Alliance Welding Supplies

Helpful, Efficient, Good Prices, Nice Tanks. This is where I go to swap my Co2 tank so I can refill my Sodastream from home. My first refill was at a place with a similar name in Oakland (I won’t say) and this place is light years better in terms of everything. Seems increasingly difficult to find good customer service in Oakland but this place is great.

Friendly guys, who tell you different info depending on who you talk to and when — sometimes you hear, no, they can’t do refills, sometimes, yes they can but you’ll have to wait.. .. I mean, please don’t stop offering refills, I love that you’ll agree to it, but yes, you’re right — swapping them out is absolutely easier.

First time there to fill up my 5lbs Co2 for my Kegerator. Fast and easy as long as you just swap out tanks. Just ring the service bell and they come to help you out. Street parking is a little tight but not a big deal. $ 18 for the swap and off to the beer fridge I go.

Used this store a couple of times to get some welding gear for my dad.
They have really great prices and I love to shop around here.
very good prices for CO2 tanks.
Overall, its a great local shop.

good people. Helpful. Friendly.

Awesome place, very helpful, great prices!

This is a great place! I needed to get an oxygen tank for a project, and I was first pleased to discover that they’re open on Saturday. I went by their Berkeley location and there was plenty of available street parking on Saturday. The staff inside were very friendly and polite, selling me a refillable oxygen tank and regulator. The person working with me even threw in an adapter I needed to attach a hose for delivery of the oxygen. In about 15 minutes, I got exactly what I needed along with some truly friendly, helpful service. The staff also took the time to explain how to use what I had purchased, explained about the refill process and how I should read the tank markings when exchanging tanks, and never talked down to me, even though I’m a total newbie. On top of their great customer service, their refill prices are low!

I came in to get a CO2 tank for a home water carbonation setup. The guys at Atlas were incredibly helpful, and got me in and out quickly. The tank was a little pricier than comparable options online, but their gas prices are rock bottom — so it balances out.
Overall, for my first adventure to a welding shop, I was pleased!
EDIT: Came back a couple weeks later to swap out a propane tank. They charge the same amount as OSH does for a swap, but Atlas actually fills their tanks full (20 lbs) vs. the short 15 lb fills you get through the Blue Rhino swaps.

Atlas is a small local welding supply, although they’re owned by Alliance which has a number of stores in the bay area. The staff there ranges from perfectly reasonable to super friendly and service tends to be pretty quick. I’m at Atlas around once or twice a month to swap out gas bottles and pick up consumables like wire, rods, and grinding wheels. The short version of my review is that Atlas is great for that sort of thing, and pretty crappy for anything else.
Their inventory of non-​consumable items is spotty. For example, I was there the other day and looking for a new ground clamp. On the many brackets they had for ground clamps there were just two which weren’t in the right spots and one of them didn’t have a price listed. So, I didn’t buy a new clamp and the broken ground clamp on my plasma cutter is still a broken ground clamp.
If you’re special ordering parts, simply do not go to Atlas. Parts and machines ordered through them take far longer to arrive than seems necessary, and reasonable requests like asking for call when the item arrives are agreed to and then completely forgotten. When you call them to ask about the status of your order they’ll have to spend a while digging through their (apparently very disorganized) files to figure out what you’re talking about, after which you will get a mostly useless answer to your question: «I don’t know what time shipments arrive; it should be here today or tomorrow, maybe.»
So, if you’re looking for wire or gas, they’re great. If you’re looking for standard Miller or Tweeco (which fit Lincoln) MIG gun parts or arc welder stingers, it’s hit and miss. If you’re ordering a new welder or welder parts, look elsewhere. Since I buy a whole lot more gas and wire than I do parts, they deserve four stars.

I’m new to CO2 tanks and regulators. After spending many hours looking for connector parts for my regulator I came to Atlas. I met Cris and he turned out to be very helpful answering all my questions and didnt make me feel bad cause I was new to all this. Chris not only helped me but even took the time to disconnect my old fitting and replaced it with a new one, I forgot to bring my tank with me. No problem he got one out the back and tested my regulator for leaks. Great customer service. If you need CO2 tanks or gas this is the place to come. They are very friendly and take the time to explained to you in plain english.

bought (not leased) O2 and acetylene tanks here, full kit. Still come in for rods, cut off wheels, etc.
Like a previous post pointed it, they don’t lord it over me when I come in because I’m an egghead/​noob. In fact, when I was investigating some aluminum brazing rod and I wasn’t sure if it would work for my project, they gave me several sticks for free (and the stuff isn’t cheap).
So yeah, they deserve the 5 stars. Re an earlier post about not wanting to fill a tank that you didn’t buy from them: from what I understand, it’s not that uncommon. If the tank has been abused or the history is unknown, things can get ugly. I think it’s more a liability issue than anything.

Simple setup with no frills. Went in to exchange a small tank of argon for TIG welding scale work and purchased one without a problem. Gas was a bit pricey compared to back in ny but perfectly acceptable for being right next door.

I went here to buy a CO2 tank in order to complete a DIY water carbonation system. I chose Atlas because they are local and I gathered that I could buy a ful 20# tank and then bring back the empty and swap it out for a full tank. I had read the previous reviews, so I figured I would buy one of their tanks in order to simplify getting refills in the future.
Street parking was good. I went in the storefront area and stood at the counter for less than a minute while an employee finished his conversation. This is an industrial setting and I was not expecting boutique cutomer service. Thye have a lot of welding gear to look at, so I was entertained. The employee was friendly and liked to joke around. I wondered if perhaps some of the other reviewers didn’t «get» his humor. He completed the transaction quickly and sent me over to get my tank.
The guy who was manning the dock didn’t say much, but then the dock area is next to loud compressors, so there was really no point in chit-​chat. He looked at my receipt, said he’d be right back, and was gone for a few minutes. He returned and said he’d found me a good one (tank). He’d obviously just filled it because it was very cold. I appreciated the extra effort — it’s a pretty nice tank. I realize I’m probably just getting whatever tank is available when I go back to swap, but then again maybe I will get more life out of my purchase by sharing a pool of tanks?
All in all I was pleased with the transaction. I’m completely new to buying tanks, and I’m sure they could see that I’m not in the trades, but they were friendly and not at all condescending. It may have helped that I had already researched things on my own and planned to work within their system.

Been coming here for the last 5 years to buy shielding gas for my MIG welder. I learned of this place while taking Hall’s body and paint classes at College of Alameda. Bought all my welding equipment here, tho a little pricier then most places, it beats ordering everything online from different vendors. Atlas is your one stop shop for all your welding supplies.

I’ve had good luck buying accessories and safety equipment at Atlas.
When I was shopping around for a Arc/​TIG inverter welder, the staff were not able to answer most of my questions. They also don’t keep welders in stock for show, so there is nothing to look at but the same catalogs that are online.
I have a M-​F day job, and find the limited Saturday-​No Sunday hours difficult to work in.

this is a mom and pop style welding supply store. i WILL NOT go anywhere else! great service and friendly!

Maybe i was not as lucky as the other clients, Was here for about three times, and i don’t know why they have a such of bad attitude every time i tell them that i don’t wanna exchange my co2 tank for their tanks.
Think about it, pay about 150 dollars for a new tank, and exchange it for an old one. really makes no sense to me.
Why is so complicated to ask:
-«Sr.would you like to exchange the tank, or do you prefer us to refil the one you have?.

so it took a full year to go through that co2 refill i got here at atlas.
STILL NOT FOR A KEGERATOR!!! really surprising.
i use an injected co2 system to supplement the co2 needs of my planted tank. this is the only place i know of that you can bring your own tank and have it refilled and close to the city.
note that this is a VERY small part of their business and they usally swap out tanks for customers. you are throwing a wrench in their system. it took about 30 mintues to fill up my tank this last visit… not bad considering. i KNOW how long filling tanks can take having experience with propane and propane accessories…
worst case scenario, pyramid brewery is a block down…

If you’re looking for a locally owned independent East Bay welding supply store to patronize that has it all, Atlas would have to be at the top of my list. They have the chains beat hands down for the welding Unilocaler: great prices, friendly & knowledgeable staff, and excellent in-​stock selection of welding accessories. Their Concord location is also just as good.

oooh, did i mention that i love industrial supply stores? i used to hang out with the copper suppliers back when i lived in seattle… yeah, that was pretty hot. anyway, if you have an INSATIABLE NEED FOR WELDING MATERIALS (as i happen to know that ARWEN DOES!); maybe you have a hankering for that big oxygen tank, or some nice sturdy carhart clothing? atlas will give you a dose of that industrial medecine.