BOC and Volkszone - Gas Offer

[Badger1bear]

Is that the best deal around for pure argon ?
I have an account with boc for all the Argo shield gas I go thru, I was hoping there would be a cheaper deal on pure argon somewhere

 

[eSCHEn]

Yeah if you're gonna use a size Y in sixteen months or less (IIRC) then it works out cheaper than others. Argo mix is cheaper rental and refill.

 

[skotl]

Here's my prices as of tonight on the volkszone / hobbyist plan;

Y pure argon (TIG) £39.71 incl VAT for a refill
Y argoshield light (MIG) £32.44 incl VAT for a refill

smaller cylinders are more expensive and, as far as I can tell, the discounts only apply to pure argon and argoshield - not for oxy/acetylene.

 

[TurtleDude]

How does this Volkszone offer compare to the hobbyweld scheme?

http://www.hobbyweld.co.uk

I ask you guys because I don't know a Y cylinder from a Y front.

 

[skotl]

How does this Volkszone offer compare to the hobbyweld scheme?

http://www.hobbyweld.co.uk

I ask you guys because I don't know a Y cylinder from a Y front.

BOC have a very useful cylinder size guide over here;

Suffice to say that on the deal, you'll get a Y (5 m3) for half the price that an X (2.4 m3) so it's an absolute bargain.

When comparing with other vendors you also need to compare the fill pressure. BOC fill to 230bar so a Y cylinder at 230bar will contain twice the gas of a Y cylinder at 115bar.

Edit: It took me a while to figure out that the deal applies only to Y cylinders. I had rented a PD cylinder thinking I wouldn't use all that gas (I was wrong) - the PD cost £40 for a refill, and the Y cost £33 for 10 x the amount of gas!

 

[TurtleDude]

So can someone link me up to where this bargain gas can be perrrchased please?

 

[skotl]

So can someone link me up to where this bargain gas can be perrrchased please?

569 posts on the same thread - didn't I promise to help tidy this up some time?

So here's one of many posts talking about phone numbers / contacts / processes, etc. I'm not having a go, though, as this is I think 429 posts in...

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/boc-and-volkszone-gas-offer.14605/page-22#post-567210

Note that, as that post says, you also have cylinder rental to account for.

 

[Badger1bear]

So, I am already a boc acc holder but if I ring the number I can pick up the argon gas cheaper than if I was to walk into my local boc welding supply shop and put an argon bottle on my acc?

 

[Maker]

The hobbyweld argon "ultra" is filled to a higher pressure (300 bar) and is the same volume as the Y size so it does hold more gas but I can't see a price for HobbyWeld. I seem to remember phoning them a couple of years ago when I got my TIG and it was extortionate.

 

[eSCHEn]

IIRC the deposit on an Argon Ultra is near two hundred quid.

I think the refill wasn't any better than BOC's deal either.

 

[hotrodder]

Yep, deposit on hobbyweld ultra cylinders is £195 + VAT and £20 of that is non refundable same as with the £72 deposit on 137bar cylinders. Refill for argon ultra is ~ £100 inc VAT. Prices for different flavours of gas, deposits for 137 bar cylinders and acetylene can be found http://www.wellyweld.com/categories/Cylinders-66370.aspx

Basically BOC and everyone else that does the rental model assume that the customer actually uses the gas. Drag the welding gear out once in a blue moon and it can be cheaper to pay a chunk more for the gas but no rental... it's a cylinders per year or years per cylinder thing

For those that fall into the years per cylinder type use there's also SGSgases (details in one of the pinned threads at the top of this forum, prices vary with stockist or used to anyway) and AirLiquides AlBee range, http://www.albeegascylinders.com/ can get an idea of pricing here http://www.waspsupplies.com/albee-rent-free-welding-gases-84-c.asp

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Yep, deposit on hobbyweld ultra cylinders is £195 + VAT and £20 of that is non refundable same as with the £72 deposit on 137bar cylinders. Refill for argon ultra is ~ £100 inc VAT. Prices for different flavours of gas, deposits for 137 bar cylinders and acetylene can be found http://www.wellyweld.com/categories/Cylinders-66370.aspx

Basically BOC and everyone else that does the rental model assume that the customer actually uses the gas. Drag the welding gear out once in a blue moon and it can be cheaper to pay a chunk more for the gas but no rental... it's a cylinders per year or years per cylinder thing

For those that fall into the years per cylinder type use there's also SGSgases (details in one of the pinned threads at the top of this forum, prices vary with stockist or used to anyway) and AirLiquides AlBee range, http://www.albeegascylinders.com/ can get an idea of pricing here http://www.waspsupplies.com/albee-rent-free-welding-gases-84-c.asp

I had a nice surprise when I returned my SGS gas bottles to take up the BOC offer as they refunded by deposit AND the vat on the deposit.

 

[Maker]

I had a nice surprise when I returned my SGS gas bottles to take up the BOC offer as they refunded by deposit AND the vat on the deposit.

I was surprised to find WeldingGases.co.uk do that too.

 

[roofman]

BOC here...W size pure Argon,£18 for a refill and £5 per month Rent. Thats based on using 2 bottles a year.

 

[TurtleDude]

A friend was saying yesterday I could get away with CO2 'pub gas' if I don't mind a bit of splatter and a less tidy weld.

Prices for this vs effectiveness of Argon/CO2 mix ?

So for someone like me who will use it at weekends and not for long at a time..what's best?

(For MIG)

 

[eSCHEn]

BOC here...W size pure Argon,£18 for a refill and £5 per month Rent. Thats based on using 2 bottles a year.

Hell that's cheap roofman!

 

[Maker]

I use a 2Kg CO2 extingusher at the moment for mig, seems ok...BUT either invert the extinguisher or short bursts (extinguishers have a dip tube that draws liquid CO2 up and can mess with the reg.....)

Ironically, you also have an upside down pub gas bottle to put out fires.

 

[dai]

Hmmmm, could do with Oxy too, is there a deal going on this too now?

I rang local depot and asked prices as large oxy was costing me 150a year!!told him too dear and said im going rent free.he says dont do anything untill boc accounts ring me back and they did with the hobbiest deal

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Phone BOC free phone number & ask for Stuart Anderson, he'll sort you out.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Hi;

Just to double check, I setup a BOC account on the Volkzone deal last year, my invoice for rental was £33.99, can't remember how much the gas was about the same?

Anyway about a week ago I did a refill for about £34.00 and I have just had my annual rental invoice which now says the annual rental is £47.34?

I queried this with BOC and said I was on the Volkzone deal and was this correct, they replied:

Good morning



Thank you for your email.



I refer to the query below. I can confirm that the price of £ 47.34 is correct for the annual rental.



BOC ref 512662772



Kind regards



Customer Enquiries



BOC UK & Ireland

Customer Service Centre, Priestley Road, Worsley, Manchester, M28 2UT

Phone 0800111333, Fax 08002794430

custserv@boc.com, www.boconline.co.uk