Leaking burst disk in Devil's

[pdoege]

Hello -

I lost a burst disk right where the parallel lines rejoins Hill 400. I was going through the restriction there when it started leaking. I believe that is at about 750' of linear penetration. It was the last jump of the dive and I was near thirds.

I had made a very gentle bump against the ceiling. I was trying to stay out of the floor and I misjudged by just a hair.

I isolated and shut down the post, thinking that it might be reg. No dice, so I turned the post back on and started to breathe down the leaking tank.

I figured that I had plenty of air, but I was in no mood to play around. I left my reels and headed on out. Pulling and pulling and kicking. It is amazing how fast Devil's will spit you out when you try hard enough.

I blew by some poor soul on his way into the cave right before I got to the Park Bench. Sorry buddy, but I was in a rush.

I did my deep stops and deco with no incidents and left the water with about 1100PSI in the leaking tank. I have never been so happy to see my deco bottle and the clear water of the eye.

I took the tanks to CEE and we tightened up the burst disk and that solved the issue. It had just wiggled itself loose and the contact was enough to set it off. This was news to me, I did not realize that was a failure mode. I will check the tightness of the disks when I go over my gear from now on.

I spent my second dive with my little tanks pulling my reels out. I had enough fun for the day, so I called the afternoon and went home.

Peter Doege

[Angie Reim]

Nice report. Good job. So very glad you had no problems with exit and was able to diagnose and handle the problem well. Whew. I too found another failure mode a few weeks ago. I learned that all the knobs on all my tanks should be tightened often(!). Every single one of them (5 tanks) were about ready to fall off. :oops: One, in fact, did in the fill in at CEE. :oops:

[pdoege]

but I never checked the burst disks after tightening them during their annual vis and cleaning.

Peter

[REastman]

I learned this the not so fun way 3600 feet back in Hole in the Wall. There is a little nylon washer that is supposed to go in between the plug and the discs. When the discs start to deform this keeps them from leaking. If that littel washer gets put in on the wrong side of the discs they will start leaking after some good fills. It doesn't blow completely, but it leaks enough to hear it and cause some concern. Might want to check that. If this is the case, even after some tightening it may start to leak again. Of course the really bad part is you have to drain your tanks to check it.

[OFG-1]

Ryan, NEVER have a plan. Then nothing can go wrong.


Ryan.....

Plan your dive, dive your dive, and then log your plan,...err wait a minute...dive your dive, plan your log...err no...that isn't right....log your dive, dive your dive, then plan...no dang it...that ain't right either...somebody help

[John L.]

Nice report. Good job. So very glad you had no problems with exit and was able to diagnose and handle the problem well. Whew. I too found another failure mode a few weeks ago. I learned that all the knobs on all my tanks should be tightened often(!). Every single one of them (5 tanks) were about ready to fall off. :oops: One, in fact, did in the fill in at CEE. :oops: Angie, you are so right. Bill R. showed me on the tailgate one time because I had a valve leak to pull the knobs off peridically and snug the nut on the valve. I had it leak three different times before I started doing that.

[REastman]

Ryan, NEVER have a plan. Then nothing can go wrong.


Ryan.....

Plan your dive, dive your dive, and then log your plan,...err wait a minute...dive your dive, plan your log...err no...that isn't right....log your dive, dive your dive, then plan...no dang it...that ain't right either...somebody help

<hijack>Yeah, but then what would you log?</hijack>

Back to the original thread.

[Dwain]

I to learned to remove my handles and tighten the nuts on the valve stems. Had my center post begin leaking luck would have it that I found it out during a fill.


Also had a Din o-ring go out just after doing deco an my last dive @ ginnie. I was on my way up the stairs just steped out of the water when it went. \\ Fun day.

[Tegg]

All you guys and your work... I just use JB Weld... :twisted:

[DeWayne]

All you guys and your work... I just use JB Weld... :twisted:

Have you tried adding some fix-a-flat to your tanks during fills? Works like a charm :lol:

[Line Squirrel]

Have you tried adding some fix-a-flat to your tanks during fills? Works like a charm :lol:

ROFLMAO Now THAT was pretty damn funny!

[Dwain]

Have you tried adding some fix-a-flat to your tanks during fills? Works like a charm :lol:

Now I thought that's how we fixed leaks in our wings. :smt028

[Rich]

Hello -

I lost a burst disk right where the parallel lines rejoins Hill 400. I was going through the restriction there when it started leaking. I believe that is at about 750' of linear penetration. It was the last jump of the dive and I was near thirds.

I had made a very gentle bump against the ceiling. I was trying to stay out of the floor and I misjudged by just a hair.

I isolated and shut down the post, thinking that it might be reg. No dice, so I turned the post back on and started to breathe down the leaking tank.

I figured that I had plenty of air, but I was in no mood to play around. I left my reels and headed on out. Pulling and pulling and kicking. It is amazing how fast Devil's will spit you out when you try hard enough.

I blew by some poor soul on his way into the cave right before I got to the Park Bench. Sorry buddy, but I was in a rush.

I did my deep stops and deco with no incidents and left the water with about 1100PSI in the leaking tank. I have never been so happy to see my deco bottle and the clear water of the eye.

I took the tanks to CEE and we tightened up the burst disk and that solved the issue. It had just wiggled itself loose and the contact was enough to set it off. This was news to me, I did not realize that was a failure mode. I will check the tightness of the disks when I go over my gear from now on.

I spent my second dive with my little tanks pulling my reels out. I had enough fun for the day, so I called the afternoon and went home.

Peter Doege


Hey Peter,

As I've told at least a "couple of times", AL is your friend. The buddy bottle you leave in the car is not...... ;-)

Safe diving (with Han Solo)

Rich

[pdoege]

What was that Rich?

I couldn't hear you.

Peter

[Rich]

What was that Rich?

I couldn't hear you.

Peter

....just a friendly rag 'cause I care, bud..... :lol:

Safe diving,

Rich

[pdoege]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's what I thought you said.

Ok, I can do that.

Thanks as always,
Peter

[Pete]

Anyone ever heard of an incident in which burst disks have stopped a tank from bursting? The reason for asking is that in the UK and Europe burst disks are not required. I have always felt a little worried diving US tanks with the built in weak point of a burst disk. Back to the UK soon with good old 300bar 12 litre twins soon burst disks.

Peter

[Gary]

I heard of a burst disk incident at Diver's Supply where the burst disks went and blew all the cleiling tiles above the fill bin off. I don't remember for sure but it sounds like the burst disks had gone at an expected pressure and thus were theoretically protectingthe tank from overpressure.

Out on the road, in my car, or in the fill bins I'm in favor of burst disks. In the cave of course I wish they weren't there.

Failure-wise they are a bit worse then I would expect from a tank neck o-ring failure. I've seen tank neck o-rings fail in the parking lot and there is a lot of noise but the gas isn't escaping very quickly (but it's kind of rough on the tank threads). Seems like for a burst disk the gas could leak out MUCH faster if it was a full on failure and not just a leaky burst disk.

I dive independents nearly all the time and I guess the idea of one tank developing a major leak is the thing I plan for even though it has never happened quite that bad. (I have had the valve knob o-ring fail and the air in my tank leaking out the knob packing. That failure is isolable in most/all tanks just by closing the valve to that tank. and can actually be replaced on the surface with a wrench and a new (or better positioned) o-ring with the valve shut and and tank still pressuized.)

Somehow the idea of losing one tank even in a catostrophic/unisolable loss like a burst disk but still having the air necessary to get out in an independent air source bothers me less then the infinately less likely and almost unheard of accident where a manifold causes both tanks to suffer an unisolable leak. The valve knob o-ring failure or a failed reg is the worst gas related gear failure I've had happen in the water and all have been easily overcome with little inconvience and it wouldn't have mattered if it had been manifold or independents.

I'm not actually sure about a manifold isolator-bar-valve packing failure but I would assume they would be isolable just by shutting them also. Anyone know for sure? I would assume there are problems that could occur with that particular valve that would not be isolable and would effect both tanks - but that they are so rare they haven't ever been reported. Anything simple that can be avoided through proper maintainence?

[DeWayne]

Have you tried adding some fix-a-flat to your tanks during fills? Works like a charm :lol:

Now I thought that's how we fixed leaks in our wings. :smt028

I tend to think like Alton Brown (host of Good Eats on the cooking channel), I hate single use, specialty items. Everything must be a multi-tasker :lol: