Hoping someone can give me some advice about BOC in particular. At the moment I've got an integra bottle of pure argon from air products. I use it for both TIG and MIG welding but the price seems to be going up and up! My rental for the year is now £96 + VAT and they seem to charge me anything from £110 - 130 for each fill. Thats without delivery and I had 3 fills in '07. What I'd really like is to have two bottles one for the mig and one for the tig but obviously I can't afford that at the moment. I'm just wondering how much cheaper BOC are than air products? I went with air products because BOC's customer service up here was crap when I first called them and they're miles away! But maybe its time for a change. My rental is due in May and 'm not paying £100 a year to have an empty bottle sat here! Anybody got some advice or tips about how to get a better deal? Cheers Oli.
AS it happens. I have paid my Boc rental charge today.
I have a size W bottle ( Full size ). The annual rental charge is £92.47 inclusive of VAT 
I know the telephone customer service that BOC provide could be better.
I have always had first class service at my local BOC trade centre.
I looked at AP as an alternative, alas too expensive all round.
Ronnie
Size X refill from BOC is £35 plus £12 handling (if you pick it up yourself) plus £46 per year rental.
All plus VAT of course. And all for pureshield argon.
I too use BOC and collect from our local agents.
I have just paid the annual rental on pure argon, W size cylinder at £92.47 so identical to Ronnie which I am pleased to see.
I paid 56.76 August for a refill. So, quite a lot to pay in one go but spread over the year reasonably reasonable.
John
Again im with Boc as I used to work near the agent.
Again top service as its the place I get all my steel from and powder coating ect.
Ive just bought a Tig so im going to have to bite the bullet and get pure Argon.
Can I use this in my Mig as I dont want to have two rentals on the go at the same time 
Price as above and it looks to be inline with what Ap charge.
Cheers Garry. What size is an X??? I'm contemplating a half size bottle of shield (Cougar I think) for the Mig and a full or 3/4 if such a
think exists for the TIG. I had the equivalent of 3 full fills last time round but don't envisage using as much this year. Maybe two half
bottles would be enough even.....Oli.
[Edited on 5/1/08 by oliwb]
Air products are cheaper and usually in weird places like coal merchants so open at weekends where boc don't seem to be.
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Air products are cheaper
quote:
Originally posted by omega 24 v6
quote:
Air products are cheaper
Not up here there not. They used to be half the price of BOC now it's pretty much and such depending on stockist. My local AP stockist wants £35 handling each time for a fill. WTF thats what BOC want for a delivery to your door.
Place I used to work at were AP stockholders as well. Never liked AP stuff, it was cheaper originally, but the oxy was filled to 200bar, where as BOC was 230bar, which is a hell of a lot more gas for a start, and then the prices went up. To save on refills, try somewhere like a scrapyard or a fab shop that uses lots of gas, they get theirs delivered for nothing and will usually swap an empty for a full for costs plus a bit. I've had a set of oxy/acetyline for years and never payed for delivery yet.
quote:
Originally posted by omega 24 v6
........ wants £35 handling each time for a fill.
The annoying thing for me is the BIL has a business account with them for his cougar for the Mig. Only other option for me was a trip of 80 miles and 2 hrs wasted for another AP supplier with better rates Or a round trip of 30 miles at BOC prices so a no brainer as they say.
Hi there was discussion of BOC highly overpriced charges before. HERE
It mentions ENERGAS Who charge less than half what BOC dose and no handling fee and cylinders that are fully
filled unlike BOC 
.
A quick guide to there locations from the above site are.
Hull
Grimsby
Scunthorpe
Sheffield
Derby
Burton-on-Trent
Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Smethwick
Bradford
Middlesbrough
Gateshead
HTH cheers Matt
Another plug for Energas, I get mine from Derby. The cylinders are filled to 300 bar and no charge for picking up yourself.