On-board air compressor explosion

[DandyDon]

I am a little skittish writing this after reading this thread, but I'd rather get some feedback from those in the know in Thailand that not.

My fiancé and I have just booked a trip on the Colona VI live-aboard going out of Phuket in December.

Have any of you heard of issues with them at all? I got a good vibe from them when checking them out (not the cheapest, but also not your exclusive prices either) before booking woth them.

If any of you have experience with them, I'd love to hear some feedback.

Cheers!

I suppose you searched here on SB and read all of those threads? They're not mentioned on Accidents forum other than here and another thread with no connection to that thread, but they are mentioned many times around SB.

My Sig below includes many advisories all of which would apply, but then I am an alarmist. I've also seen divers carried off in ambulances a few times and helped search for missing divers after dark. That last one was funny is a sad way: A lady diver who had just lost personal interest in me I think, buddied up with a snotty lady DM, diving at sundown but neither bothered to carry a light. The chase dingy had caught up to them okay, but the boat had such poor lighting that they borrowed my dive light to lead the dingy back. :lol2: The former friend actually married the dingy operator for a while, with tattooed wedding bands. Who needs TV; real life is a hoot.

 

[Dadvocate]

Hi, Dandy!

No, I was lazy and just shot the question off in the waning minutes before leaving work yesterday. I am guilty as charged of not having done my homework before posting that comment.

I'll chalk it up to the knot developing in my throat as I read the op and then the following posts about Thailand and various explosions and such. I couldn’t resist the urge to ask it in the moment that had gripped me. I hope you’ll forgive me.

For what it is worth, I do try to heed your steadfast reminders about sending condolences to the right places when I can, though I am as guilty as others there also.

I appreciate your alarmist ways, by the way. I take the gems I can from the discussions you participate in and then weigh them against my need to dive versus where I can actually dive in reality. Thailand is my only option for December. It is what it is.

As for cutting the risks to a minimum, I will be asking all of the relevant questions about compressors beforehand, as well as donning my own dive kit. I will have an air filter with me, ordered as a result of the Maldives thread that was very emotionally charged. On a side note, I am in the process of typing up a letter that I wish to get published in Austria warning people about those skipping responsibility. I am also diving with my fiancé, who is hands down the best dive buddy I have (my sister is a close second, and her fiancé a close third).

One thing is for sure. No matter how weird the next few months are living in China (I’ve seen six restaurants already serving shark fin soup. The Moon festival trend of serving them in innocuous little cakes being the most disturbing), we will, under no circumstances at all, get tattooed wedding bands!

On this point I choose to be hum drum and boring!

Now I’ll follow your sage advice (as I should have earlier) and look up the Colona VI on the SB site and do my own homework before breaking protocol.

Oh yeah, I should say, “Lemon, I am glad you and everyone else are okay after that near miss.”

Cheers!

 

[DandyDon]

Hehe, thanks Dadvocate. Which CO analyzer are you getting? Swamp Gas helped a lot with those discussions and it looks like there are two good choices, or did you find another. No way I'd dive in that part of the world without testing every tank!

BTW, I just searched for Colona as I think that narrows it down well...

 

[lemon]

Thanks, Dadvocate, I too am glad that nobody was seriously hurt!

As for thailand, i really have nothing bad to say about the place at all. great, friendly people. i suspect safety standards - in some respects - are a bit more lax than in other places, however, I found our DMs to be pretty safety conscious. Besides the compressor blowing a hole in the boat, we had a great time.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

If a piston were somehow able to make an exit from the compressor, at this point, it would certainly not be recognizable as a piston. I have seen many engines blow up, but if any time a part of a piston makes it outside of the block, it is only a small part, and would never have enough velocity to do what you have described. (engines and air compressors work almost exactly the same, short of the engine burning fuel to create pressure). I believe something blew up, but I don't believe it would have been a projectile piston. However, that being said, this should be a real lesson about checking into dive operations beforehand. Something as simple as a failing compressor (still pumps air.... and oil) can be deadly. I wish you safe diving in the future!

Here's a counter example: through the roof of a house.

http://www.cargolaw.com/2000nightmare_singles.only.html#CNRail

Warning to gearheads: be prepared to spend some time on that site.
And, despite the name, it's not a dating site. "Singles" refers to storylines that
started with a single picture. Some grew.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

I suppose that diesel engine cylinder pressure is not as high as a scuba compressor. However, I don't see a piston anywhere... I mean, how does it blow the cylinder head off and blow the piston off the rod? *still having a tough time chewing on this one*

 

[DandyDon]

I think the original thread poster knew there was an explosion, but guessed on the details. Whatever went thru the deck or "floor", lucky no one was hit hard.

 

[lemon]

it sure looked like a piston! of course i might have been mistaken. i am definitely glad that i wasn't hit by it though!

 

[Andy077]

Guys, do a google search for "Runaway Diesel"
A friend of mine in the navy said they saw a video of a big diesel that they let run away on purpose, that had painted every internal part a different color, he described it as an "exploding rainbow"
No idea if that has anything to do with this discussion, but it sure is a cool story.