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Cheap fast local Co2 refill??

A Aaron

A Aaron

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So I’ve been lurking for a couple months and finally joined. I plan on doing a introduction and tank setup soon. I did meet ashburn when I picked up a OG bounce from him and look forward to meeting more of you.

So anyways I’m in San Mateo and I’m looking to fill and also get a spare co2 full bottle for my ca reactor. I was thinking 20-25$ and Airgas wants 45$ for a swap now!! They wanted like 165$ for a extra full bottle. Caught me off guard so is this the going rate now??
 
$45 is not bad and their tanks are tested to compliance. Also save you time and gas running around to other places.
 
i just went through this not long ago.
There are 2 places i use.
If you have a nice shiny bottle that you want to keep (refill) the only place in town is Carbonic services in San Jose. They have great service, they will fill your bottle & or re certify it if needed on the spot. No time wasted especially if you are in a rush.
Your other choice is to do the bottle exchange, which i use when I have an old outdated bottle i don’t care to keep.
I found this hydroponic store to be the cheapest. San Jose hydroponic see the pic of their prices for exchange.
7A1DF633-A83B-4FD3-A9F5-4BE7E193015E.png
 
I’ve never exchanged bottles, I’ve always just waited while they fill it. I go to Alliance Welding Supply, but I don’t know if they deal directly with the public. Before reefing I already had an account with them for my business. It just worked out that I can get co2 from them too.
 
Flagg37 said:
I’ve never exchanged bottles, I’ve always just waited while they fill it. I go to Alliance Welding Supply, but I don’t know if they deal directly with the public. Before reefing I already had an account with them for my business. It just worked out that I can get co2 from them too.
Click to expand...
How much is your fill up cost?


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I buy all my welding products through Alliance and was never asked for a secret handshake. They are now AirGas and it's 55+tax for 50lbs of CO2, them refilling your tank. However, it looks like SJ Hydroponics is going to be tough to beat! Just my 2 cents!
 
Thanks all! That is exactly the info I’m looking for. Sounds like the hydroponics store is definitely the cheapest. I mainly wanted to make sure that Airgas was not crazy over the top expensive. Also ashburn I will check out the for sale section, I’d like to grab an extra bottle.

I’m actually using what’s left over from my kegerator so probably won’t last long. I gotta get another bottle soon.
 
ashburn2k said:
How much is your fill up cost?


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Click to expand...
I really can’t say I paid attention. I just had it filled and paid for a bunch of other stuff at the same time. I have two 10 lb bottles. I think the hydroponic place is probably cheaper though. That’s really low.

Everet Killian said:
I buy all my welding products through Alliance and was never asked for a secret handshake. They are now AirGas and it's 55+tax for 50lbs of CO2, them refilling your tank. However, it looks like SJ Hydroponics is going to be tough to beat! Just my 2 cents!
Click to expand...
If they changed ownership they didn’t change their name. https://yelp.to/qTKq/xQrdkTxwxY
 
fyi, if you decide to go SJ hydroponics make sure you mention the craigslist post or show them the ad, otherwise i think they add a couple dollars.
BTW, what size bottle are you using?
 
I believe it’s a 5lb steel bottle I have right now. FYI air gas said 45 to swap the 5 lb. To my surprise they said they would fill my bottle but it would be a 2 day turn around. They must send it out to get it filled? Idk but I didn’t ask the price to fill you own bottle so I’m not sure if it’s cheaper.
 
those are exactly the prices that i was getting quoted before i found the 2 places I mentioned to you that I decided to use.
Carbonics was the only shop that fills as you wait so you can get your reef back on the bottle asap. (who’s got 2 days to wait in this “i want it now” type of world.
& SJ hydro was the flat out cheapest in the bay. Both shops are actually like 5-10min away from each other. I stopped at both places and hit up Neptunes all in one swoop.
just my .02 worth
A Aaron said:
I believe it’s a 5lb steel bottle I have right now. FYI air gas said 45 to swap the 5 lb. To my surprise they said they would fill my bottle but it would be a 2 day turn around. They must send it out to get it filled? Idk but I didn’t ask the price to fill you own bottle so I’m not sure if it’s cheaper.
Click to expand...
 
FYI fire extinguisher places often hydro test and refill on the spot.
I don't know if there are any independent welding stores in the area, but they often are much cheaper than the big names like Airgas, Praxair, etc. The one in Dallas actually upgraded me from a steel bottle (20 lbf) to a same size aluminum bottle after the 5th or 6th time I came by (every 3 months or so for my planted tank when it was up).

I've found that most places either fill or exchange, but few do both. The exchange places can fill, but usually have to send your bottle back to their depot, hence the couple day wait. Honestly I prefer exchange, I just make sure that the date on the bottle is far enough out to get me past my next planned refill, then I never need to hydro test. Only real downsides are if you own a really nice shiny aluminum bottle and don't want a dinged up one, or if you come in to exchange an aluminum bottle and they only have steel ones. I'd come back another time in that case.

The other thing I like to do is weigh my bottle new and empty. I had one place that always put only 17 pounds in a 20 pound bottle and claimed that was normal.

Finally, be safe moving those things, and storing them under your tank. You *really* don't want to be around when a stem snaps off.
 
Yeah makes sense. I got screwed long ago. My kegerator came with a new shiny aluminum one and I needed a full bottle for a party unfortunately all they had was old steel ones and I ended up exchanging it.
 
Every place I’ve ever exchanged CO2 bottles at has charged for hydro if you bring them an expired bottle, but not if you bring them one still in, no matter how close.
Given that the hydro cost on a 20 lbf bottle is similar to the refill cost (at least was at the time) it’s worth bringing in a tad early if you’re getting low and near the expiration date.
 
Shouldn’t be more than a standard hydro test if it’s been stored indoors. Tanks don’t exactly go bad if they don’t rust out. When I was in Indiana it wasn’t at all unusual to have tanks going back to WW2 in the local welding gas supply.
 
Got me curious on the date on mine now, and wouldn't you know I have no idea where it is... well I have some ideas of which at the dumps or somewhere in my garage of "My wife is a hoarder so I can't find any of my stuff" levels of being full. Oh well, not like I need to get it refilled anyways, hell never filled it, I traded it for a frag back in the day :D
 
Wanted to update this Incase there’s other people curious. So the only place to swap a 5lb bottle is airgas within an hour drive or more and they are way more expensive then anywhere. I ended up getting a new aluminum 10lb bottle from amazon but no one around here will swap 10lb bottles closer then San Jose.

Cheapest place to get Co2 period is hydroponics stores. There is one in Burlingame and they charge $120 for a 20lb bottle if you don’t have one which is cheaper then amazon and other online competitors. They only charge $15 to swap a 20lb tank which seams to be a awesome deal. I planned on getting a beat to crap trade in from them but he let me pick my bottle and I picked A brand new one so I’m very happy with this place. So from now on it will only cost me $15 for a 20lb trade in. Its called global garden supply in Burlingame.
 
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