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