Visual Inspection Sticker

[DeadCactus]

Is the date on the sticker the expiration date or the date it was performed? And they're good for one year, yes?

Edit: Also, on a tangent, any good way to get old stickers off?

 

[neil]

The date on the sticker is the month the visual was performed. If you have a sticker punched November 2008, it will need a new inspection on Nov. 1, 2009.
First try peeling the sticker as much as you can, then use a solvent like Goo-Gone or a citrus de-greaser. Often, heating it with a hair dryer will do the job. On a steel tank you can scrape it off, but I'd advise against scraping an aluminum cylinder.

 

[DeadCactus]

Awesome. Glad I have a few more months before I need a VIP.

Is the hairdryer thing just for recent stickers or will it work well on decade old stickers? Any good materials that are abrasive enough to take off sticker, but won;t damage the tank?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I use a razor blade scraper to scrape old stickers off. As long as you keep it flat against the tanks and go around it rather than up and down, you shouldn't have any problems, with steel or aluminum. Then use some goo gone to get the adhesive that's left over off. Or better yet, go diving a bunch and it will eventually wash off.

 

[spectrum]

Awesome. Glad I have a few more months before I need a VIP.

Is the hairdryer thing just for recent stickers or will it work well on decade old stickers? Any good materials that are abrasive enough to take off sticker, but won;t damage the tank?

Thanks for the help.

No good can come from abrasives, just say no.

I've had real good luck with the hair dryer on older factory stickers as well as VIP stickers. After a dive shop apparently tore stickers off with a rotary wire wheel I have begun to remove the stickers myself to avoid abuse. While I'm at it I take the paint pen I re-letter my name and cylinder number.

Any of the commercial glue removers will work. I went to my solvent shelf and I think it was acetone that cleaned it off.

Pete

 

[DA Aquamaster]

In the past hydro test stamps and VIP stickers were interpreted as expiring at the end of the month stamped or punched (meaning that if you had the test or VIP done on the first of a month, you could get 1 day short of 61 months before the next hydro test or 1 day short of 13 months before the next VIP.

The annual VIP requirement is an industry standard not deemded neccesary by the DOT so no one had an issue with a lucky or well planning diver getting an extra 30 days. However under the current interpretation virtually no one gets a full 12 months and worst case gets only 11 months plus a day. I suspect the greater conservatism is due to an over abundance of lawyers and a general decline in the perceived value of common sense.

 

[Garrobo]

I think that a tank should be visually checked and hydroed by the amount of fills rather than a set date. I've got two tanks which have been sitting with air in them for over a year. Why should they be inspected? It's a money grab by the LDS's backed by whoever comes up with these silly rules.

 

[Daveo957]

So if you have a tank sitting around for several years your saying you would have no problem just putting air in it and letting you dive. You wouldnt want someone to take a look inside first? And how would shops keep track of the number of fills?

 

[captain]

So if you have a tank sitting around for several years your saying you would have no problem just putting air in it and letting you dive. You wouldnt want someone to take a look inside first? And how would shops keep track of the number of fills?

If it was good the then why would it not be good now.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

If you think about it, the visual inspection is just an inspection - how often does that inspection actually result in some kind of remedial action. Basically never unless someone screwed up filling the tank.

DOT regs require a VIP every 5 years as part of the requalification process (commonly called the hydro test - which is just one part of the requalification process). It is an industry standard to do VIP's annually.

It made sense 40 years ago when compressors tended to have issues with proper water separation and dessicant failures that may have allowed water into the tank. But lately that has just not been a problem and the only other way to get water in the tank is to drain it completely or during the fill process by having water in the valve or fill whip when the fill whip is connected to the tank to fill it.

In that regard, the VIP is now a vestigal revenue source, not a safety practice.

Even 6351-T6 Aluminum tanks now only require an eddy current/visual plus inspection at hydro every 5 years.