brucet
Contributor
And just my opinion, but so often people seem to be looking for anyway to save a few bucks. You trust your life with the gear you dive with. No ask yourself, how much is your life worth.
Does a new tank need a physically VIP
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Okay, am I missing something here? Why on earth would anybody want to trust that a factory / shop has sent out a perfectly clean, ready-to-fill scuba tank?
Wouldn't you WANT the additional confidence of a Visual Inspection before you trust your life to what you are about to breath?
This "does it have to have ?" stuff is puzzling the daylights out of me.
that is not the issue: a vip does lots of checks cylendar balloning or banana shape pits < scaring, gouging ect. those kind of checks are not necessary because it is a new tank. tank contents is always to be checked as part of a valve instalation.
the question was since hydro shops are to do a visual inspection as part of the hydro process does a rehydro negate the need for the detailed vis other than the lsd checking contents before installing valve.
i had read that the hydro date also covers the vis requirement but did not know if that was the original hydro or subsequent hydros for the 12 months following the re hydro. if the hydro shop has the valve they are supposed to check the tank, valve burst disks ect. when it comes back from the hydro shop is there a regulatory requirement to do a vis (on a non factory hydro)
"""Wouldn't you WANT the additional confidence of a Visual Inspection before you trust your life to what you are about to breath? """
if the hydro shop is required to do a vis on all tanks with valves, should i be paying for the second vis by the shop when it was already done by a hydro tester. i am assuming that the hydro vis is for air only, no O2 issues involved.
one of my courses said something about verifying an up to date vis or hydro date <12 months old if vis sticker is not affixed as a prereq to filling.
i have only seen a couple of shops that know asbout the hydro/vis relationship they have a general rule no vis no fill. when i got my tanks the lds put vis stickers for the first year only to avoid hassles from other shops not knowing about the factory hydro date exception to the vis sticker.
my pony (catalina) came with a sticker on it saying it had been vis's in the process of qa and that that inspection was good for one year from the stamped inspecion date (hydro). from that you get a sticker after checking for clean tank prior to installing a valve. no detailed inspection required...
My last 4 tanks were purchased online. All came with valves installed, vip stickers, and air (between 200 and 300 psi).
cool_hardware52
Contributor
Who ever is using these VIP stickers is assuming a huge unnecessary liability.
A VIP is required (by most fill station operators) every 12 months, the actual inspection can only speak to the condition of the cylinder when it was inspected, not what *might* happen over the next almost 13 months.
Tobin
I had a friend who upon bringing a new empty cylinder to our LDS was told it needed to be viz before they would fill it no matter what and it was a good thing because when they removed the valve they found a dead shrivelled up stinky mouse inside. Turns out the shop they bought the cylinder from stores their cylinders with he valves removed and no plug so this is a good example of why you want the viz no matter what as you never know.
Always look in a new tank before the valve goes on. I've seen new tanks with a small amount of oil and tailings in the bottom.
joeSteve1006
Registered
I agree with the others, as Mom always said, "Better safe than sorry."
Sorry man I gotta say... I failed an al80 straight out of the shipping carton for physical defect. Catalina/Luxfer (forget whose that one was from but it matters not) may have missed the the small 1/8" deep pit/gouge in the side of the tank, or it may have happened in shipping, but either way it was only good to be a 35$ paperweight destined for recycling after I took my Jiffy marker and circled the flaw. I believe it got returned by the shop to the vendor... not sure at this point; a couple years ago....
the hydro shop does not typically put viz stickers on the tanks; they punch em on the neck. If you do not want to pay for the viz at the shop, I am sure they would be willing to provide your cylinder back to you with the old O-ring (cut upon removal to prevent accidental re-use) valve un installed and in a ziplock bag, and the thread guard plug still in the threads of the tank.
You want the sticker??
You want the tank assembled??
you want a new o-ring??
PAY for the VIP!!
and I had a shop manager once question why I had not punched a whole year on the VIP sticker... If the tank is not in hydro, it does not fulfill the requirements of VIP.... plus I have seen tank monkeys only look at the sticker not the neck stamp...
not all shop staff know everything so it is always best to err on the side of caution: feel free to ask questions. If you ask your questions in the right tone, and at the right time, there is a typical human inclination towards wanting to talk about oneself or things one is good at... you do it right and you get your answers and make the shop guy feel important by being able to educate you.
ask the wrong guy on the wrong day and/or in the wrong tone, and it will backfire. (think wife/gf on a "bad" day... it translates, and some tank monkeys have more "bad days" than others...)
[flamesuit ON]just sayin...
t
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