Manifold lift bar.

[FLOUNDER]

I have been looking at Custom Divers lift bar for twin sets. I like the idea of them as I can see a potential weekness in the manifold from people lifting the set incorrectly during air fills etc. The only draw back is the price of £90. How delicate are manifolds or do people use any other system. Thanks Matt

[Woz]

Lift them by the manifold as long as you have decent bands that hold the cyls properly not cheapo ones.

[Juz]

In my experience, and this is only my experience, YMMV.

A properly set up pair of twins, with good bands and a decent manifold will be fine without the lift bar.

Juz

[trimix taz]

lift bar is great when you invert the twins

[Scuby]

I have big fat Agir bands and often lift the cylinders from the manifold.... never had a problem yet, and can't imagine ever having one.

[Digger]

I don't nee dto tell the story of lifting a set of twin 15s filled with water and a 232 setup blown to 300 bar again, but suffice to say you won't have any problems with a well setup MDE leaking. Similar with the Scubatec/Agir/Hacyon type ones, they're built well enough not to break.

Obviously some people are anal about this stuff. Against the risk of a reg freeflowing it's insignificant.

You won't find a manifold going bang in the same way as hoses etc can, they will usually leak slightly and your buddy will notice bubbles, and you get it fixed. But lifting it by the manifold you won't cause this most likely.

But I do think if money is no object these things are a decent enough idea. No downside to them really, so fire away. As for value for money? Just wrap barbed wire around the manifold, you'll learn to reach the knobs properly and no-one will lift your set by the manifold.

Digs.

[MOMO]

Never say never.
You should train you peoples how to handle it or you should be with them when they carry it.
It happens and I have seen it 6 year ago. Lift it form the valves only.
If you know any one will come to Sharm El Sheikh Contact me and I can get them with less than 90.
Wish you all a very safe diving

[EdHornby]

Originally Posted by Digger

You won't find a manifold going bang in the same way as hoses etc can

I was in our LDS earlier this year and I was getting my indi tins filled - one of our other club members was waiting for his twinset to cool between fills...

all of a sudden - with out anyone touching it - there was a loud 'fssss...' and 24L of 200bar emptied itself within about 45 seconds via the manifold

the O rings between the manifold and the RH valve were chewed but not sure of the cause to be honest

If I wasn't there I wouldn't have believed it could happen either - it's a very rare occurrence.

I genuinely can't remember the make of the Manifold - euro cylinders and Custom diver bands IIRC

[Scuby]

Originally Posted by EdHornby

all of a sudden - with out anyone touching it - there was a loud 'fssss...' and 24L of 200bar emptied itself within about 45 seconds via the manifold

I think that was Digger's point - it doesn't go bang, just an o-ring goes and lets the gas out without too much drama.

Still not good thing to happen, but not so much dangerous as annoying.

David

[Janos]

Originally Posted by Scuby

I think that was Digger's point - it doesn't go bang

I'm sure Digger will be along to correct me but I don't think that was his point.

An o-ring going like that underwater would be very dangerous as you would lose all your gas, and depending on how the manifold was buggered, all of it

I think the story Digger was referring to is the time they took a set of tanks, filled them with water, pressurised them to 300 bar, and then put them on some bungee (attached to the manifold) and bounced them up and down for days. But I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong

Of course, if your manifold isn't set up right (it's toed-in or -out, the tanks aren't parallel, etc, etc) then the o-rings will go very quickly.

Janos