Tank valve knob lock?

[ajduplessis]

Repeat of what many others already discussed...

Reaching your valves and being able to manipulate them is a skill that needs to be mastered. If you are aware of your surroundings and avoid contact with the valve you will be fine.

Locking valves in an open position will cause impact damage when hit as there is no movement to absorb impact. This can lead to a lot of other problems down the line.

I would also suggest moving to DIN if possible.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

This smacks of a solution looking for a problem.

 

[Compressor]

@WetSEAL: Open the valve all the way. There is NO reason to come back 1/4 turn. If you turn 1/4 turn to get a feel for it then return to full open. New generation valves do not need to be turned back.

As far a reaching the valve, its a non issue as far as I'm concerned in open water. If you don't want to believe that, it's ok. Actually I am older and cannot reach my valve since I've not flexible anatomically. I don't worry about it because I have a redundant air source: my buddy's air supply or my slung 40 if doing solo. That's with singles. With doubles I can reach. But I don't play with it as I'm too busy looking at my environment.


Have a wonderful day.

 

[ajduplessis]

One of the reasons for a 1/4 closed valve is to reduce possible impact damage, IMO you want some rotational movement to prevent this.

 

[seeker242]

Anyway, you all have sufficiently clarified that such a knob does NOT currently exist...which was the main question I came here with

You also asked why not. Then people explained why not and you think those answers are bunk. Alright, but it's almost as if you are looking for a reason to justify feeling nervous about it, when there is actually no good reason to feel nervous about it. That's unfortunate because you are giving yourself additional unnecessary stress.

 

[The Chairman]

For example, how about a simple rubber cap that goes over the knob, preventing it from rotation, but which can be easily pulled off with 1 hand?

That actually exists and can be made with a piece of bungee and a PVC pipe that slides over the valve knob. It never caught on.

@WetSEAL You said you're a beginner diver. You're here asking for advice. You're stubbornly arguing with the people who have thousands of dives.

I think he's sincerely trying to suss this out because he just doesn't want to die. People think our accidents forum is so busy because people are ghoulish. No, they too just don't want to die. Some great inventions have occurred because someone didn't like the status quo. Many of those, like safety belts and air bags, are safety related.

@WetSEAL why don't you do a search for this in our accidents and incidents forum? See if there have been may deaths over this. I bet you'll find that the bigger problem is getting people to turn their tanks in the first place. Having a locking device, that's now behind them, might actually cause a death due to the diver fumbling with it and not getting their air on in time. I've had my air turned off by two DMs so far because I often dive tanks with the valves that have knobs on the other side. It was disorienting enough to reach back, not find the knob and then to remember it was on the left side. If it had some sort of lock on it as well, I don't know how those dives would have turned out. No, I didn't panic, but I was 'highly concerned' both times.

 

[rhwestfall]

if it was such an issue, these from the 1980's might have caught on....

but no....

 

[divad]

KNOB LOCK

Keeps those pesky ladies at bay.....................

 

[Addicted2H2O]

OP....look.....if it's something you're really concerned about, then design something to your standards and work on getting it pattented. I have to agree with everyone else, though, that the chances of this happening are less than extremely slim. And in the off chance that it does happen, you should've learned how to doff and don your gear underwater. And it takes literally seconds to get it off. So slip it off, turn the knob back on, and slip your gear back on. Not complicated stuff.

 

[tridacna]

Interesting idea, although that would be a hassle to remove probably requiring a knife. I was imagining more of like a twist open followed by folding down a separate tab or something to lock in place.

Hey @Doc - someone finally took you seriously! You should send your solution to to the Journal of Irreproducible Results. They’d love it. I’m happy to co-author.

www.jir.com