MIG gas prices

[pchalker]

I recently called around to find the best price on a refil of my MIG gas cylinder (25% CO, 75% Argon). When I first bought my cylinder, the cylinder and gas cost about $120. I was told the cost to refil the cylinder would be about $20. This was about 2 years ago. I have found that a cylinder lasts about one 10 pound roll of .030 wire. Now I have been told that the cost to refill is $65 to $80. Has the price of regular old MIG gas really gone up that much in the past 2 years or is sonething not quite right here. I do not know what size designation is used for my cylinder, it is about 9 inches in diameter and 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall.
Any thoughts from the experts???

[Arc Burn]

My bottles are leased,the C/25 bottle is 388cf(very big bottle) and thats a $60 exchange(trade the empty for the full)kind of hard to man handle by yourself but lasts quite awhile and is alot cheaper,i was paying almost $50 for 128cf,go figure?

[Bobby]

if you 'own' the bottle that price may include some sort of pressure testing. That's one advantage over 'leaseing' a bottle. you just turn one in and get a diff bottle full of gas and go to it.


Just a thought. I know my 80cuft bottl is about $15 to fill with C25

[ChadRat]

I buy my tanks. Last time I needed a refill I traded in my smaller tank for what they cost new and added some money to get a bigger tank. Usually, when I got to get mine filled they just swap me out for a full tank. No hassles.

[cope]

125 Cu. ft.

AWeaver, that's a perfect size for home shop. Mine is an 80 Cu. Ft., but a co-worker swapped it to me for a used window unit A/C so I'm content with it. Besides, when I made my welder cart, I designed it around this cylinder; If I got a larger one, I would have to make a new cart.

[Franz]

If you are running thru a bottle of gas on 10# of wire, you have a big problem someplace. Either you have serious leakage in your system, or don't have a flo control orphice on the machine. A 120cf bottle should run at least 2 30# rolls of wire.

[Arc Burn]

Franz,i would be curious to know how a 120cf bottle gets you thru 60lbs of wire?What pressure are you running off the gauge?

[Roger]

Arc Burn
What unit of pressure indicates flow rate?

[Franz]

On steel wire, I run between 10 & 15psi at 3 cubic feet per minute.
Occasionally, I'll run a higher pressure to compensate for wind.
The important thing is cubic feet per minute. You regulate cfm either with a fixed or adjustable orphice after the regulator. My MIG has a fixed orphace screwed into the back of the machine.
There is no advantage to spilling excess gas onto the weld, other than getting to give the gas supplier more money.

[pchalker]

Frantz,
I am a little confused with your numbers, 3 cu ft/min would mean that you go through a 125 cuft bottle in about 42 minutes of welding. If your bottle last through 60 lbs of wire, thats 1 and 1/2 pounds of wire per minute. You must be welding a a furious pase to go through 1 and 1/2 pound of wire in one minute! My gas regulates is calibrated in liters per minute and mine is set a about 6 liters per minute, which if my calculations are correct is about .211 cu ft per minute, which seems to produce reasonable wleds? There appears to be some disconnect in our welding experiances. BTW I have found a distributer that will fill my 125 cuft C25 bottle for about $34 dollars. A big improvement over the 60-80 $s from some of the other distributers in the PHX area.

[Franz]

I have this hunk of brass between the bottle and the machine, called a REGULATOR.
3cfm @ 10psi at the gun is NOT 3cfm coming from the bottle.
I'm not even going to try doing the math, but it's probably around 800 to 1 ratio.

[Bobby]

I think even hobart suggests using around 20psi on the regulator and I found having it even a little higher produced better welds. Might also be the turbulence in the air around where i'm welding. I usually ahve the garage door open for ventilation.

anyone else have comments?

[Al T.]

My hh175 agrees with aweaver , it came preset that way. Good quality welds.

[cope]

I just had my 80 cubic foot cylinder replaced with C-25 for $18. Won't get off as easy next time because it will need hydrostatic tes. That runs $25 and according to my dealer will take 2-3 weeks. Cylinders like mine are hard to come by in my area. BTW, paid $25 for 33# spool of ER70-S6 wire.

[pchalker]

You must have a different system in your area, in my area, when you own a bottle and need it refilled, they just swap your empty bottle with a full bottle. You never own the same bottle from one refill to another, you just own a bottle that can be refilled.