Quiz - Visual Inspection Procedure - True/False 1

[Pedro Burrito]

And now for something completely different ...

I was looking at my SDI/TDI VIP Manual recently and thought we could look at some of the questions.

Chapter Review

Question 1: Air released from a cylinder is harmless. True or False

Please answer and discuss!

 

[Angelo Farina]

Actually no piece of scuba equipment is "harmless".
Said that, the kind of danger associated with releasing air from a cylinder is a bit difficult to identify for me.
If you just open slightly the valve and leave the air flowing gently, I do not see any serious risk.
The air, by itself, is just dry air, you can breath it. It is clean. So I can see some risk only if one opens too much the valve, creating a fast air jet, which can cause the cylinder to fall as a reaction to the thrust of air jet, hitting your feet. Another risk, in a dirty environment, is that the air jet can launch some small particles in your eyes.
And finally, after emptying the cylinder too quickly, the valve becomes very could and is not safe to be touched with your naked skin. But this is a danger which is not directly coming from air...
Probably the most relevant danger associated with releasing air from cylinder is that this produces a lot of "white noise", so if you stay around for the whole day, you risk some noise over-exposure...

 

[scubadada]

You'll shoot your eye out

 

[tursiops]

Actually no piece of scuba equipment is "harmless".
Said that, the kind of danger associated with releasing air from a cylinder is a bit difficult to identify for me.
If you just open slightly the valve and leave the air flowing gently, I do not see any serious risk.
The air, by itself, is just dry air, you can breath it. It is clean. So I can see some risk only if one opens too much the valve, creating a fast air jet, which can cause the cylinder to fall as a reaction to the thrust of air jet, hitting your feet. Another risk, in a dirty environment, is that the air jet can launch some small particles in your eyes.
And finally, after emptying the cylinder too quickly, the valve becomes very could and is not safe to be touched with your naked skin. But this is a danger which is not directly coming from air...
Probably the most relevant danger associated with releasing air from cylinder is that this produces a lot of "white noise", so if you stay around for the whole day, you risk some noise over-exposure...

Angelo, what if the question were, "bullet" instead of "air"?

 

[Pedro Burrito]

A reminder that VIP training is for people who perform Visual Inspections of cylinders. These people might not be scuba divers. The first chapter of the manual is just about safety for the inspector. My trainer for the VIP class had us look at photos of the results of cylinder problems including blown-out walls, broken air plumbing and eviscerated tank fillers.

 

[Jcp2]

Would a cylinder rupture count as a release? I think the adjective that is lacking is "controlled".

 

[Scraps]

I’m not entirely sure what knowledge the question sought to test.

It’s self evident that the air itself is harmless—we release it through our regulators and breathe it all the time—with no ill effects other than our continued willingness to spend tons of money on scuba gear and travel.

It’s also self evident that the uncontrolled release of air associated with a tank or valve failure can be a dangerous situation, though the exact proportion of the danger posed by the air and by the metal hurtling about is hard to separate.

How people answered this question does not appear to reflect different levels of knowledge or awareness, but different conjectures about the kinds of releases encompassed by the question.

 

[NAM001]

Only after many years working around HP air in the service did all the variations come to reality. If a deliberate release then depending how fast and the stream dimensions it can act as an knife. not to mention the blast in ones face. If not a deliberate release and again depending how potent of a blast the tank can propel it self one location to another. If not a release from a valve then you have the very near prospect of an oncoming rupture. I was always taught to discharge air away from people and your self.

 

[Scared Silly]

All depends on how it is released.

 

[Altamira]

In addition to the inherent dangers of highly compressed air, I would think there could be greater risk depending on what is actually in the cylinder. I am not trained to do visuals, but I would think that the process would start with the assumption that there could be contaminants such as rust, oil, CO, etc., in the tank that could be a danger to anyone in the vicinity of the air release.