How delicate are manifolds?

[marchand]

my point was that manifolds are fairly robust.

 

[H2O 70]

Just on that, I was told to not screw the manifold tightly. So mine can rotate around if I want. I was told to do this so if I dropped it or banged the isolation knob against anything, it wouldn't crack. But yea, don't want to test this out

Hopefully someone else will chime in with me here.

When your bands are on correctly and tight enough your isolator valve should not really rotate that much and all that easily.

I went downstairs and loosed up my isolation valve and with the bands tight it can rotate maybe 1/8 of a turn.

1 full turn of the isolator valve will move the tanks closer or further apart by 1/16".

If you can rotate the valve a lot, that tells me something else isn't tight enough in the system.

 

[Sas]

Hopefully someone else will chime in with me here.

When your bands are on correctly and tight enough your isolator valve should not really rotate that much and all that easily.

I went downstairs and loosed up my isolation valve and with the bands tight it can rotate maybe 1/8 of a turn.

1 full turn of the isolator valve will move the tanks closer or further apart by 1/16".

If you can rotate the valve a lot, that tells me something else isn't tight enough in the system.

Ok interesting. I checked this myself with the person who set it up (was done professionally) and was told that the movement is fine and preferable (and said not to use a tool on the locking nuts). It only moves if I put pressure on it, not in day to day activities. This was confirmed by the place that did the O2 cleaning (they set it up the same way). It doesn't leak at all. Any thoughts from others?

 

[ScubaInChicago]

Ok interesting. I checked this myself with the person who set it up (was done professionally) and was told that the movement is fine and preferable (and said not to use a tool on the locking nuts). It only moves if I put pressure on it, not in day to day activities. This was confirmed by the place that did the O2 cleaning (they set it up the same way). It doesn't leak at all. Any thoughts from others?

The barrel O-rings are meant to be static and should not be moved while under pressure.....Can it be, SURE, should it be, NO....

I recently had a talk with a WKPP member who made an excellent point about hitting the manifold on a cave ceiling or in a wreck, in this conversation a couple of possibilities were brought up and talked through. First I was told that when the isolator is positioned properly, 0-10* forward, your head should almost literally be glued back on the knob......If this is the case, you will hit your forehead before hitting the isolator (probability, slim to none). Second, the knob and stem may shear off but doesn't mean a catastrophic failure and loss of gas. Lastly if a failure did occur, it reinforces on of the main premises for team oriented diving and carrying a sufficient supply of back gas for your teammate.

 

[elan]

Hopefully someone else will chime in with me here.

When your bands are on correctly and tight enough your isolator valve should not really rotate that much and all that easily.

I went downstairs and loosed up my isolation valve and with the bands tight it can rotate maybe 1/8 of a turn.

1 full turn of the isolator valve will move the tanks closer or further apart by 1/16".

If you can rotate the valve a lot, that tells me something else isn't tight enough in the system.

Mine does not rotate much either like you said around 1/8 of a turn

 

[Sas]

The barrel O-rings are meant to be static and should not be moved while under pressure.....Can it be, SURE, should it be, NO....

To be honest, I haven't tried moving it under pressure.

I recently had a talk with a WKPP member who made an excellent point about hitting the manifold on a cave ceiling or in a wreck, in this conversation a couple of possibilities were brought up and talked through. First I was told that when the isolator is positioned properly, 0-10* forward, your head should almost literally be glued back on the knob......If this is the case, you will hit your forehead before hitting the isolator (probability, slim to none). Second, the knob and stem may shear off but doesn't mean a catastrophic failure and loss of gas. Lastly if a failure did occur, it reinforces on of the main premises for team oriented diving and carrying a sufficient supply of back gas for your teammate.

Thanks for the info.

 

[elan]

The barrel O-rings are meant to be static and should not be moved while under pressure.....Can it be, SURE, should it be, NO....

You read my mind , I'm not a technician but the fact that static o-rings are moved if you rotate the manifold rose a red-flag in my mind as well. If we rotate static o-ring I think it's asking for trouble in the long run. I might be wrong.

 

[liuk3]

The easiest thing I've found to move my double 130's around with is a small foldable hand cart rated to 150lbs. It's sold at Sears here in the States. Works out awesome with a bungee cord at the top. That or wear them.

cart

Magna Cart folding hand cart

Dude, I've gone through about 4 of those in the past 7 months. Those things break pretty easily...

 

[ScubaInChicago]

Dude, I've gone through about 4 of those in the past 7 months. Those things break pretty easily...

I've been using the same cart, please share some stories so I can avoid that situation and not be left on the side of the road with a broken cart and a set of doubles......

 

[robertarak]

Dude, I've gone through about 4 of those in the past 7 months. Those things break pretty easily...

After the first 2 broke, why did you buy another? After the third one broke.....

nevermind. Sorry all. Now back to your regular scheduled thread.