MIG welding, cost effective sources for Argon C02 tanks?, I don't remember them being this expensive! Options

[914rrr]

IIRC, back about 10+ years ago, I had a Lincoln MIG welder I bought at HD and I thought the Argon CO2 starter tanks used to cost around $70-80 and refills were $30-40. I sold it a few years later during a move.

Fast forward to today. I purchased a HF combo MIG welder and Northern Tool said $200-ish for the starter tank ?!?!?! Are there any more cost effective places / ways to buy these?

I'd be open to used as well. Are there any issues with out of date threads, nozzles, limitations / unwillingness of vendors to accept older tanks as trade-ins, etc. ?

[Superhawk996]

Welcome to 2023 and the effects of money printing, and everything now being called hazardous material. Compressed inert gas had something like an $11 hazardous material surcharge per refill at my local welding supply.

Not sure what you’re calling a starter tank. A couple years ago I bought an extra 4’ argon bottle so that I’d always have a full bottle on hand. Somehow a tank always runs out on Sunday (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) that tank was about $200 and a refill of argon was $80 for my last refill.

You can look into leasing a full size bottle but at my last supplier it didn’t make financial sense for my situation.