What size tank to buy?

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Setting up my home welding shop soon, I havent purchased a tank for my tig welder yet. The tanks we have at my work are 6' tall and about 12" in diameter. I'm sure I dont need something that big for a home hobby shop. Any suggestions? How much am I looking at for the tank and gas fill ?Thanks guys.
Reply:The biggest you can get (I lease mine).  It only costs me 68 bucks to get mine refilled and I have the biggest praxair sells (M).  Good luck.Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:Depending on how much you weld, the bigger you can get, the better. I started out small and kept having to get refills once a month. After 3 months, I moved up to a big 300 bottle.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Originally Posted by DoolittleThe biggest you can get (I lease mine).  It only costs me 68 bucks to get mine refilled and I have the biggest praxair sells (M).  Good luck.
Reply:The reason is because when you go to refill your bottle, most welding supply places will take your nice new bottle, put it in the back and give you an old, painted up, beat up filled bottle. They do this because most places are a  distributorship for gas, they don't actually have the equipment to do the fills.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Got ya! Thanks. Thought it might be like when you go get your propane tank fill for your BBQ. My local store fills right in front of me.
Reply:The benifit of leasing a tank is all maintanance is on the owner of it. No hydro testing, valve replacement or painting on your dime.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:see if you can lease them from your work. If they use alot of gas, refills will be cheaper for them as a customer that buys alot of gas versus a someone that just goes down to the lws or napa.  I used to get mine from my old job and I could get them filled at their cost. If not get the biggest tank you can afford as 20 cfh or so will go through a small tank real quick and the larger tanks cost less per cf than the smaller ones.Last edited by weldingman24; 03-17-2007 at 07:01 PM.
Reply:I own all of my tanks and exchange them at the local Airgas. They just exchange them and I've yet to be asked whether they were leased or owned. I understand that there are some welding gas supply companies that lease on a monthly or yearly basis and you have to pay for the use of the tank separately form the gas. No one's ever asked me for any extra money when i exchange. They get plenty of money for their gases nowadays in any case.As to size, I have 2 160 c.f. Argons for my TIG and one 20 pound C02 for my MIG. My oxygen and acetylene are the mid-size. I believe the acetylene is 70 c.f. and the ox. is slightly larger. Those are more than adequate for my hobby shop. I keep the two argon so that I won't get caught on a weekend without argon for my TIG.Last edited by gnm109; 03-17-2007 at 08:52 PM.Miller Millermatic 252Miller Syncrowave 200Liincoln AC-DC 225Victor O-A Set
Reply:I just bought a 125 argon bottle. It came full of course and it cost me $155.00. They told me it would be $20.00 to refill it
Reply:Size matters......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Originally Posted by rmkrider1I just bought a 125 argon bottle. It came full of course and it cost me $155.00. They told me it would be $20.00 to refill it
Reply:Unless you plan on movig it around, the biggest you can get. Local conditions (supplier policies) determine what sizes you can own and get filled-- many suppliers won't fill or swap customer owned bottles bigger than a certain size. Sometimes you can work a deal for a deposit, then pay for exchanges, get the deposit back, sometimes there is a monthly charge (in NJ, it seems to run between $4 and $10 for a 220CF oxygen per month. Grrrr.) and all kind of other games. If you purchase, KEEP THE RECEIPT, and don't let the bottle or receipt out of your sight at the supplier until you know them. Some have nasty little habits like claiming that it is illegal to own a bottle, or that they have to confiscate the bottle because they think it is stolen if you can't prove ownership, or whatever. I don't know of anywhere in the US where these claims are TRUE, but I have head them enough times to cover myself. Remember, even if they are full of poop in these cases, they have your bottle and it is your problem to get it back.
Reply:i have two 120 cu. for argon. i like the 120's because they're easy to throw over your shoulder when moving em around.  i leased mine only because i thought i'd return them when i wasn't using them, that hasn't happened yet, one of these days i'm gonna buy them.....
Reply:My bottle only gets moved if I need to fill it, so I got a 300cf. I got it used for $50, and it was FULL when I got it, look around for a deal. The LWS here gives me no problems. On the first exchange I had to fill out some  ownership papers and show ID, now they just exchange it with no questions for $55.00.I wouldn't like a smaller bottle, heck I wish I could get one in 1000cf or so.Miller EconotigCutmaster 38Yes ma'am, that IS a screwdriver in my pocket!