All about cylinder inspections & training
- Thread starter The Chairman
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
But before you drop $200 be aware of the tank inspection paradox: many dive shop personel inspect SCUBA tanks without having had ANY formal training, but -
most scuba shops will not accept inspections done by an individual diver rather than a shop even if that diver has taken the PSI course of an equivilent.
So you may take the course and find it doesn't do you any good. And you probably won't be able to buy stickers. And to do aluminum tanks you'll need a VIP machine.
Yes it sucks....
most scuba shops will not accept inspections done by an individual diver rather than a shop even if that diver has taken the PSI course of an equivilent.
So you may take the course and find it doesn't do you any good. And you probably won't be able to buy stickers. And to do aluminum tanks you'll need a VIP machine.
Yes it sucks....
Bob3
Contributor
Heck, you may be more qualified than many of the dive shops out there right now.
PSI offers courses, the training sessions travel around to different cities.
http://www.airsource-one.com/train.html
PSI offers courses, the training sessions travel around to different cities.
http://www.airsource-one.com/train.html
norcaldiver
Guest
Officially, the answer is yes. I'm sure the DOT would have something to say if they found otherwise.
but
I fill so many tanks a day, I chek for a hydro stamp, a VIZ sticker and the psi before I hook it up, but I'm NOT going to go call each shop I don't recognize or even call the ones that I do recognize periodically just to see if the inspector is "officially" certified.
Now if the sticker says something like "Cleetus' Discount Air Fills" and nothing more, I'll might ask the customer where they had is done.
I'll add that if I DO hear that a shop has been cutting corners, I won't fill tanks with the shops sticker untill I find out that everything is cool. After all, I'm the one standing closest to the tank when it's filling.
but
I fill so many tanks a day, I chek for a hydro stamp, a VIZ sticker and the psi before I hook it up, but I'm NOT going to go call each shop I don't recognize or even call the ones that I do recognize periodically just to see if the inspector is "officially" certified.
Now if the sticker says something like "Cleetus' Discount Air Fills" and nothing more, I'll might ask the customer where they had is done.
I'll add that if I DO hear that a shop has been cutting corners, I won't fill tanks with the shops sticker untill I find out that everything is cool. After all, I'm the one standing closest to the tank when it's filling.
Actually the answer is no. However there is a BIG "but".
You need to understand that the VIP process is a safety process created by the dive industry to 1) insure that tanks that had deterioated to the point of being unsafe since their last hydro (as much as 5 years earlier) were screened out to prevent them from bursting (the problem being steel tanks rusting), 2) put some money in their pocket. Neither is a bad thing if the program is administered correctly.
However, the VIP (as practiced by the dive industry) is NOT required by any DOT regs, only by dive industry standard.
Most folks that I have known in the dive industry (to include myself when I taught and worked PT in a dive shop) never received any training in the process.
Bill High of PSI has created a nice niche market to train folks in the VIP process and certify them as having received this training. OSHA stipulates that indivudals working with hazerdous materials must receive certain training. The PSI course is sold as meeting this training requirement. You as an indivual can take this training (cost is about $200) and then can purchase VIP stickers from PSI to place on tanks that you inspect for yourself or others.
One additional problem is the current eddy test that is in use to detect slc (sustained load cracking) in cylinders made of what is now believed to be a questionable alloy. This test requires a device that costs in the range of $1000. Without it you can't perform this test. Consequently you could take the PSI course and VIP your tanks but the shop might refuse to fill them because you didn't have a VIP "+" (+ being the current eddy test). However, unless the tanks were made of the questionable alloy (6351) or are over 10 or 15 years old, Luxifer says they should NOT be current eddy tested because there is not a risk of SLC and the test gives too many false positives.
Back to the question, can you do as good a job? Absolutely, take the course or just buy his book which will tell you how to do it.
Might you still run into problems with a LDS? Yes.
Dave D
VIP = $10 - $15 in most areas. More for VIP+.
Hydro varies wildly = $25 - $75 in most areas.
Remember, you're not just looking for an updated sticker when you take your tank in for service. The damn thing is a bomb waiting to go off and it would be nice to discover any problem before that happens.
Unless you have a bunch of tanks, it doesn't make sense to spend the time and money learning to VIP your own tanks. This is a skill that requires training, some specialized gear and practice. Ten inspections a year probably isn't sufficient to keep your skills up. Better to use your local LDS.
Hydro's are rarely done by the shop you take your tanks to - they sub the work out to someone else (often a local fire extinguisher shop) and you can sometimes save yourself a few $ by hunting them down yourself. Again, ask yourself if it's worth trying to save just a few $ to put the time and effort into the search.
Steven
Hydro varies wildly = $25 - $75 in most areas.
Remember, you're not just looking for an updated sticker when you take your tank in for service. The damn thing is a bomb waiting to go off and it would be nice to discover any problem before that happens.
Unless you have a bunch of tanks, it doesn't make sense to spend the time and money learning to VIP your own tanks. This is a skill that requires training, some specialized gear and practice. Ten inspections a year probably isn't sufficient to keep your skills up. Better to use your local LDS.
Hydro's are rarely done by the shop you take your tanks to - they sub the work out to someone else (often a local fire extinguisher shop) and you can sometimes save yourself a few $ by hunting them down yourself. Again, ask yourself if it's worth trying to save just a few $ to put the time and effort into the search.
Steven
Similar threads
