On Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:14:22 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

I was in getting some C25 MIG gas & learned:

- Airgas is very busy, this store having gone from 8 to 15 delivery
trucks. We don't have much manufacturing & very little current
construction, so I don't know who's using it.

Go ask - it might be busy for a different reason than you are
thinking. They could have bought out one or two local competitors, or
they shut down a store or two of their own in the region, and merged
the operations at one centrally located store.

Then they have one real busy store and one lease, instead of three
half-dead stores and three leases. Economy of scale, and all that.

- they don't refill large owner cylinders (i.e, above 80 cu ft). So
that 200 cu-ft Navy surplus cylinder that I found at the dump is useless
to me. Anybody want it? Need I say: pickup only G?

There are other companies that do, call around. This yard probably
do not have any large filled owner style cylinders for exchange, there
may not be much call for that in your area. (If shops are using a lot
of gas, they just use leased cylinders.)

The local Airgas was always willing to send in my owner cylinders,
get them filled, and get them back to me - if I was willing to wait.

Which is why I went with B and 50CF O2 cylinders, you can do a
simple straight swap in one trip, no waiting a week to come back.

- propylene is really expensive: $33 for 7-1/2 lbs. $4.40/lb. By the
time I buy a 7-1/2# tank, it's cheaper to buy the 1 lb disposable (for
the amount that I use).

Yeah, but figure it in how many times you get halfway through a
solder joint and the disposable tank goes {Pfffft!} and quits on you.
And you waste 1/4 Lb. of gas in the new disposable tank getting it hot
again so you can finish.

This is why I exchanged two MC cylinders for one B. MC's are like
that one-pound fuel gas cylinder, it might be convenient and easier to
handle, but that convenience often has a steep price.

I just use long hoses and leave the B and 50CF in the truck's bottle
rack, or on their cart outside the work area.

-- Bruce --