Steel tanks dangerous?

[60plus]

I would think the biggest danger from any tank, steel, aluminium or pony is being too close to the diver climbing the ladder back onto the boat, especially in rough sea. I saw a very well built woman (putting it politely) slip and fall backwards off a stern ladder. To have her + tank land on you would not have been good.

 

[Bob DBF]

He never said he had a bc failure, hardly a legendary feat. Might actually be easier with all the air in the bc to expand

Well OOA at 80' is no walk in the park, and a clogged dip tube is a different a normal OOA which would naturally occur before the SPG. May be not legendary, but a fine bit of diving.



Bob

 

[MichaelMc]

We really need a buoyancy primmer, of just facts, the physics stuff no one debates. HP, LP, AL tank weights and volume general characteristics, per spec and in some practice. Wetsuits compress at depth. Dry suits fail and leak. BCs job is floating rig on surface, compensating for starting air and suit compression at depth.

Unneeded sensationalist titles aside, threads get covered up in ad-hoc re-explanation of the very same basic concepts, of which there is little argument, that the debate issues (ditchable, partial ditchable, balanced) get lost.

 

[Brilig]

I was reading a list of DIR do's and don'ts and it said never use steel tanks with anything other than a dry suit. I also remember seeing that going to 100' in a wetsuit was dangerous even with aluminum tanks due to the loss of boyancy from suit compression.
What are people's thoughts on these issues?

 

[tbone1004]

steel tanks are not inherently more dangerous to dive with a wetsuit, and I regularly dive them with wetsuits or no suit depending on the buoyancy characteristics. I.e. a LP72 is no worse than an AL80, but something like a PST104 which is 4lbs more negative can be a problem.
I do not believe in deep diving in thick wetsuits because the compression causes thermal issues as well as risks with buoyancy loss due to compression. I have been very vocal about my belief that 7mm farmer johns are really stupid and borderline dangerous unless you're doing shallow dives only

 

[AJ]

Steel doubles and wetsuit are a no go as far as I'am concerned. Single tank steel is ok when a decent weight check is done.

 

[tbone1004]

Steel doubles and wetsuit are a no go as far as I'am concerned. Single tank steel is ok when a decent weight check is done.

It depends. What if you're inherently very buoyant and with the steel doubles you're still diving a balanced rig? What if you're staying shallow and can still kick to surface? I regularly use PST HP120 doubles with wetsuits when teaching and the bottom deck is less than 100ft. I can kick that rig up from 100ft no problem. AL tanks wouldn't do me much good at all.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

I dont dive with a Dry Suit so i wouldn't know about that.

In general i dont like steel tanks, they are heavy and cumbersome.
If given the choice i will go for aluminum , (most of my dives are no wet-suit or 3mm) so the extra weight isn't really needed.

Going down to 100ft can be dangerous no matter the tank that you have or the wet-suit that you wear as long as you dont have a proper buoyancy check prior to that, you need to make sure you have more then enough air to get you back to the surface, considering the compression at depths.

Most common danger to that is taking too much weight with you, which at depth turns in to a big big problem.

 

[AJ]

It depends. What if you're inherently very buoyant and with the steel doubles you're still diving a balanced rig? What if you're staying shallow and can still kick to surface? I regularly use PST HP120 doubles with wetsuits when teaching and the bottom deck is less than 100ft. I can kick that rig up from 100ft no problem. AL tanks wouldn't do me much good at all.

^
This is the exception that confirms the rule as we say in Holland. You seem to know exactly what you're doing, most divers don't have a clou as it comes to steel doubles and wetsuits. Not having a clou and steel doubles+wetsuit can get someone in trouble real quick.

 

[boulderjohn]

was reading a list of DIR do's and don'ts and it said never use steel tanks with anything other than a dry suit.

A number of agencies have a rule like that, but only for DOUBLES. Single steel tanks are OK with wetsuits.