What the?? Air on or off?

[E. Davis]

Last year when I was instructing the last checkout dive of an O.W. class at our local lake, I was again reminded of how easy it is to become complacent and simply rely on my dive buddy(or in this case, a well meaning DM) to know their "Righty Tighty" from their "Lefty Loosy" when it comes to tank valves and double checking to keep me safe. my students changed out tanks from their first dive, got geared up together, and proceeded with their pre-dive checkouts. Great Job, I thought, they're working together and double checking all of the important stuff. Meanwhile, I hadn't bothered changing out my tank as I had plenty of air for the last dive and left my air turned on, less 1/2 turn. I put my gear on, checked everything out, then checked my DM buddy. He, in turn, checked out my gear, pulling on straps, etc. then he checked my tank valve for me. I took a couple more breaths from the regulator, thought no more of it and got in the water. Needless to say, as soon as I tried to take that third breath, underwater, I had no air. I then realized that I did not turn my air off after the first dive and allowed my dive buddy to turn it OFF without me even being aware of his action (probably preoccupation with students). Fortunately, we were in the shallows so I only needed to stand up and turn my air back on. Yet another lesson learned!
With my story being told, and realizing I'm not be the only one that has had this sort problem with shut or shut less 1/2 turn tank valves, it got me thinking of a way to install a visual indicator on the tank handle to show at a glance the state of the valve. A green indicator for open or red for closed. Without going into the details of my design, is this something that we, as a dive community would like to see on our valve handles? My wife doesn't want me to spend any more time or money in developing this handle until I can convince her that I am not the only paranoid schiz'o diver who has been spooked over well meaning people touching my gear. Wouldn't it be better to have a dive buddy, DM, or boat captain be able to look and tell you the state of your valves without ever touching your stuff?
E. Davis

 

[sambolino44]

If you successfully develop such a valve, would it sell? Probably.

Is something like that needed, or even a good alternative to have around. No.

Anything that leads to over-reliance on gear to do things that we, the "thinking diver" should be taking care of through training, or just plain thinking, is bad and should be discouraged.

Don't do it.

 

[300bar]

Just wondering,how can you put a color marking on a 7-8 turn valve?
It happened to me,not the way you told,a DM should KNOW what is open or close,it not he.she is not worth the cert.Valve open is turning towards you(budddy0if you don't comprehand this,go play pong. We had this on a carribean dive base,where some of the staff would open and close a valve and others would open and leave open.But than again you should be able to open on the run.

 

[BarryNL]

Why a 1/2 turn??? I've never understood that one. If its full open or full closed you just need to take a couple of breaths while looking at the gauge to know everything is OK. I'd rather see the end of teaching this dumb 1/2 turn rule.

 

[OBXDIVEGUY]

I'd rather you invent a lock that doesn't allow those "well meaning" people to move my valve. I refuse to let anyone to touch my valves because of that.

 

[don Francisco]

Adding additional safety devices doesn't automatically make anyone safer. You already had a reliable indicator of air on in your console and didn't use it. The fact is that people adjust their behavior based on the perceived safety net. Don't believe me. Try walking along the edge of a wall 2 feet up, easy. Try again on an identical wall 30 or more feet up, shouldn't be any different but it is.

You were distracted and overlooked your final air check. It's easily done, and according to Murphy's Law, even if you're extremely dilegent, the one time you forget, that's when your air will be off. But just as distraction can cause you to everlook an air check, it can just as easily cause you to forget to double check the colored marker. Unless the device screamed or alarmed if the tank was jostled, it wouldn't help any..

As others have said, Nothing is foolproof because fools are too ingenious.

 

[Dive-aholic]

That's why before I begin my descent, as part of my predive check, I do a wet reg check. The last thing I do before beginning the dive is check my gauges. Two breaths during the wet reg check will drop the pressure enough for me to know the valve was closed. Besides that it also allows me to make sure my regs are functioning where they should be - in the water. I teach all my students to do wet reg checks.

 

[Hickdive]

Just wondering,how can you put a color marking on a 7-8 turn valve?
It happened to me,not the way you told,a DM should KNOW what is open or close,it not he.she is not worth the cert.Valve open is turning towards you(budddy0if you don't comprehand this,go play pong. We had this on a carribean dive base,where some of the staff would open and close a valve and others would open and leave open.But than again you should be able to open on the run.

Spirotechnique made a colour status indicating valve twenty-odd years ago, I know because I've still got two of them in the shed. There was a series of slots cut in the handwheel near the outlet end, as you turned the handwheel, it moved outwards. There was a sleeve underneath the handwheel coloured red for closed and black for open. You could see the sleeve through the slots and once the valve was fully open you could only see black. Simple system but, theoretically, unnecessary.

Of course the DM should know, but I had to explain to a DM in my LDS the other day which way to turn the valves so he could fill my twins. I'm not sure which startled me most, the fact he had to ask, the fact he wasn't embarrased to ask or the fact that my handwheels are rubber with open/close and direction arrows moulded into them

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Why a 1/2 turn??? I've never understood that one. If its full open or full closed you just need to take a couple of breaths while looking at the gauge to know everything is OK. I'd rather see the end of teaching this dumb 1/2 turn rule.

The 1/2 turn back rule allows for verifying the valve in the open direction. Never verify a valve in the shut direction. You also know that it is not hard against the stop (nothing to do with valve longevity just true position). Do what you want with your own valve I will always check them to proper way.

A valve is Open or Shut not Closed. Clear comunications is key to survival closed sounds too much like other words.

I agree with the couple of breathes practice.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

The Color thing has possibilities I would rather have a mechanical indicator that is part of the valve. Not sure I would look at either though.