Hey TM and all,
BTW, you can tell someone new at doubles (or who just plain doesn't care) by the way they carry them... by the manifold. NEVER pick those heavy tanks up by that delicate manifold! YOU WILL have a leak eventually and you WILL bend the durn thing. Grab BOTH tank valves to move them around. Don't be afraid to yell at your air fill station for being lazy about this.
Make sure your bands are TIGHT, and never hesitate to adjust them up or down to make your tanks ride right on your BC. You can really affect your attitude in the water this way (and I ain't talking 'bout your mental attitude either, Chester). Play around with them till you are comfortable. BTW, the magic number is 11" between bolts. That seems to fit every manufacturer of BC I have run across.
Tank valves do NOT affect pressure in the manifold. There is always pressure in the manifold, and all the isolation valve controls is whether the two tank's volumes of gas are connected. Your tanks MUST be empty before your remove the manifold. PLEASE replace the connection O-Rings when you do. They are cheap and you are worth it.
That would be my primer to you about doubles... Guys n' Gals, did I miss anything here??? Speak up now!
Oh yeah
biggest point and I almost forgot it
"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey
" Open up all valves all the way (to the stop, Chester) and then just crack it back a tad. You dont need to go a quarter or half turn
just get the valve from being all the way against the stop so it's "loose". That way you can always tell if its opened or not just by the feel
Tight??? Then its closed! Loose??? Then its open! I learned this from when I had to deal with tons of high pressure cylinders when I worked for the University of Floridas Department of Chemistry Cryogenic Research Lab. I think I was even an OSHA certified compressed gas handler at one time. That was eons ago, and I cant remember how formal the certification was, but I remember the classes and their rules.
