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Help!....... dangerous argon cylinder

lalojamesliz

Plastic
Joined
Oct 22, 2020
I sent my son to purchase a used 80cf argon cylinder i found on the offerup app and when he came home I saw all the information that is usually stamped onto a tank has been grinded off. I tried to exchange it but not surprisingly nobody will take it. My son learned to be more careful.

The dishonest man that sold it to us won't respond anymore said it was half full during the bargaining of the price. I have his address but I'm going to try reaching out to him to see if he does the right thing. Its only $60 so to me its not worth it to risk trouble if I go to his house


If I use some tie straps to secure it to a tree or pole can I slowly open the valve to drain any gas it might have? It makes me nervous that the grinded down areas are much thinner and can cause a rupture so by draining the tank ill be able to use it as a manly ornament or go dump it on the guys lawn.

Would it be dangerous to vent argon? I'm lost on this right now guys :(
 
Argon is totally inert so as long as you open valve outside in open air no one is going to be asphyxiated. I have seen guys take cylinders that are out of commission or failed test and cut the bottom off. They make great dinner gongs hanging from a rope.
 
Air is .93% argon. We get the argon for welding, etc., simply by separating it from air. As hobbyman says, It is completely harmless as long as you do not have such a high percentage that it displaces breathing oxygen.

Bill
 
So your son learned a lesson........how about YOU? Next time go look at the item yourself.
As far as venting it, lay it on the ground, inclined up in the front, and pointed in the general direction of the sellers location.
Whack the valve with a big hammer, snap it off, and send the cylinder skyward, hopefully to it's intended destination. If something goes amiss, blame it on your son.

:toetap:
 
lol I was just gonna say go huck that thing through his front window. Just joking. I had a similar experience and learned from it, but mine was $250. If the asshole wont respond I would just use up what gas is in the tank and take the loss. Maybe you can make something useful out of the tank once its bled.
 
So your son learned a lesson........how about YOU? Next time go look at the item yourself.
As far as venting it, lay it on the ground, inclined up in the front, and pointed in the general direction of the sellers location.
Whack the valve with a big hammer, snap it off, and send the cylinder skyward, hopefully to it's intended destination. If something goes amiss, blame it on your son.

:toetap:

Ha ha ha that's how I feel about it too. I didn't tell him anything about the stamping so I guess it's really my fault. He was just the messenger.
My son and I learned :)
 
Why vent it? Did you not want to buy an argon cyl? I would just use it and when empty deal with it then.

Since it hasn't exploded already I guess its still safe.

I went outside to get it from my backyard and I planned to now use it but I saw paint chipped off the sides with bad surface rust. Don't want to chance it now so I cracked the valve open and screwed the top back on and its venting in the corner of my fence. Oh well

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
 
Cylinder markings are usually on the heavy collar, not the sides of the tank. If the collar is what was ground a bit, the cylinder is likely still safe - might have a bit of argon to be used??

A lot of those old tanks are turned into bells / gongs. So, not only do you get a dishing die - but maybe a gong. Give it a whack now and then to keep the lesson fresh?
 
Since some dick was dull enough to grind the test etc off, you sure you have argon, not CO2 or N2 ?
If it’s got a yellow top it’s nasty stuff!
Mark
 
Make a gong out of it. Drive by the guys house randomly at 3am and wack the cylinder with a BFH. Scream out:
“You’re on the Gong Show!”
 
I would have connected the tank to my welder, opened the valve, and allowed the argon to gently flow into my shop, over an electrified wire, until that Argon was totally converted to All-Gone...

Then disassembled the tank into usable pieces for other purposes.

Like cutting the body into 2" wide rings, welding flat plates to the edges, boring through it and welding in some tube machined for cartridge bearings, and calling them brutal-duty casters!
 
Cylinder markings are usually on the heavy collar, not the sides of the tank. If the collar is what was ground a bit, the cylinder is likely still safe - might have a bit of argon to be used??

Right, it'd be pretty dumb to go to the trouble of drawing a seamless bottle only to stamp it full of stress risers at the end.

Use it up, take it to your gas store and let them handle it. You won't be their first case of this.

Sent via CNC 88HS
 
Since it hasn't exploded already I guess its still safe.

I went outside to get it from my backyard and I planned to now use it but I saw paint chipped off the sides with bad surface rust. Don't want to chance it now so I cracked the valve open and screwed the top back on and its venting in the corner of my fence. Oh well

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

That's a high pressure cylinder. It's spun from 3/8" steel. Don't worry about a little rust. Use up the gas and be done with it.

I think about situations like yours as "I paid $5 for the cylinder and $55 for a valuable lesson in the school of hard knocks".

metalmagpie
 
My understanding is when they do a hydro test first they stamp the cylinder with marking to indicate it passed. Then they preform a test and if it passes all is good. They stamp first in case the stamping causes stress risers making it fail at extreme test pressures.
I suppose if it fails they would have to destroy the approval stamp or the entire bottle before it leaves the test area. Maybe that is why they ground off the test stamps, because it failed? Failure is seldom spectacular. It is more likely it ballooned out too large indicating the walls are getting too thin.
Bil lD
 








 
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