tank position, why not like firefighters

[deepblueme]

It started wayyyyy back in the day of people using old fire extinguishers (yes they did) as air bottles. Back then they didnt have the little post/dipstick or what ever you want to call it that sticks down from the valve.
If you had rust/water/gunk in the tank and flipped it over it would go to the valve anf to your filter/reg.
That is why we wear them valve up.

And yes i have seen many broken plastic dipsticks and many backed out steel one in tanks over the years (at least 2 dozen i can think of).

 

[MikeFerrara]

This has been the most entertaining theread that I've read in a long time.

Even fire fighters don't wear their tanks upside down when they dive (PSD).

Not only has it been done, some pretty well known divers have done it. Right off the top of my head, as I've heard it, Forest Wilson used to dive with his doubles updide down. Everytime I''ve seen him though he's been diving side mounts...and as every good sidemounter will tell you "Your valves belong in your armpits".

Not Only would isolating be hard but know that you have a leak and know you need to isolate could be tough. One reason we want our valves and hoses behind out head is so we can hear and feel leaks and where they are.

This isn't something that we don't do because of history or convention. I'll bet half the divers who have to learn valve drills at least consider it..

Of course, those of you who think it's a good idea can go right ahead. No thanks.

 

[String]

Its only really recreational/fun diving that wear tanks valve up. Military when on open circuit mount valve down, police mount valve down and so on.
Not quite sure why hobby divers chose to do the opposite.

 

[cudachaser]

Just the culture...Couteau and Gagnon designed the Scuba unit that way and it stuck...anyway, how you set your tank on a typical boat if everything was inverted?

Another note...ever wonder why the USN chose 60 fpm as the acceptable ascent rate? (rec is 30 fpm)............

The gear ratio on the crane to raise Navy divers operated at 60 fpm

 

[String]

Another note...ever wonder why the USN chose 60 fpm as the acceptable ascent rate? (rec is 30 fpm)............

Im fairly sure the padi RDP is 18m/minute which is 60ft/minute. My BSAC 88 tables are also that rate.

Of course, only an idiot would push it that fast but the tables in theory allow it.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Its only really recreational/fun diving that wear tanks valve up. Military when on open circuit mount valve down, police mount valve down and so on.
Not quite sure why hobby divers chose to do the opposite.

That's not true around here. All the police and fire PSD teams that I've seen all wear their valves up...and I've seen quit a few.

 

[String]

Must be a regional difference then as certainly here all police divers be it specialist teams or normal search teams are invert mount twins. Most military now are rebreathers but the few OC stuff remaining is also invert.
Cave rescue also invert. In fact i cant think of a single UK public rescue service that has tanks valve-up.

Fire service here dont dive.

 

[Tom Winters]

Back in the early days of diving, there were no single hose regs, and using a twin-hose meant you had to have the valve rightside-up. There were no other hoses on the 1st stage, no back packs, no bc's...nothing. I used a thick leather belt to hold the tank against my bosy and kinda bent over to keep the tank from sliding down and getting chiked and made to look uncool by the two hoses on the reg.
With the intro of the single hose reg, which I jumped on in 1966, tanks could be inverted. This stuck with a lot of Brits but never gained that much favor stateside.
The tech people ridicule this, but the few times I did it, I found the valve nice and accessible. I was never too wild about having the valve pointing down especially after I saw a dive shop post-explosion at the end of the '60's. The tank wound up in some guy's yard 1/4 mile away from the shop, and the shop fill area looked like the aftermath of and IED blast.
One huge reason this never caught on was with the explosion of interest in scuba and all the knotheads irrestibly drawn to the sport, with tanks mounted inversion-style, there would be countless cases of dimbulbs dropping their tanks on the valves instead of on the tank bottoms.
Firefighters can handle the inversion process since they're smart enough to figure out how to run into a burning building, and more importantly, run back out.
I've been involved in diving since 1961 and in the dive business since 1988. I think inverted tanks should have been mandated by law to cull some of the morons out of the gene pool - I have seen repeated examples of people DIW (Doing It Wrong).

 

[dmdoss]

i say we just carry them under our arm. j/k

 

[Gary D.]

Its only really recreational/fun diving that wear tanks valve up. Military when on open circuit mount valve down, police mount valve down and so on.

We do? That's news to me and I have done both for 17 years longer than you have been alive.

One reason, early into scuba diving, was double hose regulators. They would not work well at all down by your butt. Once the single hose came out some tried it but it never caught on and we are where we are today.

Gary D.