Im still a rookie at two years in this but my suspicion was heat or dropping it. If he had it in the car then temps can get it up over 100 degrees easy, if he dropped it or abused it somehow was also a question. Its good to have discussion over LP fills. I am ready to buy me a pair of LP95 and this is good debate. I sure hate it for the guy. I love to dive and I do my best to not abuse my gear. Of course diving in limestone walled rivers and caves kinda always beats up your gear just dont compound it by abusing it above water, I can not see the tank exploding from tempeture after being inside. If it was i direct sunlight in an OVEN, or car cab, yes but I wquld think the fill temp was higher than the ambient temp at 650am. Either way it sucks. My Mom called me to review the article and she is already paranoid of my hobbies. I just took a ride in an ultralite trike... she had a fit... told me I needed to get checked! LOL Im sure the details anmd facts will emerge, too much restriction and safety involved it will be investigated and tested.
Exploding scuba tank kills one - Florida
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LBHeyman
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This is a sad story out of St. Pete. Anybody know any of the specifics?
Man blown out of home, killed by exploding SCUBA tank
Man blown out of home, killed by exploding SCUBA tank
CRDiver
Contributor
Cedar Rapids Man, Iraq War Veteran, Killed in Florida | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local News
Cedar Rapids Man, Iraq War Veteran, Killed in Florida
Story Created: Sep 12, 2011 CDT
(Story Updated: Sep 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM CDT )
St. Petersburg, FLORIDA (ABC News)- Authorities with St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue say a scuba tank explosion Sunday morning killed 23 year old Russell Vanhorn III. The 23 year old Marine was an Iraq War veteran, and was formerly from Cedar Rapids.
"The explosion was so big it damaged vehicles within a 100 feet of the incident," said , Lt. Joel Granata of St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue. "I've never seen anything like this."
The explosion damaged also blew out windows, chipped paint, and even blew in the door to another car.
Investigators say Vanhorn was a avid scuba diver. At the time of the accident, they say he was carrying a scuba tank across a parking lot of an apartment complex when it somehow exploded. Emergency workers treated him for severe injuries, but he died at St. Petersburg General Hospital.
Police say he was getting ready for a diving trip with friends who live at the apartment complex. Those friends were inside the apartment when the blast happened outside, and were not injured.
The St. Petersburg Times say Vanhorn learned to dive while stationed at Camp Pendelton with the Marines. The paper also cites his father saying that he hoped to start a career in scuba diving with another friend from Iowa.
Vanhorn is expected to be buried in Cedar Rapids.
Cedar Rapids Man, Iraq War Veteran, Killed in Florida
Story Created: Sep 12, 2011 CDT
(Story Updated: Sep 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM CDT )
St. Petersburg, FLORIDA (ABC News)- Authorities with St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue say a scuba tank explosion Sunday morning killed 23 year old Russell Vanhorn III. The 23 year old Marine was an Iraq War veteran, and was formerly from Cedar Rapids.
"The explosion was so big it damaged vehicles within a 100 feet of the incident," said , Lt. Joel Granata of St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue. "I've never seen anything like this."
The explosion damaged also blew out windows, chipped paint, and even blew in the door to another car.
Investigators say Vanhorn was a avid scuba diver. At the time of the accident, they say he was carrying a scuba tank across a parking lot of an apartment complex when it somehow exploded. Emergency workers treated him for severe injuries, but he died at St. Petersburg General Hospital.
Police say he was getting ready for a diving trip with friends who live at the apartment complex. Those friends were inside the apartment when the blast happened outside, and were not injured.
The St. Petersburg Times say Vanhorn learned to dive while stationed at Camp Pendelton with the Marines. The paper also cites his father saying that he hoped to start a career in scuba diving with another friend from Iowa.
Vanhorn is expected to be buried in Cedar Rapids.
koozemani
Contributor
Mis post
Last edited:
jdcpa
Contributor
Speculation this morning is that the tank was filled with pure oxygen.
The article mentions the tank split in half with one half lodged in the kitchen ceiling.
The screen door was blown fifty feet, there was sheetrock damage.
Someone mentioned seeing a flame.
Quite unusual.
You can google to St Pete Times to find the article.
Sorry if this is a duplicate post regarding the article.
The article mentions the tank split in half with one half lodged in the kitchen ceiling.
The screen door was blown fifty feet, there was sheetrock damage.
Someone mentioned seeing a flame.
Quite unusual.
You can google to St Pete Times to find the article.
Sorry if this is a duplicate post regarding the article.
Ed Palma
Contributor
here's a link:
Clues suggest pure oxygen may factor in fatal St. Petersburg scuba tank blast - St. Petersburg Times
ST. PETERSBURG A witness getting his morning newspaper told police he saw a bright flash when a scuba tank exploded early Sunday morning.
The man holding the tank, avid diver Russell Vanhorn II, suffered what appeared to be burns in the blast that took his life and destroyed the condo he was standing in, according to St. Petersburg police.
As investigators continued their search Monday for answers in the puzzling blast, those potential clues suggest pure oxygen could have played a role in the explosion that killed the 23-year-old Iraq war veteran.
"That signifies to me that oxygen was involved and not just compressed air," said Doug Jackson, vice president of Bill Jackson's Shop For Adventure and a certified diving instructor and trainer. Jackson said pure oxygen increases the risk of fire and explosion.
Most recreational divers use compressed air the same mix of 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen we all breathe on land in their pressurized cylinders. But pure oxygen is used for much more advanced and riskier diving, such as cave or deep diving.
Pure oxygen can be used for decompression, for example, to help divers purge themselves of nitrogen before surfacing from deep depths. That's to prevent decompression sickness: gas bubbles that can develop in the body and cause pain, paralysis and even death.
If pure oxygen was being used for a diving trip in the Tampa Bay area, Jackson said, that suggests Vanhorn may have planned to go cave diving.
Because of its explosion risk, pure oxygen should only be handled by skilled divers using special procedures and the utmost care, Jackson said.
Exploding scuba tanks are rare and devastating events. But in cases such as the 1981 blast that cost a Lakeland man his legs, the cause of the explosions appeared to be catastrophic failure of the pressurized metal tanks not the gases inside the tanks.
Russell Vanhorn Sr. said his son enjoyed cave diving as well as other forms of diving in both Florida and his native Iowa. But his son was always careful.
"He enjoyed deep diving, he enjoyed open diving," said Vanhorn Sr., 55. "I know he did some cave diving, but he didn't do it on a regular basis.
"He would take pictures of underwater volcanoes down there. He said, 'Dad, I don't do it all the time. I do it with a bunch of guys and we're always safe.' "
The complicated nature of the investigation led St. Petersburg police to take over from the Fire Department.
Police spokesman Mike Puetz said investigators will track down the history of the exploded tank, determine who inspected and serviced it in the past, who recently filled it and with what kind of gases.
The tank was found split down the middle from top to bottom, lodged overhead in what was left of the kitchen ceiling. The blast shattered drywall and ceiling, collapsed walls, smashed furniture, blew out the doors and windows and damaged cars in the parking lot.
The Tampa Bay Regional Bomb Squad came in to inspect and empty the 11 other tanks found inside. Authorities did not say what was in the tanks.
Sara Swoch, 27, and Brent Stevens, 22, were inside the condo at 5865 37th Ave. N when the tank exploded at about 6:50 a.m., police said.
Swoch lives in the condo. She and Stevens were in different rooms when the tank blew up, police said, shielding them from serious injury.
Master scuba diver trainer Joyce Hannaseck of Narcosis Dive Shop in Tarpon Springs went diving with Russell Vanhorn II over the summer. She said the Tampa Bay diving community is anxious for answers.
"We're all just holding our breath to find out what caused this," she said.
Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.
Clues suggest pure oxygen may factor in fatal St. Petersburg scuba tank blast - St. Petersburg Times
ST. PETERSBURG A witness getting his morning newspaper told police he saw a bright flash when a scuba tank exploded early Sunday morning.
The man holding the tank, avid diver Russell Vanhorn II, suffered what appeared to be burns in the blast that took his life and destroyed the condo he was standing in, according to St. Petersburg police.
As investigators continued their search Monday for answers in the puzzling blast, those potential clues suggest pure oxygen could have played a role in the explosion that killed the 23-year-old Iraq war veteran.
"That signifies to me that oxygen was involved and not just compressed air," said Doug Jackson, vice president of Bill Jackson's Shop For Adventure and a certified diving instructor and trainer. Jackson said pure oxygen increases the risk of fire and explosion.
Most recreational divers use compressed air the same mix of 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen we all breathe on land in their pressurized cylinders. But pure oxygen is used for much more advanced and riskier diving, such as cave or deep diving.
Pure oxygen can be used for decompression, for example, to help divers purge themselves of nitrogen before surfacing from deep depths. That's to prevent decompression sickness: gas bubbles that can develop in the body and cause pain, paralysis and even death.
If pure oxygen was being used for a diving trip in the Tampa Bay area, Jackson said, that suggests Vanhorn may have planned to go cave diving.
Because of its explosion risk, pure oxygen should only be handled by skilled divers using special procedures and the utmost care, Jackson said.
Exploding scuba tanks are rare and devastating events. But in cases such as the 1981 blast that cost a Lakeland man his legs, the cause of the explosions appeared to be catastrophic failure of the pressurized metal tanks not the gases inside the tanks.
Russell Vanhorn Sr. said his son enjoyed cave diving as well as other forms of diving in both Florida and his native Iowa. But his son was always careful.
"He enjoyed deep diving, he enjoyed open diving," said Vanhorn Sr., 55. "I know he did some cave diving, but he didn't do it on a regular basis.
"He would take pictures of underwater volcanoes down there. He said, 'Dad, I don't do it all the time. I do it with a bunch of guys and we're always safe.' "
The complicated nature of the investigation led St. Petersburg police to take over from the Fire Department.
Police spokesman Mike Puetz said investigators will track down the history of the exploded tank, determine who inspected and serviced it in the past, who recently filled it and with what kind of gases.
The tank was found split down the middle from top to bottom, lodged overhead in what was left of the kitchen ceiling. The blast shattered drywall and ceiling, collapsed walls, smashed furniture, blew out the doors and windows and damaged cars in the parking lot.
The Tampa Bay Regional Bomb Squad came in to inspect and empty the 11 other tanks found inside. Authorities did not say what was in the tanks.
Sara Swoch, 27, and Brent Stevens, 22, were inside the condo at 5865 37th Ave. N when the tank exploded at about 6:50 a.m., police said.
Swoch lives in the condo. She and Stevens were in different rooms when the tank blew up, police said, shielding them from serious injury.
Master scuba diver trainer Joyce Hannaseck of Narcosis Dive Shop in Tarpon Springs went diving with Russell Vanhorn II over the summer. She said the Tampa Bay diving community is anxious for answers.
"We're all just holding our breath to find out what caused this," she said.
Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.
Most complete story yet. The flash does lead one to think pure Oxygen, and also this story does seem to contradict the first stories about the accident happening outside the door of the apartment, and blowing the diver back into the room.
Randy43068
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adurso
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Why have they not asked those he was going diving with what he had in the tank?
Or perhaps it has been asked and not published...
Or perhaps it has been asked and not published...
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