Modal Acoustic Emission testing is around $300. I'm no expert and as such this should be taken with a grain of salt but it seems to me that inspecting the interior of the tank for corrosion plus inspecting the exterior of the tank for exposed fibers or cuts would be a very good thing to do. Impacts to the exterior of the tank is the biggest treat to the strength of the tank. It causes what is called delamination which simply means the layers of the carbon fiber become cracked. The resin is what binds the layers together making it as strong as it is so when you have a delam the tank is weaker in that area. Now if you had a compressor that would pump up to 7500 psi you could do the test yourself but it would be very expensive.
Do NOT test a tank by filling it to a higher pressure with air - ever! Doing that could risk a catastrophic explosion if the tank actually did have an issue and failed . . . A "hydro" test is just that - tested with water in it instead of air, and as an incompressible fluid if the tank fails, all that escapes is a few cc's of water as the pressure is relieved, not many dozens of cubic feet of air expanding outwards . . . .The key part of the test is measuring how much the tank expands under pressure, not just whether it holds the pressure. I would say that in every case where a tank failed its hydro test, it was due to the incorrect expansion, not because it could not take the pressure.
Quote from: AlanMcD on January 21, 2020, 09:00:22 AMDo NOT test a tank by filling it to a higher pressure with air - ever! Doing that could risk a catastrophic explosion if the tank actually did have an issue and failed . . . A "hydro" test is just that - tested with water in it instead of air, and as an incompressible fluid if the tank fails, all that escapes is a few cc's of water as the pressure is relieved, not many dozens of cubic feet of air expanding outwards . . . .The key part of the test is measuring how much the tank expands under pressure, not just whether it holds the pressure. I would say that in every case where a tank failed its hydro test, it was due to the incorrect expansion, not because it could not take the pressure.DOUBLE DITTO!!!!
Yikes, $300 for an MAE test comes out to $900 worth of testing over 15 years (assuming done at 15/20/25 years then retiring the tank at 30). Better off buying a new DOT tank and doing standard hydros. So it seems the remaining option is a visual inspection, for an expired or non-DOT tank.Thanks for the input.
That's $300 for 15 more years. /snip/