With the ETS thread booming I wanted to put my warning out there for buyers of extraction equipment, like me.
In 2022 I contracted to purchase an Ironfist X40 Extraction system. At this time in Oklahoma I hadn’t even heard of the Liquid Petroleum Gas Board or even met an inspector. In essence, no one was really enforcing LPG rules so I was fairly ignorant to their standards.
I put in my inquiry on Ironfists website where it advertises as ASME stamped. Truthfully, at this time I didn’t know the importance of the ASME stamp. I certainly do now. By the time the machine was installed the rules for Division 8 licenses were beginning to be enforced (not changed, enforced, ASME in OK has always been required), in an effort to get the machine a technical report it was brought to my attention no part of my X40 is ASME stamped.
I immediately called Ironfist to ask why I was sold a non-ASME vessel in a State where they knew ASME was required. Carl, their owner, told me he did not know OK requires ASME. After speaking with many of you, and multiple extractors in-person whom knows Carl, no one really believes that he didn’t know that this was a requirement. He let me know the tank was manufactured in an ASME shop but they didn’t spend the extra $2k to pressure test it to get the stamp, it was really just a cost saving reason from what I have been told.
As a result, I’m stuck with $60k in vessels that I can’t use or sell. Carl offered to sell me an additional ASME set at cost ($30k for both) but after weeks of trying to get an e-mail back, text back, or a phone call, I have pretty much given up trying to seek a remedy with Ironfist.
In the end, it’s my fault for not researching this further before buying their machine. I did rely on their expertise in this field and I won’t be doing that again. Their website said ASME and for some reason I was sold a non-ASME set that cost me $120k, all to save $2k, which I would’ve gladly paid.
Always, ALWAYS make sure that the ASME stamp is on those vessels.
