exploding cylinders

[O.C.Man]

That cylinder belonged to friend of mine who actually bought it from Stoney so it should have been o.k. to begin with, we were a small club of six members who almost always dived together so I am certain he has not had it filled anywhere where my own and the other members have not also had fills and to the best of my knowledge there have been no similar problems revealed on subsequent cylinder tests for the rest of us, maybe someone out there can throw some light on this, I think a logical answer needs finding as fortunately the lad filling the cylinder was alright but it could have been a tragically different outcome.

[mark2]

it does need looking into [and i dont meen just the cylinders] is the answer a cheeper visual test once a year needed befor something seriouse happens

[Hazel W]

serious things have happened ...search news threads for cylinders exploding or incidents at filling stations ....we live in a dangerous world us divers ...we each carry a bomb or two around on our backs.

H

[uwila]

The HSE had a 3l cylinder on display at the Dive Show last October. They said it was less than 2 years old and it was immersed in a clear plastic 'ice bucket' type container. They had obviously put a small pressure in it because it was leaking bubbles from several places. I was amazed that any cylinder could be so badly corroded in such a short time and assumed that it had been deliberately mis-treated to produce a shocking display. However the nice HSE man (no really, he was) told me that it was a real diver's cylinder that had been condemned after it was taken for filling.

Scary indeed.

Cheers, Chris

[Mal Bridgeman]

I remember hearing talk of this or perhaps a similar incident where there was a suspicion that the use of the cylinder for filling the Buddy dSMB crack bottle was to blame.

Apparently if you leave the valve open on the crack bottle when sending it up you can get seawater in it, which when you next charge it can decant into the main tank thus causing these problems in the main tank.

Mal

[dlegros]

That's an interesting idea Mal, I can see that as you cross connect and equalise the bottles, water in the system will aerosolise and one the pressure is equal, could go anywhere.

Perhaps AP should look at a one-way valve system in the DSMBci?

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by dlegros

That's an interesting idea Mal, I can see that as you cross connect and equalise the bottles, water in the system will aerosolise and one the pressure is equal, could go anywhere.

Perhaps AP should look at a one-way valve system in the DSMBci?

aerosolise - What a brilliant word

It's not just aerosolisation but actual water draining. Most people attach the crack bottle with it's bottom uppermost, so that when the pressures have equalised the liquid can drain into the main tank .... that's what I understood.

Mal

[dlegros]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

aerosolise - What a brilliant word

It's not just aerosolisation but actual water draining. Most people attach the crack bottle with it's bottom uppermost, so that when the pressures have equalised the liquid can drain into the main tank .... that's what I understood.

Mal

OK, didn't think of that, but then I've not used the crack-bottle SMB. Never thought I'd warrant that kind of money on an SMB until I bought the medium Halcyon one!

Reminds me of an old joke...

A guy goes into a chemists in Sweden and asks for deodorant.
The shop worker says "Certainly, would you like ball or aerosol?"
The man replies "Neither, I want it for under my arms!"

[wilbo]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

Apparently if you leave the valve open on the crack bottle when sending it up you can get seawater in it, which when you next charge it can decant into the main tank thus causing these problems in the main tank.

Mal

Not if you only dive in quarries you dont..

[coat already on - heading for door]

[Woz]

If you huff a pony dry water can easily get into it- this happened with one of our club pony cylinders- luckily in fresh water- and it almost filled right up.