Where to get air in Madison?

[John H. Moore]

Hydros are actually something under discussion off-and-on for the past couple weeks on my San Diego diving email list. A couple people got volunteered to gather info, call shops, call non-dive shop places which do hydro's, etc., and report back.

It seems that in San Diego, at least, the dive shops all send tanks out to welding supply type businesses for hydro. If you bring your tank directly to such a shop, most-but-not-all will VIP it for you if you ask (but they may not unless you ask). Otherwise, it goes back to the dive shop, where they will do the VIP. This, plus general desire-for-profit-issues, may dictate the separate charges for hydro and VIP.

The topic came up in San Diego because often hydros take way too long for active divers who don't have a garage full of tanks, so some have looked to go directly to the hydro source. Turns out to be about half the cost and turn-around times of a couple days.

Again, I'm speaking generally and know nothing about the Wisconsin scuba industry.

Re the charge for fills when VIP-ing: In years past in San Diego, I never paid for an air fill when having the tank VIP'd, it was part of the VIP. In more recent years the more corporate shops have been charging for air in addition to the VIP charge. Then again, several non-corporate shops have changed to not charging for air at all. One doesn't even charge for nitrox at standard mixes below 40%. But... these are different markets; air is significantly more expensive here.

As to the question about paying tax on air fills in California: no, I never did. But keep in mind that sales tax is determined by a combination of state, county, and municipal laws, so there's no necessary relationship between here and there. Got my first Wisconsin fill yesterday and did not pay tax. But in both cases it's always possible that the tax is built into the price and thus invisible to us as consumers.

But... heck, I still am not sure whether my Cheerios are taxed in Wisconsin, nonetheless arcane things! ;-)

John
now with air but still too dang dry!