Open or closed valve on pony bottle?

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You are right, keep it closed. Charge it (i.e., pressurize it) and close it. Losing the gas in your pony is a bad day in the best of circumstances. You only need to crack the valve a little before it delivers enough air to breathe off it adequately.
 
Been diving a back mounted Pony for a couple years now and love it. I leave it on and turn up the crack pressure on the second stage just before I hit the water. I originally had the tank inverted so as to reach the valve easily but my Intro to Tech Instructor pointed out the vulnerability of the first stage and mini gauge in that position. So it's mounted right side up and left on. It seems to work for me.
 
Been diving a back mounted Pony for a couple years now and love it. I leave it on and turn up the crack pressure on the second stage just before I hit the water. I originally had the tank inverted so as to reach the valve easily but my Intro to Tech Instructor pointed out the vulnerability of the first stage and mini gauge in that position. So it's mounted right side up and left on. It seems to work for me.

Should the pony free flow, what would you do?
If for some reason if accidentally forgot to turn the valve on, what would you do?

In what scenario do you see it as more vulnerable inverted?
 
Should the pony free flow, what would you do?
If for some reason if accidentally forgot to turn the valve on, what would you do?

In what scenario do you see it as more vulnerable inverted?

There are times when you can not hear a free flow, and in that case if its on then you may lose the lot. Often when there are a number of divers around, boat engine noise or breaking waves on rocks. Or if like me, aged hearing thus at more risk of not hearing it. Hence why I always charge and then turn off my slings. I can always service a wet reg, but I certainly cannot breath no air if the cylinder is empty.

Also if you have your main reg turned up too high, it can free flow while in use and you don't realise it too, as it doesn't fully free flow but bleeds off during the breathing cycle using more air than you are actually breathing, and you can lose a lot of air that way as well.
 
There are times when you can not hear a free flow, and in that case if its on then you may lose the lot. Often when there are a number of divers around, boat engine noise or breaking waves on rocks. Or if like me, aged hearing thus at more risk of not hearing it. Hence why I always charge and then turn off my slings. I can always service a wet reg, but I certainly cannot breath no air if the cylinder is empty.

Also if you have your main reg turned up too high, it can free flow while in use and you don't realise it too, as it doesn't fully free flow but bleeds off during the breathing cycle using more air than you are actually breathing, and you can lose a lot of air that way as well.
Well, as to the mounting position, my instructor was concerned about the valve and or gauge being damaged by impact either on the boat or on an obstruction and had me remount it for my class. I had originally thought that with it inverted I could then reach the valve in the event of a freeflow, but my instructor's reasoning was that the risk of damaging the vlave or gauge outweighed the risk of freeflow. I believe that his reasoning is based on cave experience. In my case, being unable to reach the valve on the pony means in the event of a catastrophic freeflow means my dive would be over at that point. I hadn't thought of a low level freeflow that can't be heard. I still dive with a buddy but as we all know, the buddy system isn't infallible. As to the main reg, I don't turn that up at all. As part of my prep, I turn up my pony reg to help prevent a free flow hitting the water then back it back off once i'm situated. Of course, we both do a leak check as soon as we're in the water, but that doesn't preclude something happening later on. If solo diving, a gentleman suggested a wrist mounted mirror to look behind to see the valves. I really liked that idea and believe I will adopt it. I thought of slinging the bottle, but as my buddy has been having constant issues trying to get it to lay to his liking. So for now I will continue to use back mount. But I may still try to go inverted again. I realize as I continue my path to Tech I'll have to solve the sling problem sooner rather than later.
 
Instead of slinging a pony, why not dive manifolded doubles?
 
Well, as to the mounting position, my instructor was concerned about the valve and or gauge being damaged by impact either on the boat or on an obstruction and had me remount it for my class. I had originally thought that with it inverted I could then reach the valve in the event of a freeflow, but my instructor's reasoning was that the risk of damaging the vlave or gauge outweighed the risk of freeflow. I believe that his reasoning is based on cave experience. In my case, being unable to reach the valve on the pony means in the event of a catastrophic freeflow means my dive would be over at that point. I hadn't thought of a low level freeflow that can't be heard. I still dive with a buddy but as we all know, the buddy system isn't infallible. As to the main reg, I don't turn that up at all. As part of my prep, I turn up my pony reg to help prevent a free flow hitting the water then back it back off once i'm situated. Of course, we both do a leak check as soon as we're in the water, but that doesn't preclude something happening later on. If solo diving, a gentleman suggested a wrist mounted mirror to look behind to see the valves. I really liked that idea and believe I will adopt it. I thought of slinging the bottle, but as my buddy has been having constant issues trying to get it to lay to his liking. So for now I will continue to use back mount. But I may still try to go inverted again. I realize as I continue my path to Tech I'll have to solve the sling problem sooner rather than later.

In terms of your pony. If inverted, the valve couldn't be lower than your tank or you couldn't stand up your tank on the boat. The pony certainly wouldn't be sticking out from your back more than your primary cylinder. Your instructor was essentially saying that inverted had a higher risk of damaging the valve than right side up. Have you ever played any damage scenarios in your head? Which one did turning the bottle right side up elevate?
 
Instead of slinging a pony, why not dive manifolded doubles?
That's definitely on my list of progression. Going off topic, do you use the same set of doubles on every dive? Or if diving in recreational limits do you then use a smaller set of tanks for convenience? Keeping the reg set-up the same?
 
In terms of your pony. If inverted, the valve couldn't be lower than your tank or you couldn't stand up your tank on the boat. The pony certainly wouldn't be sticking out from your back more than your primary cylinder. Your instructor was essentially saying that inverted had a higher risk of damaging the valve than right side up. Have you ever played any damage scenarios in your head? Which one did turning the bottle right side up elevate?
I have played out the few scenarios I could think of. I mostly boat dive and i do worry about coming down hard on the gunnel. I regularly dive in 2 to 5 foot waves on the Great Lakes. I'm not opposed to going back to inverted, I haven't even considered the set up though. Do you then bungee the LP hose to the tank? I currently use a 5ft hose on my main to donate so my pony reg is bungeed around my neck. Not doing any overhead just yet.
 
That's definitely on my list of progression. Going off topic, do you use the same set of doubles on every dive? Or if diving in recreational limits do you then use a smaller set of tanks for convenience? Keeping the reg set-up the same?
Where i live, double Al80s can be used for rec and tech dives. I believe with proper gas management and a good buddy you will be just fine so i dont see a need for a pony bottle. I dont dive doubles yet since i dont have the money to buy the required gear, so i limit myself to 70ft since i think anything past that on a single tank is foolish.
 
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