Can't get my Oxy-act bottles filled

Need help getting my oxy-act gas bottles filled.

I have a set of full size oxygen and acetylene bottles that I have owned owned and exchanged (note:they are inspected and current) for the past 20 years or so. I bought these when I lived in Nebraska and always exchanged them at Linweld. I moved to Wisconsin 15 years ago and frequently traveled west for work exchanging the bottles in Des Moines. Well I have changed jobs and don't travel west anymore. I have tried to get the bottles filled localy, but am having no luck, they want to rent me new bottles instead.

I live in Beloit Wi anyone have any ideas on who would fill these near me?

Thanks
Mike

 

Not sure about there but Tractor Supply Company (TSC) fills them here on an exchange basis. The down side is you need to "buy" the first tanks and they do it on an exchange basis. The upside is the tanks are inspected and replaced at life end.

 

Thats the rules in my state ,Probably liability issues ,Look for a place that you can buy the bottles and get them filled there .

 

Air Gas is the place to go. Do a web search for the nearest one to you. I had the same problem when I moved to Mi from L.A. The local Dickhead gas dealer told me he would be glad to dispose of my bottles for free and then rent me his. You can guess what I told him.
Van

 

I got my mig tank from Airco in Massachusetts, they will exchange it when empty.
Bestif you deal with your seller.
Unfortunately I don't think there is a Linweld in Wisconsin
http://www.linweld.com/locations.asp

 

I would tell them I'll be taking ALL my business elsewhere. Airgas usually filled bottles for me when I was running a welding rig on pipeline. Good Luck. FUCK Renting bottles, its too much money and too big of a headache when you already own a set.

 

Selling you new bottles or renting you bottles is just a scam. Sure they will give you new bottles etc., but if you legitimately own the bottles you have you should be able to find a gas supplier who will inspect and re-certify your bottles if required and then fill them for you.

A reputable gas company should be able to do this for you. Look up the major gas suppliers (the ones who manufacture the gas, NOT just distribute it) in your area and contact them.

 

Have you tried Praxair? They are up here in Milwaukee area, but when i moved back here from Atlanta, they had no problems exchanging the bottle. Might be worth a call.

http://www.dryiceweb.com/Praxair/Brookfield_WI.htm

 

When I moved to Las Vegas from SoCal I took my old bottles to Praxair and they didn't have any problems filling them.

 

Praxair......

 

Man, I feel lucky. My local welding supply house likes my work so much that they spot me ALL of my bottles. I only pay, and at a reduced rate, for the gas inside. K bottles, too, not dinky ones.

 

I live in Omaha and I want a deal on a set of linweld bottles...with the titles not a set like some of the tweekers here try to pass off as "theirs"
hey guys, he probably already knows it but you never own any actual specific bottles... it's an equipment interchange. You own bottles but they are lost in the system after interchanging them.
if you buy a set off some tweeker you won't be asked for papers to exchange them for filled bottles but if you want to sell them back to linweld you need the titles.
dad originally had air products tanks but linweld bought them out.
the new bottles he bought were lost the first time they were exchanged.
we don't have to check them and if we get bad bottles it's not on us they still have to exchange them.
I don't know of anywhere that actually fills your bottles and returns the same ones to you so I've never had that experience.

 

Never saw a titled bottle. Here in So Cal some fill stations use & and accept what is a bearer bottle, which means if you posses it it's yours. These are marked with a SD stamping which means it was sold not rented.
Van

 

Praxair will fill them while you wait.

 

i own my argon bottle and get it refilled at ft worth welder supply, i have to pay for the retest when due, but it is mine and they refill it

 

Home Depot in MN exchange bottles with no questions asked. They need to be the same style bottle. $45.00 and I have full OXY & ACL. Some people think I'm full of shit, but I do it all the time. I never delt with titled or leased bottles, I got one from my brother and the other one from a swap-meet, and been swapping them ever since. I believe that the supplier is Oxgen Services that fill the bottles for Home Depot.

 

Have you tried Welders Supply on Barrett Pl. in Beloit? Gene

 

Hey, here in NJ it's REAL hard to get someone to fill your own bottles, unless they are brand spanking new.
I've changed gas dealers a couple times, and have had the same problem, they only want to deal with their own bottles, usually the rented ones.
I've gotten around it by paying the fee to have my bottles pressure tested the first time I have them refilled...actually after testing, they have always kept my bottles and given me an exchange one...they just charge me for testing every 3-5 years, since technically I DO own the bottle.
So everyone is happy...my bottles are full, they have their pressure testing certs, and I can get a fresh one anytime.
The only time this was different, was when I had a HUGE MIG gas bottle, a size that they did not handle. Then they had to send it out to have it certifired, then filled.

 

I go to my local scrapyard and exchange with them. They have a large supply of full Act. tanks and they also fill their own Oxygen bottles.

 

Yes, check with AirGas.

 

I also have 2 very good friends who work for PraxAir in the Corporate offices and get HUGE discounts on welding machines, supplies and gas. So if I really did have a problem, I know where my next stop would be.

 

Air Gas bought out our local dealer and did the same thing to me,,won't fill my tanks and want to rent me tanks,,no thank you. HRP

 

Airgas here in Oshkosh sucks a big donkey cock. They are absolutely the WORST to deal with. Pricey, poor service and a pain to deal with. Not to mention they building has changed names three times in the last 6 or 7 years. They charge a stupid paperwork $6 fee every time I fill a tank, if it is $15 worth of gas or $1500.
I go to a local small time welding supply now, they are awesome. Even borrowed me a gun for my welder when mine broke until we would order in a new one.

My suggestion is put the tank in your trunk and drive to every shop you can find until one that exchanges it. You will find someone who wants your business. Then take that tank(with their label on it) to the closest place you want to deal with next time around and hopefully they will see you are working with their competition and take over your account. A tank is a tank and any shop CAN fill it, some just don't want to.

I spent $100 getting a large tank converted for Oxy and certified a few years ago, then the first time I took it in to Airgas, they exchanged it out and wouldn't fill my own tank. WTF? I get a crappy old whatever tank in exchange, that tells you how Airgas is.

When my airgas tanks run out I just take them to my other welding supply and they fill them without any problem. Airgas label on them and all. They want my business, Airgas doesn't seem to need it.

 

I discussed this with Welders Supply just yesterday, they only rent bottles.
It's not a legal issue the owner has elected to take this stance.

I don't have titles, in fact I was told once that I sould have them for these bottles. I could not actually verify that there was such a thing, many told many that these do not exist. I certainly never recieved any when I bought these.

Nor did I when I bought a either of my argon bottles. Which by the way welsders supply will exchange because they are smaller? Wtf.

 

I haven't tried praxair in Milwaukee.

 

I have done this in the past and now have a buddy that owns a welding shop, does commercial dumpsters so I do the cash & carry swap.

Pretty bad when its easier to buy an illegal handgun than it is to get an oxygen bottle filled. I go through those like shit through a goose when I'm on a project.

Bob

 

I have got the same problem,here in swva.
I originally bought my tanks, and I always got the exchanged, at a airgas dealer.
But that dealer which was also a auto parts store, went out of business, a while back.
I got my tanks exchanged, just before they went out, a couple of years ago.

So this year, I needed my tanks exchanged, so I took my tanks, to another local airgas dealer, and they said I had two different band of tanks.
The acetylene, was airgas, but the oxygen, was valleygas, and the guy said I would have to buy a new oxy tank, because they didn't fool with valley gas tanks.
He wanted 2 bills for a new oxy tank.

So I go on a search for a valley gas dealer, and the nearest one to me, is like 2 hours away.
So I really dont know what to do!! I have already bought the one set of tanks, and cant really afford to buy another, off this guy, just because he loves being a asshole!!!

 

Have you tried Rockford Industrial welding supplies?

 

I have started using LPG .....its a hotter flame....easy to get on Sundays....oxygen is another matter

 

What size bottles do you have? The small, 20 cf are all customer owned, and most the small bottles under 100 cf are also customer owned, that should be industry wide. Any bottle larger then 100 cf that was purchased should have recieved a title or at least a reciept showing your ownership, otherwise, how would we (suppliers) know if you actually bought a bottle, or stole it from some construction site? Paperwork shows the goverment who is responsible for keeping the bottles certificed. Past experence shows most people refuse to pay for the cert testing, and just disapear with a cert'ed bottle, never to be seen or heard from again.

Years ago, there wasn't a big issue with exchanging bottles. Then, one of the big distrubitors sold out to someone else. The dist wasn't very good at keeping up with certs. After the new company bought them out, the goverment swooped in and made them bring all bottles on hand into cert. Word was, that cost more then what the business was bought for. Then everytime the trucks came in with empty bottles, more were in need of cert. At one point, the new company took the stand that if you didn't have paperwork with the bottle you turned in, you must have stolen that tank from a job site and they kept the bottle in question. Once that happened, all 3 different suppliers in the area took the same stand. Bottle exchange changed in a matter of weeks. You were either renting the tanks you turned in, or you had paperwork to prove you bought them. About that time they also quit accepting bottles with other companies names around the coller. Since 2 of those 3 companies were based in Beloit/ So. Beloit your pretty screwed, sorry. Gene