Correct way(s) to transport tanks ina car/van, etc.

[Diver0001]

I am a little confused. Do you mean the valve blow out or the tank? Seems to me that were the valve facing the back of the vehicle, the valve might fly off toward the rear, but the tank itself, would fly forward and collect the occupants. Am I missing something? My thought on mounting the tank sideways is that no matter how placed, the distance between the tank and the steel wall is not all thet great so momentum should not have the time required to achieve large values. then again I would not want to be inside whilt it rattled around either..

I like the rig ItsBruce has. Seems vertical is the way to go. Now to figure out how, the van is brand new and I don't want to get too creative with a drill... I will post when I figure something out. Thanks all for the input

There have been cases of the valve breaking off like this and the tanks don't appear to build up nearly enough energy to move very far when let alone fly like a balloon through the whole car. The *valve* on the other hand, has enough energy to blow clean through the side of the car. Also, the escaping air seems to be more of a hazard to you than the tank flying around. If you're concerned about this then you could also strap them down.... In any case, I don't remember where I saw this but my information is based on actual experience.

R..

 

[WaterWayne]

Wayne:

...Here are pictures...and the sun shower for cleaning up after a dive.

Creative, safe setup. I like the idea of incorporating the mini-cover and shower, too. Thank you for sharing. I'll put on my thinking cap and see what I can do for the bed of my pickup, probably a removable one. If it works, I'll revisit this thread and update it with a picture or two.

--Wayne

 

[Hoosier]

Wayne:

Its stopped raining. Here are pictures. In the first, you will also notice the awning frame (which also holds a curtain to make changing easier and legal) and the sun shower for cleaning up after a dive.

.

ItsBruce,,,,,, YOu are a nut..... Incredible idea!!!!

Where is your water source from... ?

 

[ItsBruce]

A sun shower (available worldwide from West Marine) is a plastic bag that absorbs huge amounts of heat from the sun. I fill it up at home before going out for a dive. At the dive site, I toss it on top of the DiveMobile, where it heats up. The thing is gravity fed, so the top is just fine. After the dive, the water is hot and provides a nice shower, and washes the easy gear like masks, snorkel, fins, regulator and computer and tanks.

 

[GDCB]

Ya know, I've always wondered why they don't put 'safety caps' on SCUBA cylinders like they do on other HP cylinders (welding cylinders, for instance).

Any one know?

Ya, It's simple physics. The smaller bottles don't contain enough volume (cubic feet) of gas to shoot the tanks also the small tanks don't have enough weight, so are LESS likely to break the valve if they tip over. I've seen full size 320 cubic foot bottles fall on their valves and not break off. I have also seen sites where a broken valve has caused serious damage. The valve as a projectile and the cylinder taking off. In welding school years ago we were subjected to a series called fatal facts. We had to see and analyze fatal welding accidents. You'd be amazed at the crazy things that can happen.

Carl

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Ya, It's simple physics. The smaller bottles don't contain enough volume (cubic feet) of gas to shoot the tanks also the small tanks don't have enough weight, so are LESS likely to break the valve if they tip over. I've seen full size 320 cubic foot bottles fall on their valves and not break off. I have also seen sites where a broken valve has caused serious damage. The valve as a projectile and the cylinder taking off. In welding school years ago we were subjected to a series called fatal facts. We had to see and analyze fatal welding accidents. You'd be amazed at the crazy things that can happen.

Carl

Um, yeah, simple physics.

Except that a 75 cu ft welding cylinder has the cap, and an 80 cu ft SCUBA cylinder doesn't... But the welding cylinder has more weight, so it's more likely to break the valve off, except that the SCUBA cylinder is higher pressure at a lighter weight, so it's more likely to become a projectile, except that it will do less damage because it's lighter weight, except that welding cylinders are typically secured to a wall/cart/welding truck whereas SCUBA cylinders are typically carried around or stood upright unsecured, or stuck in a trunk with gear piled around them in an attempt to secure them...

 

[MikeC]

On the Interstate today I saw a commercial gas truck, looked like various welding gases on the truck, all the valves on that truck were pointing to the sky, tanks were vertical. It seems to me that the pros do it that way for a reason. Maybe I am wrong. Thoughts and comments?

 

[Dive-aholic]

My guess is they do it that way so they can transport more tanks.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

My guess is they do it that way so they can transport more tanks.

... or because they are easier to handle. Vertically you can just tip 'em a little and roll them on their bottom. Can you imagine stacking them horizontally? What a pain in the back that would be.

WRT safety, commercial tanks must be secured so that they can't possibly fall over.

As illuded to before (sorry, too lazy to look up the post to give credit where credit is due), unless you can really secure the tanks, it's not going to matter. In an accident there's no telling which way the tank will be oriented when the valve sheers.

But just for fun let's look at probabilities: If the valve somehow came off and shot up, it would come down at the same speed it went up, and still be very dangerous, but the probability that it hits someone would be very low. If the valve goes out the side of the vehicle, then it might hit a passing car, but the probability is still pretty low. If the valve is pointing either forward or backward the probability is much higher.

All that being said, I choose to do as Charlie99 stated, and save my back.