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View Full Version : Lifespan of a Reci tube.



Neville Stewart
04-08-2014, 1:29 PM
Well I used my 100 watt Laser after a period and didn't check to see an air pocket had accumulated, it had, cracked the tube after a few minutes. So if you have a Chinese machine and haven't used Ina while, take a peek before you fire it up. I ordered a replacement from Marco at LightObject as they are Stateside and have reasonable prices, but get this my original tube is 2002. It was seemingly on the way out as I'd been seeing a power drop but 12 years!! Looking forward to another Reci from Marco this Friday. Happy face :)

Frank barry
04-08-2014, 1:42 PM
yes I am with you on that one as I almost did the same thing last week I guess we should run the water for a while before firing up and it can take a few minutes to clear all of the air from the tube cheers Frank

David Somers
04-08-2014, 3:31 PM
Neville,

Isn't the life of a tube, RECI or otherwise, measured more in terms of hours of operation than simply its age? A lightly used tube might last 12 years while a heavily used tube, all things being equal might last 4 years? Those aren't real numbers of course, just tossing them out for examples.

Just curious?

Dave

Mark Sipes
04-08-2014, 4:41 PM
Ever had to add air to the tires in your car?? driven or not.... the gas does leak.

Neville Stewart
04-08-2014, 4:41 PM
Yes they last 10000 hours if you use them back to back :). Actually what I heard was the gas charge is guaranteed to last 10k hours. Regardless of use.

Rich Harman
04-08-2014, 4:43 PM
Neville,

Isn't the life of a tube, RECI or otherwise, measured more in terms of hours of operation than simply its age? A lightly used tube might last 12 years while a heavily used tube, all things being equal might last 4 years?

Some say it is the other way around, that a tube sitting unused will deteriorate just as fast as one being used regularly. I've also heard that running the tube is better than letting it sit. The first sounds reasonable, the latter - not so much. I only hope that when my tube dies the spare that I have been storing in the closet will serve it's purpose.

Rich Harman
04-08-2014, 4:48 PM
Ever had to add air to the tires in your car?? driven or not.... the gas does leak.

Yes, but my F250 has not needed air added in years. No, really. It has been two years since I put any air in those tires, even then it was very little, I checked them a couple months ago, still fine. They seem to lose more air with me just checking them than leaking out. All the other vehicles need air added just like you would expect.

edit: probably not any magic involved, they are much larger tires and are inflated to 50psi. A larger volume of air would have to leak out for it to be noticeable than would be the case with regular car tires.

Jerome Stanek
04-08-2014, 6:24 PM
A tube will lose gas that is why they stamp a date on it as the warranty starts the day it is made.

David Somers
04-08-2014, 6:35 PM
So what might you expect the "sitting around unused on the shelf waiting for an emergency to happen" RECI tube life span to be? Realizing it could be widely variable of course.

Neville Stewart
04-08-2014, 6:59 PM
So what might you expect the "sitting around unused on the shelf waiting for an emergency to happen" RECI tube life span to be? Realizing it could be widely variable of course.
That's why I'd let them sit on the vendors shelf, and get a fresh one when I needed it. Lightobject will replace them pretty fast for you. I think that makes more sense than having one sit unless you are up against the wall.

David Somers
04-08-2014, 9:40 PM
That was my thought exactly Neville. If you have relatively easy access and aren't wicked dependent on your machine for guaranteed daily operation, why keep one? I imagine a lot of us might want that immediacy, but many of us could probably deal nicely with a brief outage.

Thanks!

Dave

Ross Moshinsky
04-08-2014, 9:50 PM
You can buy 2 tubes from China for the price of 1 from the US. Shipping is free assuming you buy it with your machine. $350 is relatively cheap insurance.

Neville Stewart
04-08-2014, 11:06 PM
I priced a Tube from Reci and with shipping it wasn't much more expensive to buy in the US. Tying up money in a tube that may be dead when you pull it out 10 years later wouldn't make me feel too good. Pick them when they're fresh I say.

Mary Lee
04-09-2014, 3:17 AM
Hi ,I quite agree with you on this point "pick them when they're fresh ". As the reci tube has a warranty after it leaving the factory ,9 months mostly. So calculate the days it worked, if still in warranty, take a video according to they need, they will take care of your problems . I personally thought their after sale service is not bad. (Good enough)
Hope everyone here enjoy a good experience with they laser machine !
Regards,
Ms.Mary