Laziness, complacency or is it just me?

[Kronek]

Just curious, you can change the tank oring while the tank is pressurized? How does that work?

BK

The oring on the valve face that the yoke mates too can easily be changed. If its the neck oring however, not so much.

 

[agesilaus]

OK that makes sense. I was thinking that they meant the big oring on the valve to tank connection. My OW instructor made a big deal about checking the oring on the face of the valve every time.

BK

 

[Diver0001]

I am (or in my mind) pretty thorough when it comes to assembling and checking my gear before I enter the water. This is why I always travel with my own gear, I know what kind of shape it is in. I believe that if I find and address the small problems that it will prevent larger problems from happening at a critical moment, ie snowballing. I know it has saved me more than once.

That said, I will not enter the water with an O-ring leaking from a tank. That's how I was trained. I have noticed on several dive trips many divers do not check this. It becomes obvious from the trail of bubbles flowing from behind their heads. I have also noticed that when I ask for a new O-ring, the DM's always seem to be annoyed, even when I offer to replace it myself if they provide the ring and pick. On a recent trip, I had to have the rings replaced on both of my tanks and well as my wife's. They were all visibly damaged and you could hear the air leaking. No one else asked for a new O-ring so it seems likely that my wife in I got lucky and picked the only 4 tanks with bad o-rings (sarcasm).

Now my question(s) is this. Was my instructor one of the only ones who teaches this or was he wrong? Are divers just getting lazy and complacent about small things? Or is it just me being overly attentive and anal?

Well... I firmly believe in "an ounce of prevention". If ANYTHING isn't exactly to your liking then fix it before you go under water. Who cares if the DM gets annoyed. Your tank is on your back, not his.

Secondly, if you have the option of using DIN you'll have fewer problems with this. Don't buy yoke, don't use yoke and if you have one then get it converted to DIN next time you have it serviced.

Finally, if you can't, or don't want to get your regs converted to DIN (and I can't think of a single compelling reason to avoid this) then at least take a long a few O-rings in your dive bag so you can replace them yourself if necessary. NO irritated DM's and no nagging doubts on your side.

R..

---------- Post added April 11th, 2014 at 03:31 AM ----------

An employee at a very well known and highly regarded shop (not ours) told me that they have so many tanks coming in and out for rentals/classes etc. (this is in FL) that checking each o ring is not practical. I had two o ring leaks there recently (noticed when attaching 1st stage). I replaced them with the spare ones they have attached to the tank valve. I think our shop is in the same situation. I always listen closely to the valve after attaching the first stage. A leak is not hard to hear. Not doing this is either due to inexperience or laziness. O rings were the first things that went in my spare kit.

I've also seen shops that attach a spare o-ring to the tank valve with a little string so you can change it yourself if necessary.

I wouldn't advise "listening" for the hiss too closely because if that o-ring escapes then the last thing to exit the ear on the opposite side of your head will be the eardrum you were listening with. You'll hear an obvious hiss and what I do is just throw an old coke bottle with tap water in the car that I can pour over any suspect bits (like the value) if I hear something and want to check for bubbles.

Other than that we always do a bubble check just after entry to catch any leaks that we might have missed while kitting up.

R..

 

[txtroop07]

I have 2 DIN regs, love them, however I have found that when traveling it is much easier to find yolks than DINs, therefore I travel with my yolk set up. When I call ahead before traveling to ask about DIN valves I usually get a "no" or "we have a few".

 

[Diver0001]

Hmmm... That's really too bad but I can understand your reasoning then.

In Europe all the tanks are DIN. If you want to convert it to a yoke then you screw a plug into the tank valve that will fit a yoke. In destinations popular with Europeans, Egypt, for example, both types are available.

I've heard more and more people online saying that they're travelling with DIN regs and a yoke converter in case the operator only has yoke valves on the tanks.

R..

 

[dmoore19]

Hmmm, I find it hard to believe that people are not taught to look at the Oring before attaching the regulator. Even if they are not, it seems like a prudent thing to do.

I have a small save a dive kit that goes with me on the boat. It has a dozen or more tank orings and some other common used orings. I think it cost all of $3-4 for the orings and a pic. If the oring looks bad I just change it out, I don't ask or show the DM I just do it. A very small price to pay for a potential problem at depth.

 

[industrious95]

evening they will turn the tank in and they may never see that tank again in the near future. Thus, replacing o-rings for them might be an "unnecessary" expense.

Ugh. $100 bucks for a dive excursion on a cruise ship, and they're worried about the 25 cents for an o-ring.

I usually have a few in my spares kit, there's only one person you can really depend on - yourself.

 

[djtimmy77]

if you buy 100+ O-rings they are pennies a piece.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

Hmmm... That's really too bad but I can understand your reasoning then. In Europe all the tanks are DIN. If you want to convert it to a yoke then you screw a plug into the tank valve that will fit a yoke. In destinations popular with Europeans, Egypt, for example, both types are available. I've heard more and more people online saying that they're travelling with DIN regs and a yoke converter in case the operator only has yoke valves on the tanks.
R..

I would much prefer the DIN over the yoke, however I'm afraid txtroop is right about a lot of shops not offering a DIN option.
I'm one of those guys that carries around a yoke adapter for my DIN reg. It was a bit of a pain at first since it makes the first stage stick out about an inch further than a native yoke reg, but with a little altering it's not anything too bad. On the dust cap is where I keep a spare o-ring.

After looking over this thread, I'm glad I had an instructor who pointed all these little things out to me - otherwise I probably would have bought a native yoke reg, not tied on a spare o-ring, not know to carry a small bottle of water in my bag to check for leaks, etc.

 

[txtroop07]

I usually carry spares, but on occasion I'm caught without them. I thought of using an adapter for my DIN regs but I'm kind of a minimalist, esp when it comes to packing one more item.