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

[waterone]

Leave the air on once you set up the regs. So easy to jump in with it turned off and panic can ensue.

I have not heard one good reason on why it’s bad to leave it on. Only the misguided fear “I may lose a few psi” I say big whoop. Live to dive another a day. We are human and EASILY make mistakes like your 4-5 times.

I turn mine off and purge not wanting to waste my tx batteries. I don't see an issue with checking my gear after putting my rig on. To me it's like doing a final pin check before hoping out of a plane though of course not every did that either..

 

[Centrals]

You must ride on really really long boats

Very common in SE Asia.
For a day trip, you set up the equipment on the boat but not on land. The crew only need to take your personal(private/rental) gear(in a plastic crate/mesh bag) on board. Tanks are loaded separately.
No clients are NOT allowed or encouraged to carry gear on board except personal belonging(mask and dc included).

 

[johndiver999]

99% of the time I am walking into the water not jumping. Often I set my kit up at home and drive to the dive site with the air off.
Although I have jumped into the water with my air off that is not a reason to panic. With an inflated BCD the diver will be bobbing up in a few seconds. What is there to panic about? If a diver is panicked that easily perhaps they should be rethinking their decision to be diving?

One time I did slip off a rock while putting my fins on with a deflated BCD, double steel tanks, air on. I hit the bottom at 15FSW, could not find my second stage, didn't have an octo. 2nd stage at that time and had not got to put my fins, the BCD was borrowed and the auto-inflator didn't work as fast as I was accustomed to. I did become afraid I was going to drown in 15FSW with 160 cuft of air on my back! All I could think was how embarrassing! I had been diving for 20 years at that time and was determined not to die for such a silly reason. I shucked my weight belt and floated to the surface. Then I had to ask my still laughing buddy to retrieve my weights.

That could have been a panic situation for most anyone. I'm not sure I would have been able to control my fear if my weight belt had gotten stuck or for some reason I didn't start ascending.

Good thing you didn't read scubaboard back then, because you would have known that you never, ever drop a weight belt except on the surface. To do otherwise will cause an explosive ascent and surely kill you instantly.

 

[Belzelbub]

Do you have pressure transmitter for your dive computer? Leaving the air on while the rig just sitting will waste the transmitter battery juice and shorten the battery life. I turn the air on just before I actually put the BCD on and confirm the pressure with my dive computer.

Yep. Same for me. No point in draining the transmitter unnecessarily. To reduce mistakes, I try to follow the same process each time. Also, I swapped my valve handles for Vindicators so it's pretty obvious if the valve is on or off.

I'll check pressure in advance of the dive to confirm that my tanks are as full as needed. If diving off my own boat, with my own tanks, this might be the night before. After all is confirmed, I shut down and purge. I turn the air back on, and confirm pressure as I'm getting into my gear to start the dive.

Same basic process if I'm diving at the aquarium, though their gear uses SPG. After kitting, we often need to load up all the gear on a cart and haul it to the habitat. 2nd stages can sometimes get caught between doors, which would waist gas, and might scare aquarium visitors.

 

[EFX]

I don't have transmitters so after setting up my equipment I open the valve and leave it open.

 

[happy-diver]

Divers, older ones at least, are all freaking deaf too, BTW.

Yeah due to all the whippersnappers constantly unnecessarily testing and purging

Whippersnappers:
It's a fairly old-fashioned word, having been around since the late-1600s, when it apparently arose out of "whip-snapper," which implied a general sense of lots of noise and very little importance.

 

[mejiacne]

I was taught to do a complete equipment check requiring the tank valve to be fully open 5 minutes before arriving at the dive site.

 

[Baker_Dive]

Do you have pressure transmitter for your dive computer? Leaving the air on while the rig just sitting will waste the transmitter battery juice and shorten the battery life. I turn the air on just before I actually put the BCD on and confirm the pressure with my dive computer.

Yes. A shortens battery life does not outweigh the risks of jumping in negative. That is my opinion.

I will say I don’t hook it up immediately upon getting on boat, thirty mins or so before is usual for me.

Why take the risk is all I come back too.

 

[Baker_Dive]

I turn mine off and purge not wanting to waste my tx batteries. I don't see an issue with checking my gear after putting my rig on. To me it's like doing a final pin check before hoping out of a plane though of course not every did that either..

Some forget from the excitement. Instead of purging why not disconnect reg? At times I’ve checked air, purged and removed reg from cylinder.

Wasting battery does not out weigh the negatives in my opinion.

Pre dive check list is important and we agree in full there.

 

[broncobowsher]

Transmitter batteries last long enough, turning off to save the battery is a joke. Plenty of stories of people leaving them pressurized for weeks and not hurting the battery performance.

Do it either way. Don't care. Both work. Only bad plan is it you turn it off and keep it pressurized.