Plastic DIN cap Warning

[Alan Owens]

I am posting this in the hope that I can save others from the potential injury that plastic DIN caps pose to users and bystanders.

I have owned and used these caps for over 8 years with no problems until Sunday morning. I had noticed the posts of others warning of the dangers and said to myself “Don’t open the valve dumbass”. Well after handling the tanks for 8 years this “dumbass” finally slipped up and cracked the valve.
I had just gotten a fill and was loading my doubles onto my truck. While laying them flat my left hand was on the knob and the motion just did open the valve, quickly pressurizing the cap which promptly exited the area in about 4 pieces. The pointing finger on my left hand was directly in the path and took quite a blow from the resulting projectile. To be quite honest it didn’t hurt as much as it scared me. The second cap was in the trash before the bleeding stopped.
Some of my fellow divers on hand immediately came to my aid and offered assistance. Upon examination we determined that we were seeing plastic shrapnel and some of the inner workings of my finger that should not be seen and at a minimum I would need stitches. Also my finger was numb and tingling, causing me to fear some type of nerve damage. My new friends bandaged me up and I proceeded to the nearest hospital.
At the hospital the doctor removed, hopefully, all the foreign material and closed me up with 7 stitches. I am pretty sure there is no nerve damage because, believe you me, I can feel that son of a ##### now.
To reiterate the point, please dispose of these plastic DIN caps before someone is seriously hurt. I was careless and stubborn when I ignored the warnings. It scares me to think about one of my children messing with my tanks and bearing the brunt of this type of thing.
If you want to flame me on this go right ahead, but this post is not for you “perfect” divers, it is intended to be a warning for the rest of us human divers.

[Genesis]

I ditched my plastic ones and bought the SS plugs a couple of years ago for exactly this reason.....

Glad you weren't more seriously hurt....

I was wondering where you were yesterday. Too bad I wasn't there with the camera... Folks, Alan somehow managed to get into more of my pictures this past weekend than anyone else...

That's happened to me before, at a dive site in N. Ga. It created a really loud shotgun type noise that made me deaf for a few minutes, and put a dent in my tool box before it ricocheted past my head... and, yes, it scared me too...

Glad to hear you are okay.

[DeWayne]

Sorry to hear about this incident Alan. I hope you recover from it quickly and with no major complications. I'm curious if you were using the cheaper plastic or delrin versions. Neither are as good as SS for a variety of reasons, but I have had this happen with my delrin plugs before but without the consequenses that you suffered; with mine the gas just blew out through the hole where the string goes in although it did sound terrible in the back of my vehicle. I am in the process of making the switch to SS plugs now, more for the added protection they offer to the valve. I wish you well and hope that you are able to get back in the water soon. Thanks for sharing this so that others can hopefully learn from it and avoid experiencing such a mishap themselves.

[robohips]

Any idea where the SS plugs can be purchased. I want to change over. Thanks.

[DeWayne]

Any idea where the SS plugs can be purchased. I want to change over. Thanks.

Contact Chuck Noe, http://www.cnsales.net/gulftexproductshome.htm He is running a special through the end of this month of $15 a piece which includes shipping and a buck or so from each plug sold is being donated to the various cave diving agencies.

[Kelly Jessop]

, all the foreign material and closed me up with 7 stitches..

That stinks,stitches means can't get wet for 10-14 days
I can empathize. An accident involving a hose blowing left fragments in my sinus cavity.

[Bob]

Wow, you learn something new everyday. Just got back in from the garage, I had the plastic din plugs in both sets of doubles, but there gone now!

[RH]

So thats why you left your dive buddy at ginnie with nobody to dive with.Suck it up put a few butterfly bandades on it wrap it with duct tape and get in the cold water and dive you wussy.

[MikeH]

I never have used the plastic/delrin plugs, since they are not good for anything but keeping debris out of the valve. A quick crack of the valve will clear out anything that happens to get in there, anyways. They don't protect the valve from impacts or protect from losing your gas if the valve gets bumped inadvertantly during transport.

I've used the SS DIN plugs for several years. I don't ALWAYS install them(though, I should, for the simple fact they protect the valve from damage/deformation), but I definitely use them when I have gas in my tanks that I can't afford to lose....like trimix...or even just plain air when going somewhere that I can't get it replaced if the valve opens and drains the tank. I've got an SS DIN plug for each cylinder...and they've saved me from losing a 10/70 mix from a set of doubles once when the valve was bumped open during transport in the back of my truck. That paid for several of the plugs right there.

Mike