Tank value/reg positioning

[tinman]

Experienced divers have given me reasons for and against facing tank o-ring towards divers back (thus reg value facing away from back of head). Some instructors have stated that easier access to reg shutoff dictates placing o-ring towards head; whereas, I have also heard that facing o-ring away from head avoids possible blowout towards your head... I would be interested in some opinions on this. Tx

 

[WreckWriter]

Valve opening towards the back of your head is standard practice. One reason to do it that way is because when/if you dive off a charter boat the guy at the stern checking your air (or your buddy) will, if he/she is not paying good attention, possibly turn your air off instead of on.

Another reason is that, since this is the standard, regs are designed with this placement in mind. On some regs you may have hose routing issues if you do it otherwise, particularly with regs that have only one HP port.

I've never heard of an injury (other than a soiled wetsuit...) from an o-ring blowout. If you worry about that (even if you don't) you should use DIN connections, not yoke.

Tom

 

[tinman]

Tx Tom. I haven't thought of the DIN solution. I didn't think the risk was very high but in issues of safety, I'm always looking for the best solution to minimize risk. Tx again. Brian

 

[Aviatrr]

One reason to do it that way is because when/if you dive off a charter boat the guy at the stern checking your air (or your buddy) will, if he/she is not paying good attention, possibly turn your air off instead of on.

That's the reason that only I touch my air valves. The only exception to this rule is that if my buddy sees a problem while underwater, such as a massive leak from one of the posts, he/she is more than welcome to turn that post off if I am not already doing so - such as if I am unsure which post the leak is coming from. Should be easy to tell, but I haven't had that problem yet, so I can't say for sure.......but if I have a problem and need to shut a post down due to a leak, the isolator is the first thing to close.

Mike

 

[tinman]

Just came from a dive where a helpful diver turned off someone's air...fortunately, he backed it off a quarter turn and the diver's cobra pointed out he only had a 1 minute of air time and diagnosted the problem. I have since made sure I know which way to turn values to open in case I have a buddy facing the same problem.... Tx for your thoughts