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Scuba Tank Filling Policy
Effective January 1st 2010, we have decided to stop filling aluminum scuba cylinders made with 6351 alloy. Cylinders made with this alloy can be susceptible to sustained load cracking in the neck. There have been several cases of scuba cylinders exploding during filling. In fact, there was an incident where this occurred in Campbell River several years ago. Although these incidents are rare, they have resulted in injury and fatalities.
For the protection of our customers and staff, we have discontinued filling of these tanks.
In fact, industry wide there are many facilities that have discontinued the filling of 6351 alloy cylinders. The most common cylinders in North America made from this alloy are:
All Walter Kidde DOT-3AL cylinders. Until determined otherwise, any DOT-3AL or DOT-E 7235 cylinder should be assumed to be made of alloy 6351-T6, if it was:
1. Manufactured by Luxfer USA
30 and 63 cu. ft............................. S30, S63 .... mfg date 5-88 or earlier
40 cu. ft....................................... S40 ........... mfg date 6-88 or earlier
50 and 92 cu. ft............................. S50, S92 .... mfg date 4-88 or earlier
72 and 100 cu. ft........................... S72, S100 ... mfg date 8-87 or earlier
80 cu. ft....................................... S80 ........... mfg date 1-88 or earlier
80.8 cu. ft.................................... S80.8 ......... mfg date 5-87or earlier
2. Manufactured by Cliff-Impact before July 1990;
3. Manufactured by any other company in the United States, excluding Catalina, before February 1990;
Aluminum cylinders not affected are:
1. Cylinders manufactured by Catalina
2. Cylinders manufactured by Hy-Mark
Steel tanks are not affected by this.
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