder MOT's?

Can we still paint our cylinders?

What's your experience?

PS one of my clubmates just had his fail because of a slight nick on the surface..
Have the regs suddenly changed?


Stuart

[TerryH]

"Any tips for cylinder MOT's?"

Yeah easy.

How many divers in your club?
How many cylinders, twinsets, ponies do they have?
How many are O2 clean?
How many of the above does your club have?

So get a list together of service dates and start seeing if
you can have a common test date. As cylinders are done
every 2.5 years now, split the club into two and do them bi
annualy. Now it may mean that you do the odd cylinder early or
mothball another (out of test) for a month or two, but pretty
soon you will have 12, 18, 24 cylinders all needing testing at
the same time.

Now you have real clout. No longer are you a piddling
individual with one single cylinder, but a club with enough
clout to hand over a big wedge to the Idest station that wants
the work.

We really ought to stop thinking in terms of individual divers
and start thinking what clout each club can generate.

Rgds
TerryH
(Who can honestly say that he has NEVER paid full whack for any
piece of scuba kit).

[Steve Walker]

I'm also told we are not allowed to paint the outside of our tanks as we might cover up the rust. (I rather thought that the idea was to use paint to stop corrosion.)
Are things getting a little over the top here?

Any tips for cylinder MOT's?

Can we still paint our cylinders?

What's your experience?

PS one of my clubmates just had his fail because of a slight nick on the surface..
Have the regs suddenly changed?


Stuart


I don't know where you get your tanks tested but they sound a bit paranoid.
Of course you can paint your own tanks, how could anyone prove that the paint job you have on them was not done by the manufacturer?
I've taken club and private tanks for testing and had no problems, even though the outside appearance was less than immmaculate (understatement). Hopefully you've got more than one tank tesing facility in your vicinity?
Regards