Had my first accident/near miss

[MikeFerrara]

And be careful of that pony. Mine has helped me a few times, but also nearly killed me a couple of times.

Ponies don't kill people. People kill people. Some people even kill themselves but ponies never kill people.

 

[DandyDon]

Originally Posted by DandyDon
And be careful of that pony. Mine has helped me a few times, but also nearly killed me a couple of times.

Ponies don't kill people. People kill people. Some people even kill themselves but ponies never kill people.

Okay, you're absolutely correct. Poor wording on my part.

More accurately, my decisions with my pony have been dangerous a couple of time. Take it back and get a refund, saving that idea for later in your diving, or - be very careful, unlike my experiences.

 

[RonFrank]

At least you learned the Air2 is a dangerous piece of gear to have on your rig.

Apparently it's more than just the AIR2, it's those DAMN Tank valves!!

They TURN OFF! Just like that!!

Now THAT is dangerous!

Give the AIRII thing a rest.. IF he can not manually inflate using an AIRII, then he is not going to have much better luck with ANY power inflator, because inflation of the AIRII is no more of less difficult vs. ANY power inflator I've used.

Nice hijack however Shaka!

 

[mnj1233]

Minor brush? Turned the whole rig off?

I don't think so.

If it was way low on pressure, if you hadn't turned it on to begin with but 1/2 turn at the start of your dive, I could see this happening... on a bad day.

Otherwise, with the tank open (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey) the standard 29.9 turns... this aint gonna happen.

But maybe somebody :fork: will suggest you buy a pony tank

Glad it worked out.

Havent you ever had that itch you just couldnt reach? I think a good back scratching could do the trick!!!!

 

[DandyDon]

Havent you ever had that itch you just couldnt reach? I think a good back scratching could do the trick!!!!

Preparation H helps in some cases.

 

[terrasmak]

29.9 turns , what valves are those , the genisis valve on that tank is nowhere near that many .

AIR2 thing , while kicking to keep yourself above water and having to put the full mouth peice in you mouth and remove it for every breath is a pain to do. I remember it was much easier to do on a normal inflater when i took my open water class.

Last thing when i learned to set up my gear i was told to open the valve full open than back it off a 1/4 turn , my dive buddy says to leave it full open thats what his instructer taught him , what is correct ?

 

[Doc]

29.9 turns , what valves are those , the genisis valve on that tank is nowhere near that many .

The good ones, the Titanium valves, are 29.998765 turns. So sue me.

AIR2 thing , while kicking to keep yourself above water and having to put the full mouth peice in you mouth and remove it for every breath is a pain to do. I remember it was much easier to do on a normal inflater when i took my open water class.

Use the entire mouthpiece when using as an octo-job. When doing a blow... up thing... just purse your lips against the opening, pushing the bite thingies out of the way. You don't have to be Pam Anderson to make this work, but it would sure be fun to watch her do this.

Last thing when i learned to set up my gear i was told to open the valve full open than back it off a 1/4 turn , my dive buddy says to leave it full open thats what his instructer taught him , what is correct ?

The last thing I learned was to suck three times on the reg and watch the analog SPG. Back of 1/4 or not, remember, lefty loosey.

Good plan though, I like a diver who piddles around in 7 feet of water at the end of the dive just to see what he can see. Make use of that dive- hey the hard part - getting geared up and in- is all over and done with.

So, all kidding aside- how about DandyDon's response and supposition? You had a successful dive with your tank only turned on maybe 1 turn?

As your air pressure dwindled, your first stage shut down?

Although in this scenario, I would expect (and have seen) the 180* opposite.

A tank that is barely turned on... o.k. at the start, but increasingly harder to breathe at depth. Then total shut down. As you ascend, it comes back to life.

Common symptom of a common error. Best way to avoid this? As I said- suck three times and watch the analog gauge...

1) It bobbles from 300 psi and comes back to full pressure? It isn't open enough (all the way) to quickly replenish the 3000 psi that was in the lines.

2) It sinks to ZERO? Your system was pressurized, pressure checked, then shut off without purging. What you saw as 3000 psi was 300 psi of air trapped in the hoses only. It wasn't reading the tank.

You've been pretty darned good natured about the fun and poking, but if you look at the situation, you can come to only one conclusion. You ran out of air.

You handled it superbly. Don't fret the AIR2, they work great. Just get used to them. Blowing up any BC by mouth while swimming skywards with a 120 tank is no small task.

I think with your short history and attitude, you'll be fine.

 

[Hammerhead]

Listen to Roatan Man - breathe & check the SPG.

Curmudgeon is a cool word too.

Cheers,

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

We don't really know with any certainty he ran out of air. I do know that on my 1st Stage, I don't turn it 29.9 times. There also is a funny thing about machines, they do fail from time to time. Perhaps he only turned the valve closed enough to reduce pressure on the line then somehow maybe worked a kink in it seeing as how it took him 30 seconds to run down the air supply? Again, what I'm suggesting is merely speculation but we're only kidding ourselves if we think the tools and machines we use are perfect and will function every time. There are lemons in every batch and freak occurrences do happen from time to time. Hopefully proper PMCS is conducted which can significantly reduce the probability of occurence of a critical failure.

 

[Jason B]

I think everyone who has turned on a scuba tank knows that it doesn't take 29.999 turns to turn it on.

I also think that anyone who has turned on a scuba tank knows that it does in fact take several full turns to turn it on (that was his point with the 29.9999 turns statement).

So, from that I think it should be simple to see that he was merely suggesting that a tank valve takes several full turns to shut off and that a minor brush on a piece of coral will not turn off a fully opened valve. Simple as that.