Visual inspection on tanks

[Davidstealey3]

i should know what the answer to this question should be but i will ask anyway

do you think UNTRAINED people shoule do the VIP's on their own tanks?

by this i mean
remove the valve
look for rust and aluminum oxide
remove rust and aluminum oxide
02 clean tank and valve
justify tank fit for service
reinstall valve and wait till next VIP and hydro

 

[ffhamm]

Absolutely. Visual inspections between hydros are a way to fleece customers out of an extra 20 bucks.

Jeff

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

You are more than welcome to do a VIP on your tanks and fill them at my shop. As long as you will sit there with the tank between your legs as it fills....bring it on in (not)

If not, don't expect me to do it without looking at it or requiring it having been looked at by someone trained to do so

Especially O2 cleaning....Sorry, but my staffs life is worth more than the small charge to have it done right...we don't need someone not putting the right O-ring into a tank, or not properly rinsing the tank, or.......while he safely sits at home as we fill his tank, between our legs. People will be less likely to condemn their own tank if needed...."Oh, I can get a couple more years out of her".......kaboom....

Its easy to say it doesn't need to be done by someone trained, when your not the one filling it Just do it the right way....its a small price to pay to have it done the right way

 

[imwright1985]

I think not, people would be lazy and just say they did the vis, or not be able to use proper discression for amount of oxisization for being apropriate use

 

[rsilva708]

Drain the tank and take off the valve. When you bring that completely empty tank in to be filled and any good shop is going to require they do a visual before they fill it.

It's just not a good idea. I've taken the PSI inspectors course, and there was a lot more to look at than I thought. It's worth a few $ to be sure you have a good tank on your back.

If you only have one or two tanks it's no big deal to get them done at the same time every year. If your like me and have a lot of tanks just spread them out throughout the year so your not hit with all the cost at one time.

 

[Davidstealey3]

thank you for agreeing with me. i posted this same question in the TANK,VALVES, and BANDS section and for the most part are getting the oppsite answer.

take a look at that thread and chime in.

i myself am a psi inspector, and also was amazed at all the info i picked up after doing a sdi vis class. you can allways learn more the second and third times around. but i agree with diverightin, it is my life or the life of the other employies and customers in the shop if something happens. they think there are plenty of trained people that do a worse job then they do, and granted people are lazy and not everyone does it right, but at least they know what they should be doing.

its hard to tell people that have done their own for thirty years not to do it, but i would not encourage it to new or intermediate divers to do on their own.

 

[redacted]

I am not a certified/trained inspector. But I remove the valves from my tanks anytime I want and inspect the interior condition. I don't do this in lieu of a shop VIP. I do it in addition to the shop VIP. I always remove the valve and inspect my tanks before I submit them to the shop VIP. I have an equalizer hose which I routinely use to fill my pony so restoring pressure to a tank after my inspection is not a problem.

I get the impression that some of you "professionals" think a tank owner should be prohibited from doing that. :mooner::mooner:

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

I get the impression that some of you "professionals" think a tank owner should be prohibited from doing that. :mooner::mooner:

You can check your tanks as much as you want...I have no problem with that....but don't have a problem with me checking it either if your not a trained Visual Inspector and up to date

We teach VIP classes....thats just a small part of learning and doing it right. Not many people really get the first hand experience from doing a couple tanks a year. We do about 10 a week on average. With our VIP class, we also have Tank Cleaning Parties. This is for those that have taken a VIP class....come have a group setting, Pizza, use our equipment and stickers, and have an Instructor around if you have any questions. Bring your tanks, and VIP them...this way, if you have ANY questions, or forget anything, you have an Instructor there that you can ask or have look at the area in question.

You have EVERY right to look at your tanks as much as you want....but as the guy filling it, the one that can get hurt, I too, have every right to want a visual inspection done by a trained professional each year. There is no reason for it to be one sided. If you don't like the policy, as others said, get a compressor...fill your own tanks....or take a VIP class. :cool2: If you have that rating, we have no issues, usually. Even guys that have just taken VIP classes(not from us) have continually not marked the dates on their stickers, not put stickers on, marked future years on stickers, cross threaded valves, not changed o-rings, and a few others...This is why we do the Cleaning Parties. To make sure it gets done right so NOBODY gets hurt. If you don't even take the time to properly mark the sticker, what else did you possibly sacrifice on?

Have you ever been filling a tank and had a burst disc blow? It will scare the crap out of you....hell, even an O-ring will make you jump....When that happens between your legs, you too, would want to make sure that everyone is safe if they have to fill tanks.

There is a thread from Aussie, where a guy was filling and the tank blew...taking off his hand....I would never want that to happen to anyone....not that it was due to a VIP not being done, but safety is number 1 and for $22(includes O-rings, sticker, fill, valve and neck cleaning, and a REAL VIP) we will not sacrifice an employees safety.

This is even MORE important when you are filling O2 tanks.


We just had a tank come back from a fire Dept. It was bought from us Last year and in current inspection. They used it for an ERDI class they took with us. They guy ran the tank to Zero in a pool, didn't tell anyone, and 1 month later it was due for VIP...they brought it in and it failed. The chlorine from the pool water, which was still in the tank, started a corrosion process in the tank that created many deep pits. These worm holes, would continue to go thru the tank even after cleaned. Had someone VIPed their own tank, they probably would have thought nothing of it..."Hell, its brand new, I can just put a sticker on it, no need to look at it" That tank wouldn't have lasted another year without blowing....and they fill their own tanks, someone would have been seriously hurt!

I have the pics of the water that came out of the tank, I will post it here when I get to work so you guys can see it

 

[paddler3d]

If you are a person who is comfortable with things like changing the brakes on your car, adding a new circuit to your electric panel opening up your tank and cleaning the valve and tank is something you should be able to do. If you can't figure out how to put in a light bulb, maybe it is best that you pay someone.

I'd personally love to get the training and certification to VIP my own tanks.

My LDS charges a modest fee for this. Since they are the ones putting in the O2 and air, I don't gripe.

So the reason why I like to open up and clean my own tanks is to make sure the tank is fine after it has been filled at compressor I'm unfamiliar with.

I show up at my LDS with an empty tank and tell them what I did and they fill it.

Cleaning your tank is not rocket science. Again, cleaning a valve isn't rocket science.

I say clean away!

 

[muddiver]

Question for Dive Right In Scuba, if a customer comes in to your shop with a cylinder that has a current hydro stamp and a VIP sticker correctly dated and current from some other shop/agency, would you be, at all, concerned that it was correctly inspected?

I tend to lean more toward trusting others when certifications and licenses are involved, but on other threads the old "that sticker isn't worth a ... after the valve is screwed back on the tank" is always spouted by some know it all, and that does reaise the question of do we really trust other inspectors/shops when it comes to un-regulated services.

The other side of the coin is that requiring a VIP before every fill would probably alinate most of your customers.