Where to get CO2 locally

Tom Barr

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Post any and all locations you can get CO2 refills and tanks etc for cheap!

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

George Farmer

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Sep 6, 2006
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I get my empty 500g refillable (JBL) cylinders exchanged in Maidenhead Aquatics in Crowland, Peterborough.

I know that many other MA stores (they're all over the UK) also exchange. Expect to pay £10 to £15.

I always phone ahead to ensure they have one ready to swap.

When I set up my 150G I will be using a 2Kg CO2 fire extinguisher. Any ideas on where to fill or exchange these, please?
 

Tom Barr

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Micro brewery and beverage places that sell to fountain style carbonated Coke, Sprite, etc are good places, fire extingusher places have been consistently the cheapest in the USA for tanks and refills. Ice companies may also sell CO2.
Welding places do also.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Aeropars

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Apr 6, 2007
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I get my 2kg bottle refilled from Ocean Commotion in Leicester. It has a weeks turn around (sent away on a tuesday and arrives back the following tuesday) and it costs around £16 for a 2kg bottle. I beleive a 500grm bottle will be £12.

Tom, my experience with local welding supplies is that they want to rent you the bottle for a year before they refill which is a real pain unlesss you want a 20kg bottle or something like that.
 

chr15_8

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Apr 6, 2007
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Ruislip Middx
Middlesex

Enfield
Wildwoods
refill any co2 bottle (that i know off) there and then (so you get your own bottle back)

£10 each


Iver
Iver Maidenhead Aquatics in flowerland garden centre swap over bottles (over the counter swap)

not sure on cost but will confirm next week

chris
 

BHornsey

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Aeropars;15708 said:
Tom, my experience with local welding supplies is that they want to rent you the bottle for a year before they refill which is a real pain unlesss you want a 20kg bottle or something like that.

Yeah, I asked a couple of places for prices. BOC at Rotherham wanted £88 per year bottle rental plus £36 for each top-up for a 15kg bottle, a 7.5kg is around £45 rent / £24 refill.

At the moment I have a 6kg soft drink bottle and couple of 2½kg fire bottles from a friend who runs a fire extinguisher service. It's the Easter Bank holiday so he won't be around till Tuesday. I'll ask him if he would like to offer a refill / exchange service and what sort of prices on various bottles. This would be for around Doncaster.
 

2pods

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Jun 28, 2006
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So far (for my area Inverclyde) I've found an Air Products agent in Greenock, who will rent you a 5' pub bottle for £100 a year and £36 a fill - not too bad if you have the space for the bottle, but I really don't want a divorce :)

I've bought a 2kg extinguisher from H2O in Largs for £40 (quite dear, but if I'm getting refills a bit of goodwill will help) and a refill is £13 delivered.

The owner, Chris, said he'll also see about filling my german Aquamas 2kg bottle and I have another 2kg FE on order for £19.

Peter
 

neil1973

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Dec 17, 2005
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My strategy is old fire extinguishers off of ebay. Last time i bought some i got a job lot of 3 2kg extinguishers for about £30. I think the reason they get sold off cheap is once they get to a certain age they have to be pressure tested making them uneconomic to refill.

Guess they may not be so cheap in the future once we're all bidding for them!:D

cheers
Neil
 

Tom Barr

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Getting them hydro tested should not run more than a few pounds, maybe 10-15 at most. That's done every 3-5 years or so.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

neil1973

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Dec 17, 2005
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Stirling, UK
Tom Barr;15735 said:
Getting them hydro tested should not run more than a few pounds]

Nothing in the UK costs a few pounds!:D

Seriously though l have only once tried to get an extinguisher refilled - about a year ago. This was in Somerset so along way from where i live now. I phoned up a few different fire extinguisher places and was given a story about new bits of EU legislation and how they couldn't actually fill them themselves and they would have to be sent to somewhere ect etc... I can't remember the exact prices i was quoted but it was a lot more than the £10 each or so that i ended up spending on ebay. I think part of the problem was that i wasn't actually near anywhere that could do the job themselves.

In the past i have looked on reef forums for sources of CO2 refills and fire extinguisher places were often suggested. While i never found anything directly relevant to where i live i did get the impression that some places were much more helpful and much cheaper then others. It will definitly be a great help if people can post any info they get about such places.

cheers
Neil
 

rehunk

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Nov 15, 2006
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For anyone in the West Midlands.............

This where I go for my CO2 refills and bottles. I pay £5.20 to refill my 2kg and 3.2 kg bottles. I paid £20 or £25 for the 3.2kg bottles,and that's full. They do other sizes as well. I think £30 for a full 5kg bottle. These are recondition extinguishers with new valves and a nice new coating of black paint and CO2 stickers. I can't reccomend these people enough. Always friendly and professional service.

Bryland Fire Protection Ltd
Classification : Firefighting Equipment
Unit 3, Peartree Lane, Dudley, West Midlands, DY2 0QY.
Tel : 01384 573301
Fax : 01384480944
Website : Bryland - The Complete Fire Protection Service

Hope this is helpful.

Best,

Ron
 

sherry

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Feb 23, 2006
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I got my tank and regulator together on aquabid.. but for refills in New York City I go to able fire extinquisher on 24th street between 7th and 8th. Call and let them know you are coming..
 

KeithS

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Jan 28, 2007
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East Lothian Scotland
Hi guys
I get my gas from Russel gas in Edinburgh. If you already have a cylinder they will exchange it for a full one for £12, this is for cylinder about 3 feet high, I think 7kg size, If you explain to them it is for your fish tank (will get a funny look) they will not charge a monthly or yearly rental like other firms i tried do.

Keith
 

2pods

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Jun 28, 2006
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West of Scotland
neil1973;15736 said:
Peter. There is a BOC in Glasgow where you could get the cylinders mentioned in the previous post by BHornsey. I have looked into using BOC in the past but ended up getting fire extinguishers. The smallest cylinder they do is about 3' high and about 6" wide so more manageable than a 5' one:)

Here is a link for BOC cylinder specs..
http://www.bocgases.ie/saftey/cylinders/pdf/cylinderchart.pdf

cheers
Neil


Thanks Neil

There is also a local diving shop I need to check out.

Peter
 

Maximumbob

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Mar 22, 2007
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Widnes, Cheshire, UK
I think this thread is excellent, but I think we need a summary page on Page 1. I also think that as the UK is a big place it might be sensible to organise where we get our CO2 by region e.g.:

Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
London
South West
South East
North East
North West
Midlands

Comments/ideas/discuss...
 

Tom Barr

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Yes, if someone would be so kind as to make a summary table for the UK for CO2 equipment and regulators/needle valves etc, that would be super.

This will greatly aid in answering and making common questions, as well as reduce the protestations from new folks seeking to increase plant growth but saying CO2 cost too much.

You folks save new members, as well as yourselves lots of $$, then you have really added value to your club!!

And that's the way to do things in clubs, by helping others, you help yourself and advance and promote the hobby. Pretty cool huh?

I can look for certain items and might know a lot about one area, but George might know 10X more about another area, by pooling knowledge and information about resources, you folks buld a powerful local source for everything needed for the hobby. :D :D :D

Do it!

We can post a nice table in Word for folks for the UKAPS add as a sticky or start here for CO2 etc.

Whatever you folks want.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

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PS, the suggestion to seek sources for CO2 on a reef forum is also a wise move.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

MTechnik

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Apr 13, 2007
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I got my tank from a welding supply store. Now I go to a beverage distributor and for $12, I exchange the tank for a fresh one.

-MT