Hydro test stamp?

[rustyscubatool]

You are correct, Dave. Gotta hand it to you.

Inspections aren't like a plug-gap or an ignition key. Because they won't kill you as fast as an overlooked inspection problem.

And those DIR boys probably don't check the inspections really good. Because that's your responsibility as the user.

And very astute of you to mention that Roak knows a lot. Because he does.

Perhaps you're also sharp enough to realize that next time maybe you should not take offense when someone offers some constructive input on something you asked about. It was a question that should have been covered in detail in your Open-Water class, and if you're feeling like you got flamed, maybe you should try to remember back to then. Or go ask your instructor why he/she didn't tell you about it.

No one professes to know everything here, but sometimes a wake-up call is in order. Instead of getting upset, maybe use the energy to take a refresher course, because my guess is that there may be some other equally (or more) important things that have slipped away.

Safe diving to you!

 

[kcanty]

Dave,

I think roakey is just saying that VIP's and hydros
are important and divers should be highly aware
of them. If you were not given this type of instruction
then there's no way for you to know. But roakey is
right to impress how important it is.

He has a lot of knowledge ( along with many others
on this board ) and I have learned much from him.
If your class missed out on information that you can
learn from roakey or this board then I think that it's
good that you can now learn it.

As they say this is "life support equipment" and
so anyone helping educate me or you on that
is definately doing a service.

Just my .02 cents.

Kell

 

[roakey]

Diving Dave once bubbled...
Next time I rent a tank from the local Halycon dealers here in Virginia Beach I'll be sure to do it right. Probably can't trust those guys to keep their rental gear up to date.

Early 2000 three of us went to the EE store in High Springs and rented doubles for a week of caving. Before we left the store my buddy noticed that his doubles were out of viz, so we swapped them for some that were in.

We were diving Peacock that first day and if we hadn't noticed we would not have been able to get them filled at Dive Outpost.

This is basic stuff that should have been covered in your class, it's your instructor's fault that it wasn't, and/or made it into something exotic and technical, which it isn't.

Roak

 

[Groundhog246]

I've been diving with more than one buddy, who has had no idea what the markings mean and told me it was never covered in their course. What did they have in common. They were all PADI certified and had done their course in a very short period. :boom:

One seemed so ill informed, I considered not diving with him. Since it was a very easy, quite shallow, shore dive, I made the decision to offer advice and help improve his diving instead. The topic of tank markings came up, when he asked where I bought my tanks and I explained where and how I bought them used and he told me he'd better buy new, since he didn't know what the markings meant. I explained how the markings work (which is not difficult) and that a 'new' tank at a dealer may not have a recent hydro if he'd had it sitting in the store for a while and I'm pretty sure he got it. He did at least know what a VIP label was, but hadn't checked his rental tanks for VIP.

On the plus side, his in water skills were good and we a had a couple of excellent dives.

Kent

 

[Diving Dave]

In an earlier post, I wrote that my PADI instructors didn't teach me proper weighting procedures. I get told that it was up to me to challenge the instructor, that extreme newbies shoud know how much air weighs, that the problem was the student, etc, and some good information along with it. On this thread, same thing. Good info, but unfortunately delivered with more than a little condescension.

Basically, I know that my OW instruction sucked and I'm trying to fill in a bunch of the gaps. It's not easy to stay enthusiastic with the sarcasm.

As an aside, this kind of reminds me about my first experience with a GUE certified diver. It was last summer at a quarry in Virginia. The guy was explaining his gear configuration, S-drills, different kicks, the need for good bouyancy control, etc. Sounded good. Of course, he bashed my cert, "PADI sucks, blah blah blah." The whole time, this joker was holding a beer and a cigarette. He knew a lot about diving, like roak and walt. But he was such an a$$, that I'd rather not learn it than learn it from him. If you're gonna slam us poorly instructed divers for not knowing basic stuff, how about cutting us a little slack when we try to learn it.

 

[rmediver2002]

Dave,

Check these links out for more information, the first is a pretty straight forward list of the markings and what each one means.

The second link is the actual Department of Transportation regulation for compressed gas cylinders.

http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/safety/gsp/Compressed Gas Cylinders.html

http://c-f-c.com/gaslink/docs/dot_cylinder.htm


Jeff Lane

Sorry editing the post to answer the question posed: the hydro test is required every five years for cylinders used for underwater breathing...

 

[joens]

it is very easy for a dive shop to overlook a VIP or hydro on a tank in the rental fleet. it is not uncommon to see "new" tanks with one or more years on the origonal hydro. These are usually sold at a discount . Every diver should check every tank they pick up new or used to verify it is either up to date on both or actually is a new tank if you are buying it .
joens

 

[deanmartin]

Diving Dave:

I sure am glad that you asked the question. It's and important one. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

Some people chose to teach by understanding and answering questions. Others believe that challenging and insulting is a good method. I guess thats the difference between a Teacher and an Instructor.

Thanks Uncle Pug and rmediver 2002 for helping Dave get an answer to his question. He's more knowledgeable now, thanks to you.