Can you swap a tank underwater?

[Deefstes]

Wow, I also did CMAS 2* and we weren't required to do that!

 

[Crush]

What other fairy tales did your instructor share with you?

Just to be fair, it WAS a basic OW course, so perhaps he wanted to keep it simple at our level of training.

 

[Web Monkey]

Further to the discussions at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/309572-darwin-awards-diving.html :

Is is possible to swap a tank underwater? Not hypothetical - have you done it, and if so, are you still reasonably un-scarred? Are there any reg setups which are specialized to be able to accomplish this?

Is it possible? Sure.

Good idea? Probably not something you want to do just for fun, since you'll get water in places it doesn't belong.

My basic OW instructor told us that, if water enters the 1st stage, attaching this reg to a fresh bottle and opening it up will accelerate the plug of water to an incredibly high speed, leading to the likely rupture of your gauges.

An explosion is no more likely than if you didn't have water your reg.

Terry

 

[Thalassamania]

Just to be fair, it WAS a basic OW course, so perhaps he wanted to keep it simple at our level of training.

Sounds to me more like an instructor who is too insecure to say, "I don't know. I'll find out for you."

 

[Deefstes]

Just to be fair, it WAS a basic OW course, so perhaps he wanted to keep it simple at our level of training.

But to be fair, this doesn't sound very simple at all. Very simple would have been "water entering the regulator system can damage it" but this explanation of his was dreamed up by an imaginative mind. The way I see it, he either didn't know, as Thal pointed out, and constructed this stupid lie just to impress you or he was ill informed himself and stupid enough to believe it.

On a different, but equally logical (and important) topic, do you know that if you use split fins it will create a vortex behind you that registers on the electroreceptors of sharks which will then hunt you down?

 

[BabyDuck]

it certainly is possible, but ask doc intrepid if it's likely to be your best course of action...the group decided to do it once due to a problem (instead of, i guess, buddy breathing a travel gas) and it took so long to do that they were way over time on deco & were taking their last breaths of gas at the very end of the dive. all were ok, but looking back he thought buddy breathing would have been a safer choice.

bill, feel free to type up if i have any details wrong...

 

[knotical]

On a different, but equally logical (and important) topic, do you know that if you use split fins it will create a vortex behind you that registers on the electroreceptors of sharks which will then hunt you down?

Cool beans ! I've always wondered how I could get to see more sharks. Now I'll just encourage all my buddies to wear splits.
<and hey, he started the humorous hijack, not me>

 

[Tigerman]

I need to get higher quality splits I guess.. Mine dont attract anywhere NEAR enough sharks

 

[dwhthediver]

On a different, but equally logical (and important) topic, do you know that if you use split fins it will create a vortex behind you that registers on the electroreceptors of sharks which will then hunt you down?

Hmmm... is that the real reason behind you will die if you wear split fins?

 

[elmer fudd]

I'd imagine he probably heard it himself somewhere and was just repeating it. Given both the explosive and propulsive power contained in a full scuba tank, I can see where it would seem plausible to the average person.

Some of the photos of the damage caused by burst tanks really are impressive.