Slight leak near tank valve

[lhpdiver]

While washing off the gear after today's dives I noticed one tank has a leak where the valve meets the metal of the tank. It doesn't look like the valve is unscrewed or anything. The tank & valve were purchased new in June and have
about 25 dives. Is this just a matter of an o-ring ? Is this normal given timeframe/usage ?

Thanks

 

[TechBlue]

There is nothing normal about a scuba cylinder leaking, if you've only used it for 25 dives you may want to place the onus on the LDS and let them fix it, or you could drain the cylinder, spin the valve out and take a look at the o-ring, neck and threads of the cylinder and valve, I don't know how qualified your eye is but I would recommend taking it back to the shop before you do anything, this takes any question out of the equation about who did what.

Chris

 

[Bob3]

Back to the shop it goes.
A couple reasons for a leaking tank are bad valve/o-rings or a cracked neck.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have seen the occasional new aluminum tank with a ding in the metal where the O-ring seats due to careless handling. I'd take it back to the LDS for inspection. If there is a defect in this area, ask them to replace the tank. It is not normal for a neck o-ring to fail in 25 dives, they normally last for years.

 

[IndigoBlue]

Back to the shop it goes.
A couple reasons for a leaking tank are bad valve/o-rings or a cracked neck.

A year ago I got my doubles filled with trimix, then when I got them back I took them to the pool to do a bubble check preliminary to the next deep dive.

One of the valves on the manifold was leaking.

The store was nice enough to give me a free refill, since we bled out all the gas from the full tanks to replace the manifold where it was cracked. Someone had probably been lifing my doubles by the manifold, which is not a handle. I always lift them by the valves or by the tanks, not by the manifold. I did not mind paying for a new manifold. I am glad I did not have to pay for a new fill as well. The store probably broke even.

You are lucky you found out when you did, before filling the tank again.

Back To The Shop It Goes. Absolutely Positively Right About That!

You do not want to go diving with a leak. Ever.

 

[Scubakevdm]

You did purchase the tank at a dive shop right? It would probably take a while to mail it off.

 

[FredT]

Step One is to DRAIN THE TANK!
Unload the seal and neck. The valve has to come off anyway for a repair, and if it IS a neck cracked AL you want to unload that area of the tank as quickly as practical. Dump it all the way to atmospheric! Dump it NOW!

FT

 

[lhpdiver]

Thank you all for your feedback. LDS replaced o-ring and refilled no charge. (I had him do the visual while he had it opened up). The o-ring was in pretty bad shape. There is a lesson here though. I didn't use the tank this weekend and it was a fresh fill. I very rarely bring home unused tanks. I only noticed the leak because I was putting the hose to a fully pressurized tank. I believe the tank always had a leak and was losing something like 100 psi/day. Looking back, there have been times when I've gone out with what I thought was a full tank and been pi**ed to find less on the boat. I thought I was getting a bad fill and started gauging all my tanks before leaving the store. Trouble was - in the store it was always full (just filled). It was only when it sat in the garage for 1-2 weeks it dropped.

 

[Christopher Camelot]

Happenned to last summer with rented tanks. After two week, one of the tank, started to leak air for the neck collar, I drained the tank leaving only 100psi until I return to the shop.

The shop acknowledge the problem (bad quality seals). I remember it as being brown. The seal does not break but moves upward until air can leak. There are replacing them with another better quality seal. I guess you had the same problem.

If it happens to you, just drain the tank to avoid a bigger leak and bring them back to the shop.