Gas free of rental charge

Eugbug

135man wrote: »

If you buy a rent free bottle of gas does that mean you own the bottle outright ?? Thinking of getting set up with mig

Don't think so. In general, unless it's a disposable cylinder, the initial cost of the bottle is a deposit. The company who supplies/fills the bottle actually own it (just like Calor Gas butane and even milk bottles which were owned by Irish Glass:))

Eugbug

superfly35 wrote: »

Hi Lads,

I am wondering if it is possible in ireland to get gas bottle oxygene/acetylene without paying rental in BOC.

I know that in the UK and in France it is possible to buy bottle, and to get them filled without any problem and it is legal.

But it seems that in Ireland we need to pay a rental, which is quite expensive for a DIY/hobby welder.

I would like to pratice on gas welding so it is why I am wondering this.

Cheers
Superfly

This is an old thread, so you've probably come across WholesaleWeldingSupplies.ie by now. They sell welding/cutting/heating sets plus rent free bottles. They don't supply acetylene, but instead supply propylene which is an alternative. This is good for heating/brazing and even better than acetylene for cutting because the gas, although it burns slightly cooler, has more calorific (heating) energy in the flame. I got one of these oxy-propy sets from them for my home DIY workshop, and it's great for bending stuff and cutting. Unfortunately I discovered from Googling and reading stuff in welding forums that propylene isn't really suitable for welding because it doesn't shield the arc like the way oxy-acetylene does. So the weld ends up getting oxidised. The oxygen works out pricey (€49 + vat in 2015 for a refill) and in my case the cylinder only lasted about half an hour.

hi5

It's all semantics really, I have a bottle, they don't know me from Adam and never took any details from me, how would they get it back?

I don't think Calor give back deposits on their bottles.

gctest50

acetylene is more fun

Acetylene cylinder explosion
An operator was lighting an oxy/acetylene cutting torch. There was a flashback
to the acetylene cylinder, which started to vibrate. Three minutes later the
cylinder exploded. The cylinder split into two parts. The largest part shot
through a window and travelled 23 metres before embedding itself in an
embankment at the factory boundary.
The workshop was badly damaged. The windows were blown out and the roof
collapsed. The explosion also lifted the roof of the main factory building, which
had to be replaced.

Eugbug

gctest50 wrote: »

acetylene is more fun

Think I'll stick to my stick welding:)

Eugbug

Here's another horror story about the dangers of oxygen cylinders:
http://www.bioline.org.br/pdf?hs09011

Dan Jaman

A partial update on the state of rent-free welding gases in the country.
Looks like Top-Part have stopped offering SGS gases (although their catalogue mentions that gas is available should you buy a MIG from them).
Stargas don't even list their agents anymore on their website, but WWS is deffo still an outlet, and there are others, but how are we supposed to find them?
Something I intend to follow-up with BOC Ireland, is that BOC UK offer a Hobby User deal - still rental, but about half the price they were charging beforehand, which makes it suddenly fairly attractive if you use any amount at all.
Something that's worth knowing - most of the hobby rent-free bottles are only filled to 130bar or so. BOC fill theirs to 200bar (or even 230, iirc). That makes a worthwhile difference to the calculated cost of having it.

autumnalcore

Stargas say you can call them for local stockist: (063-20700) (option 2)

Hobbyweld have suppliers around the place,

https://www.hobbyweld.co.uk/agent-location-map

kadman

Stargas are a joke

unfit2006

I called in to my local Top Part this afternoon. The manager had plenty of Stargas in stock and knew nothing about any decision to stop stocking Stargas.

Dan Jaman

unfit2006 wrote: »

I called in to my local Top Part this afternoon. The manager had plenty of Stargas in stock and knew nothing about any decision to stop stocking Stargas.

No, Top Part used to offer SGS, not Stargas. Of the two, I'd have preferred SGS, except that my local Top Part was wanting an arm and leg for it. Given that Top Part and Stargas between them don't seem to want my business, I'll be dealing with the one in Galway.