Do you turn the air off or leave it on after setting up on a tank?

[ofg-1]

You are doing it wrong. You turn off your buddies air, not your own.

 

[Marie13]

I turn it off as I don’t want my transmitter batteries to get run down unnecessarily.

 

[Dan]

My tank is off regs depressurised as I sit into my gear arrange my hoses and strap and clip in, as this is far easier to do when depressurised and not fighting stiff hoses, then when I'm ready I wriggle down a bit reach back and turn my valve on two turns and go

You’re going to get the guy in trouble (gasping for breath) at depth with only 2 turns.

 

[tbone1004]

Tank valves off unless the tank is on my back. Regulators depressurized if using AI transmitters so they aren't broadcasting needlessly and killing the battery

 

[MaxTorque]

If above water, then whenever cylinder valve is off, i purge the system, perhaps not all the way down to zero, but certainly enough (50 bar or less) so that when i look at the gauge i'll notice! Leaving a little bit of pressure with the shut cyl valve also means i get a "free" system leak check, because it i come back 30min later and the gauge has dropped, there's leak that needs sorting.

Realistically, there is probably just about no time when a "leak" above water of a magnitidue to threaten your air supply cannot be obviously heard. Sure if you are on a boat and all your gear is thrown in a pile, and you leave your air on, and then go a long way away for some time, yes, your reg could get it's purge valve depressed and your air could leak, but frankly the mistake here is to leave all your gear in a pile in the first place. Look after your gear and it will look after you


If i have built up and checked my kit, and it is appropriately safely located and restrained, as it should be, then i'll happily just leave the air on. Typically would be on a liveaboard or boat dive where you have your own allocated seat from which to gear up, and which includes suitable methods to secure your scuba unit before you don it. In all cases, carry out one final, immediate pre-water gear check of course. Good habbits and all that..........

 

[johndiver999]

You want it off. You can have the tank bumped on the boat and the second stage starts to bleed air and nobody might hear it and when you arrive at the dive site, you don't have all your air.

I like to turn the tank on, check the pressure, press a few buttons on inflator and second stage and then turn it off and bleed the pressure out.

Bleeding the reg, may waste a tiny bit of air, but it should prevent me from getting very deep with the valve off.

I have no problem with leaving the valve open for 5 minutes while I am actively getting ready - it might be a good practice, because I have seen hoses pop on the boat before a dive.

 

[ssssnake529]

I turn mine off until before I dive. My integrated air transmitters are activated by air pressure. So, they are using batteries any time the tank valve is opened. I keep them turned off to preserve battery life.

I check the pressure when I set up the gear. Then I turn the air off, purge the lines and wait until we're close to the dive site to turn the valve back on again.

 

[Ayisha]

If it's going to be a while, I close the valve and purge the reg (so the SPG shows 0).

I turn it back on when I'm about to put it on, and once it's on, I take 3 breaths while looking at the SPG/AI computer. I'll reach back and make sure I can reach the valve as well.

If the valve is closed or barely open, the pressure will drop sharply with each breath, then come back up.
Otherwise, it will stay pretty steady as you breathe. On my AI computer, it would go down about 5 psi.

I find that I want an uninterrupted process when I am setting up my gear. If I get distracted and leave my rig, I will start checking everything all over again rather than just throw it on. I follow the same steps each time.

If you make sure that the valve is off AND you purge the regs, you can avoid some confusion by not having gas in the lines which might still register 3000 psi/200 bar when the valve is closed.

 

[kelemvor]

I always leave it on. I maintain my gear and if I'm somewhere that I had to use a rental tank I pretty much always replace the o-ring on the tank first. Around 200 dives now and I've had zero problems doing it this way. I think problems come in if you've got poorly maintained gear that leaks air.

I turn it off as I don’t want my transmitter batteries to get run down unnecessarily.

Are you sure your tx stays active when pressurized but the pressure isn't changing? My scubapro tx definitely stops transmitting after about a minute of no pressure change.

 

[tbone1004]

I always leave it on. I maintain my gear and if I'm somewhere that I had to use a rental tank I pretty much always replace the o-ring on the tank first. Around 200 dives now and I've had zero problems doing it this way. I think problems come in if you've got poorly maintained gear that leaks air.


Are you sure your tx stays active when pressurized but the pressure isn't changing? My scubapro tx definitely stops transmitting after about a minute of no pressure change.

The AUP transmitters broadcast whenever there is pressure applied to them