Why the cap on tanks?

[nolatom]

They're art. Just let it flow over you.....

 

[Sam Miller III]

Same here -- so many early dive shops in California used them...

But you cant collect everything...

I have three large frames that house all the dive companies who have disappeared since Rene's Sporting goods

Nostalgia & so many memories
'SDM

 

[Storker]

It was pretty common in the early days of the sport for dive shops to cover the O-ring with vinyl tape

I still do (except it's stuck on the DIN fitting of the tank valve since we don't do A-clamp over here). Painter's tape for air fills, green/yellow vinyl tape for nitrox fills. If nitrox, analysis data are written on painter's tape and stuck on the tank shoulder.

 

[Wookie]

I use them as a quick tell if the tank is full or not.

 

[shurite7]

Is there any particular reason people keep the little rubber caps on their tanks? Is this just a convenience for dive shops as a way to indicate whether a tank is full or not that just spills over to divers who own their own tanks? Especially for a yolk valve, I don't see much harm in letting it sit uncovered. Maybe crack the valve a moment to blow some dust off after long storage, but other than that... am I missing something?

In the islands we used the covers to protect the valve from spray and to indicate if the tank was full or used. With that being stated when the cover was taken off, indicating it has been used, it isn't protecting the valve from spray during the trip back to the dock. We tried tape, but too many people pulled it off and threw it into the water instead of the trash can.

Up here in the cold regions the cap helps to prevent the o-ring from falling out. During the winter the o-ring falls out much easier, especially when the tanks are in the back of a truck banging around covered in snow. The valve covers can be a pain to take off, especially when it is cold. We do use the covers to indicate the tank has been used or if it is full.

 

[KeithG]

I too wish I had my old collection valve tape strips. Due to a few careless divers, the tape strips picked up the moniker "diver's litter" and lost favor giving way to the valve covers.

Interesting little bit of memorabilia?

I noticed a few weeks ago when I rented a tank from an LDS (so that I could do my yearly reg check) that there was tape over the valve opening. The tape had some markings but I did not bother to look at it. In the interests of recycling I stuck the tape onto the tank shoulder so that they could re-use it if they wanted. Their tape, their problem... Maybe the tape was advertising the LDS?

I can see that accumulating a collection of various dive shop tapes would be interesting for reminiscing once we got too old to remember what really happened. It was only a few weeks ago, but I should have kept the tape...

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

I use them to hold two extra orings on each tank...and to tell if it is full or not.

Jay

 

[Johnoly]

Is there any particular reason people keep the little rubber caps on their tanks? ...

Believe it or not,,,,,,,,,,but there is a well recognized Medical Treatment explanation why you should have the caps on. It's called OCD.

You see,,,every time you walk past your tanks and see the cap is off, you start to think 'Dang,it's empty...what if a get a quick call to go diving and it's empty and then can't go'. Every time you see it, it bothers you. Very much like a crooked painting that you must stop and correct. After 3 times of seeing the cap off, knowing something isn't right, you'll start waking up in the middle of the night thinking " I forgot to do something".

It's OCD treatment,,,the only cure for it is to go diving.

 

[Bob DBF]

Way back I had ones that were imprinted empty and full, cover the oraface with the correct quantity, sideways for a partial. Now I have to look around.


Bob