Visual Inspections

[kworkman]

For all of you who are certified or recognized by a higher power to visually inspect your cylinders, do you do the yearly inspections or every five years? I know dive shops require annually but wasnt sure what the actual requirements were. Im thinking of taking the class sometime in spring. I'll keep searching the forum to find more discussions on the subject.

[Ron]

I inspect all of my cylinders annually. I am pretty hard on my dive gear. Taking the valve out once a year, especially for 1/2" valve tanks, will keep them from seizing inside the neck of the cylinder as well. If you don't want the hassle of owning gear to tumble, then just take the tanks that need tumbles to the local dive shop. I did that for years. I also never take anyone's word for it on VIPs. Even if I get a tank back from hydro, and the hydro place did the VIP, then I still pull the valve and look in there myself.

When diving without any backup gear, it is best to know what the inside of your cylinder looks like 120 feet is a long way to CESA.

[kworkman]

I built a tumbler at work after the whip I built didnt hold up. I only dive a couple times a year so my gear doesnt get used much. I had tanks inspected in february that are full and havent been wet yet. I want to get to the point where I only need the dive shop for air fills ( because I cant afford a compressor). Plus, being my own equipment I would want to be very thorough.

[crimediver]

I do my own VIPs as it is a hell of a lot cheaper to DIY than to pay for it. Some places charge more for a VIP than I paid for the second hand tank.
I have been certified by PSI and TDI as a high pressure cylinder inspector. I have the tools, lights, mirrors,and a tumbler so I am good to go. I spend a lot more time examining my tanks than the LDS ever will.
I have over 40, maybe 50 or so of every kind of tank. There was long ones, tall ones, short ones, brown ones, black ones,round ones,big ones, crazy ones. You get the picture.
But they all have different issues you need to look out for. I have all kinds of valves, steelies and various kinds of aluminum. I have cylinders holding less than 1 cf of air at 3000 psi to bank cylinders.
Since I get air from various sources as well as loaning tanks I find the VIP to be important as I have found some of my cylinders to have gotten a fair amount of water in them. I suspect that is from folks allowing water to enter an empty tank through an open valve as opposed to humid air fills. I also have a lot of 6351 alloy aluminum 80's and 50's that I go over very carefully.
I was a holdout and continued to use them even when folks told me I would get blown up. I am finally getting to the point though that I am getting away from using them and I reckon I will take about 20 of them and cut them off just below the shoulder and use them to make display stands for my DH collection and scrap the rest of the aluminum.
Although I have a compressor I mostly get air fills from various public safety compressors just because I love free air. I don't mind filling my own 6351 tanks myself but understand the issues it causes other folks if I am filling them at their place. So I fought the good fight for as long as I could but I think I am done filling them anymore. That will make my life easier in the long run.
I know that some of you guys just buy stickers and slap them on tanks. Some of you may even look inside closely but there is a bit more to it when you are dealing with an assortment of cylinders that have various ICC and DOT nos, various alloys, eddy current issues, burst disc vs. lead plug safeties, j-valves, bushings and so on. Since we all like collecting and diving old junk if you are going to do your own VIPs it is good to get some schooling on it.
The PSI class I took was excellent with a lot of good practical time and the instructor brought dozens of tanks with flaws that we had to find. It was a challenging class and I got my moneys worth out of that. The TDI class was not as good and the instructor basically had us do VIPs on customers tanks they had brought to his dive shop. We made the LDS owner a lot of money off of our labor and then it took months for us to get our certifications.
Do your VIPS annually or anytime you think there could be a problem or if water may have gotten inside the cylinder.

[swimjim]

I got PSI certified a couple squares back and I go through all my tanks every winter. I own about 25 tanks in various sizes. I feel that this keeps little problems from becoming big ones. By getting the cert and doing it myself, I know the job does in fact get done and it gets done right. No one is going to condemn my steel tank because it was made before 1990. LOL. Yes that crapola goes on.
I got a lot out of the PSI course. Talk about information overload. I would highly recommend it. Checking out my tanks also keeps my compressor running in the winter months. Those critters are happier when they are used as opposed to sitting idle for a few months.

Jim

[antique diver]

For all of you who are certified or recognized by a higher power to visually inspect your cylinders, do you do the yearly inspections or every five years? I know dive shops require annually but wasnt sure what the actual requirements were. Im thinking of taking the class sometime in spring. I'll keep searching the forum to find more discussions on the subject.

Five years is a long time if moisture gets in your tank. Annual peeks inside can mean the difference in saving or having to scrap a tank due to corrosion and pitting.

Water can come from poorly maintained compressor filter systems and from fill hoses that may have had an end dropped in water baths, etc. During fills a drop or two at a time can be blown in from the small tank valve orifice where your reg mounts. It gets there from boat rides and associated spray, rain, water dripping from your other wet equipment and who knows what else. I make it a practice to always let a little air out of the valve just before hooking the fill yoke up. When taking to a shop for a fill you can blow a little air out just before carrying the tank in. Some dive shop geniuses don't take kindly to customers telling them how to fill tanks.

[kworkman]

My current concern is that since I only dive a few times a year, does it make sense for me to pay the $300 cost for the PSI class and then keep renewing it every three years ( I read that on their website). I would love to know how to do the visual and I probably will take the course but if I dont stay current, then whats the point of doing my own visuals and then paying someone to do it again for a sticker? Has anyone read the Vance Harlow book that covers doing a VIP?

[antique diver]

Even if you don't renew in 3 years you will still have learned a lot of valuable information about the subject that you will always be able to use in evaluating your cylinders, and those you might consider acquiring.

You might even acquire your own compressor at some time, and just fill your own. It would be very important to have the knowledge to make informed decisions about the safety of your tanks. At the very least, read everything you can about the subject.

A question for those who have taken the PSI inspection course: Do you feel like you wasted your money, or was it worth it? I expect mixed results, but would sure like to hear from you!

[crimediver]

I guess it depends on how many tanks you need to viz a year. When you have a a couple dozen or more it is cheaper to be certified and do your own.

I was fortunate and my department paid for my certification. The first PSI class I had imparted a lot of important stuff in my memory banks. I did not like them imposing a 3 year expiration date. That is why I got a TDI certification afterwards. I don't believe there is that much new developments in doing visials that I cannot pick up on line. Once you learn what to look for or find a neck crack you begin to get a good feel for it and the more you do the better you get. But there is more to a visual than folks think.
What I got out of the PSI course was the opportunities to locate a variety of defects from cylinders that had almost invisible neck cracks, improper codes, suspect threads and so forth that I would have missed unless I knew they were there. Once you found them yourself you all of a sudden got it. In one class you got to see stuff you would not get to see in years of doing visuals in a dive shop. It is not rocket science but you need to be thorough and deliberate. When I first started I often would spend a 20 minutes or more doing it as I developed my routine. You get faster as you gain experience but I never rush the critical stuff and spend a lot of time on the necks. Having the right tools make it go better. A TIP tool is very nice to have. Also I recommend having the right lights. Some DIY lights folks use are 110 volt. You may get a jolt from them. Get a DC light for inspections, Get the right stuff if you want to do your own.

[Ron]

I've taken a lot of scuba related training. The PSI/PCI VIP course is worth twice what you pay for it. If you add up the money that you save from doing your own VIPs (the right way, like crimediver said) it will pay for itself in one year if you have enough tanks. I have two sets of doubles, a single 80, 3 single 72s, and three pony bottles. That's 250 bucks a year down here just in visuals if I paid for them.

I don't buy into that "a scuba regulator is life support" crap, because it's just something naive instructors use to scare people. Your scuba tank can literally kill you if it isn't taken care of well. Your regulator will, almost without exception, simply freeflow or breathe like crap. I consider tanks no joke. I've seen what artillery does when it lands on the other end. I'm no scientist, but that thing has a lot of metal in it that could easily become shrapnel.