going rate for argon and lease rates

[67cudafb]

DUH brain fart was inspected 2010, good 2020. This is first time this happened to me. Color of bottle made them check mine was light gray newer bottle is burgundy color.

[Zoomie]

Yeah, I know this is an old thread but, 120/125?!? bottle of Argon was 33 bucks to swap at my LWS...

[performance]

Just swapped at my lws (airgas) for a little under 65 for C 18, 330 cu ft.

[nitris223]

Man I envy you guys in the States. I only wish I could get those prices on gas. I just phoned around today checking contracts and such. Here is what I pay in Saskatchewan Canada. 1 yr contract $75 - $80 3yr contract $181 - $191 for a S size tank and $110 - $123.50 for refills which is exchanged tanks for a full one. Only 2 place to pick from and only one place will sell tanks . The one LWS carries Praxair gas and the only size tank the sell is the S size which is 138 CF I think. $220 to buy the tank and $90 for refills. That has been the only real reason from picking up a tig welder was the cost of the extra contract. That and Miller was way to much for a tig welder for hobby use. Now that I found these Everlast welders the itch is on again. I can get away with a Q tank on my mig welder most of the time. About $58 to fill but I am not sure if the S size tank will be enough. I can get a T size tank From Praxair for $191/ 3yr contract and $162 for refills. That might be the most reasonable contract or buy the S tank and hope for the best.

To me the contracts are a money grab. They claim it is for pressure test and purging, blah , blah . If that's the case then I would like to know why I had 3 tanks that leaked after the first time opening them. I always shut my gas off after when I am done. 3 tanks on different occasions. I think there was junk in the tank and after I open it the first time the tank did not seal completely when the valve is off. The gave me full tanks free of charge but the time I wasted bringing them back and one time was on a Saturday when they are closed, needless to say they got a few nasty word thrown their way on Monday.

[MigPlazArc]

I'm at $55 lease and about $65 refill on a 340 cf tank at Praxair. Airgas was really high here compared to what Mark was paying; so I told them that I knew a guy from a different state the was getting it cheaper. They said that they would give me that price. After that I called Praxair and told them what Airgas was gonna give me - they gave me a slightly better price than that lol
Only downfall was that they don't carry C18 like Mark recommended...

[dgbrit]

$91.34 out the door for a 80cf at Airgas this week Vacaville Ca

[sportbike]

Quote Originally Posted by undercut View Post
For whatever reason, I thought Argon was liquid when compressed in the cylinder so I thought a filled cylinder would be a lot heavier. Thanks for the table. Seems there must be a few different materials used in cylinders because I found one where the same cylinders sizes were a bit heavier.
You are correct.

Argon is not a liquid when stored in normal welding tanks. It can be stored as a liquid and often is in large storage tanks used in industrial settings with hard plumbing into the building. Nitrogen is the same way. When either are stored as a liquid there is much more available per unit volume much higher density), but there are major storage issues to deal with. The tanks will self vent many times if not in constant use due to the pressure building up from the ambient heating and can't be stored for long periods of time as can be done with the gasses in gaseous state.

[sportbike]

Wow, most of you guys get raped on gas prices...

[performance]

91+ for an 80???Some guy slipped the extra into his pocket and went out and bought him and his wife AND his kid a steak dinner at outback along with an appetizer and dessert.

[joshuab]

I take it this is a family owned or private owned store?? For $15 I would keep 125 tanks around since easier to move around.

I pay $50 for 80 cf. For $15, I would get in the resale business.

[azsprint6]

Todays Phoenix, Az owner bottle exchange prices. 55cf $32.00 80cf $39.00 125cf $52.00. I have a 55cf and want to keep it and buy a 125cf but it's $207.00 full. I figure for now I can refill the 55cf 6 times and get 330cf for less then the $207.00. (Is my math right??) I don't need to exchange that often but even when I do the welding supply is just a few miles down the road.

[everlastsupport]

$91.34 out the door for a 80cf at Airgas this week Vacaville Ca

You bought the tank in the price I hope. 330cf+ here is under $40 on a rental.

[joshuab]

I pay $50 for 80 cf. For $15, I would get in the resale business.

My mistake. My cylinder is 125, not 80.

[Depdog]

Just bought a 125 CF Argon tank. 250.00 full, 38 for a refill. Lease on a 330 is 89.00 a year, 78 for a refill.

Glenn

[RichardH]

I just bought a size T (300/330 CF) Argon tank: $245 filled; $50 refill or exchange. Cert's good for another 9 months, so I'll need to be smart about timing my exchange.

At 60F degrees, my gauge reads 1750psi. I see elsewhere that a full tank ought to be closer to 2200 or 2500 psi, so my $50 fill may not compare to someone else's. (However, it'll be at least 60 degrees hotter during the summer, and I'd hope they factor that so the tank doesn't go overpressure later.)

Cheers,
Richard

[Rambozo]

Sounds like you got a light fill.
When argon is stored as a compressed gas, it doesn't have the wide temp/pressure swings of a liquid like CO2.

Did you get your power plug sorted out? I just looked and noticed they didn't include the plug diagram they had in the other manuals. You can find it in the 250EX manual. Since they can run on single phase or 3 phase, the wiring is a little different.

[RichardH]

Sounds like you got a light fill.

I suspected as much. No worries, it'll still last me a very long time. I'll be more educated the next time.

[DaveO]

The LWS will swap it for a full if you return it right away- light fills happen, and they understand that. It could also be a faulty valve, leaking continuously, so your bottle that appears to be down by just 1/8 may dissipate to nothing. It's your call, but it may also be worth painting the valve with some soapy water, looking for bubbles, then laying the bottle down, valve facing up, and dripping some soapy water in there too.

For me the LWS hours and location are just far enough out of synch with my work schedule and commute that I bring a regulator with me and check the pressure in the new cylinder right there. It's 60 seconds' worth of bother that may prevent a return trip.

[tom_tom]

[...]I bring a regulator with me and check the pressure in the new cylinder right there.

Dave, thanks for the epiphany . I have an extra argon regulator and will start taking it with me when I exchange bottles. I've gotten a couple of under-filled cylinders before but didn't make a big deal about it. Hey, if we're paying for a full bottle then let it be full!

The LWS I've used for years and apparently was bought out by Praxair pissed me off the other day which sent me on a quest and landed me a jewel of a LWS. It's a mom and pop-ish place but they're always stocked with consumables, filler wire, etc - aside from gas cylinders. The going rate around here for buying 125CF Ar is right around $250 and $18 - $22 swap (filled). I now have 3 of these. The store is right down the road from where I work so I can rotate the bottles and exchange on my way home from work. Doing that with a 300+CF would be a b**ch in my case. 200CF cylinders are much less common here so sometimes the LWS' don't have them on hand for exchange.

Tom

[DaveO]

Cool that you found a friendly and workable place. I make it a point to explain that I'm checking contents to avoid a duplicate trip, not because I don't trust them to fill a bottle properly.