Diving with a steel tank and a wetsuit??? A dangerous idea?

[somewhereinla]

I am editing my own post because I think the spirit of the original question is getting lost... I don't really care to know if the guy was an idiot.... I would like to hear from experienced divers as I feel there is a possible safety issue we (the less experienced divers) can all learn from:

So here is the re-phrased question:

On a deep dive (at least under 100ft) with a 7mil suit and a single Hp steel tank,
1/ if your bc fail can you make it back safely?
2/ what would be the safest procedure to do so? I assume you probably would have to let go of some of your weights...

We will assume your body isn't around, you don't have a lift bag and you were properly weighted when going down.








I am reposting a question which was posted on the DIR forum yesterday. I was asked to re-post it elswhere. So here it is for the second time (sorry):

An interesting story happened to me today and I really would like to get the DIR/tech divers opinion on the subject.

I have been needing a float for my L.A County ADP class and found a very good one at a good price on craig's list. I called the guy, we agreed on the price and I drove to his home. The guy is obviously an experience diver and a tech. diver as well. We start talking and I tell him I dive with a steel tank and a wetsuit. As soon as I tell him that, he starts telling me how dangerous it is, that I am a fool, that he would never dive with someone like me... well you get the point it actually started to get really awkward...
The reason he says that diving with a (single) steel tank is dangerous it that if your BC fails, the negative buoyancy of the steel tank would make it impossible to go back up on a deep dive. I then told him that I could use a safety sausage or a lift bag to lift me back up should my BC fail, then he said if that failed too I wouldn't be able to go back up. He then went on saying that you should only dive with a steel tank if using a drysuit. And added again how much of a fool I was

Is there any truth to that? Is it that dangerous to dive steel with a wetsuit? All the UICC instructors dive wetsuit and steel, actually most instructors or experience divers I ever see diving have steel tanks. Can so many people be wrong?

 

[Bubble Junky]

Diving with a steel tank and a wetsuit??? A dangerous idea?

Only if you're ridiculously overweighted. If the worst does happen, just ditch some weight until you can swim up. It not exactly hard to take off a weight belt, drop a few weights off, then swim up. Weight belt removal is taught on OW courses after all. It's just as easy with weight pockets. Or you could even get your buddy to help.

 

[DuboisP]

a lot of divers, in France and Europa, are in wetsuit with a steel tank.
and we're trained to help or be helped by the buddy in this case, or go up on fins.
and I agree with Bubble Junky

 

[letsgodiving]

If it worries you that much just carry a lift bag in your pocket.

 

[almitywife]

i only own steel tanks and can say the same for 99% of the people i know that dive

anything in the wrong hands can be dangerous but to answer your question -no,i dont think a steel tank is dangerous

cheers

 

[all4scuba05]

SOMEWHEREINLA....get used to the mindless advice coming from those that simply repeat what they hear on this board time and time again. There are some rules that don't apply in every situation or dive. Some folks never learn enough to know this.
"It depends" is an answer that should follow quite a few questions that come up here on the board. Some here believe it is better to always spit out answers like the statement the guy made so that the dumb divers don't kill themselves under water. Think about it. Some divers are too dumb to understand the science of diving. If I say a steel tank and a wetsuit will kill them, they won't ever use that combo. That does increase there chances of survival.
If I try to explain when it is ok to use that combo, they might get confused, and kill themselves for using it at the wrong time. There are quite a few here who's consciousness won't allow them to state that "it depends".

 

[jefffalcone]

Are you negative with out weight? Unless you are very negative with the steel tank and no weight, then I can't understand why it is a problem. Even if you don't need any weight to dive with the steel tank, you should be able to swim up against a slight amount of negative bouyancy. Once at the surface, you could always ditch the tank. If you need even a little weight with the tank, what they guy was saying didn't make any sense at all. Where I live, it is very common to dive steel tanks in wetsuits.

 

[jeckyll]

somewhereinla:

This is a long standing discussion and if you search you can find the underlying details, but it really starts with double steels with a wetsuit.

The underlying argument is that with the "wrong" set of doubles, i.e. ones that are very negative, with a wetsuit, if you have an inflation failure you won't be able to swim them up.
Which then leads to the double bladder discussion and then the risk of managing 2 inflators etc etc etc.

The colder the water, the worse the math gets. I.E. You'll be wearing a thicker wetsuit, which takes more lead to sink at the surface, which then compresses at depth.

Now, what steel tank are you going to dive? How negative is it when it's full? What's the 'swing' of the tank?

techdivinglimited.com has a great tank chart, run some of the math for yourself. Have you ever tried swimming up a negative rig? It'd might be nice to try, just to make sure you could do it, in a controlled setting of course.

Best of luck.

Bjorn

 

[markfm]

I dive an HP100 with just a core warmer, fresh water, still seem to be alive (though maybe this is all a dream).

Other than for Caribbean wall dives, in which case I don't have the 100 and do have an extra 6 lb of salt water buoyancy, the places I dive have hard bottoms, just plain not an issue.

(I do appreciate that things would of course potentially be uglier with doubles, but I don't dive them.)

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I dive a steel 120 with a 3mm wetsuit all the time. I still carry 12lbs of lead that I can ditch if needed. Not sure I would dive with someone so confused on buoyancy.