Scuba Visual Inspection VIP Service - Adventure Sports Unlimited Services

Visual inspections of high pressure gas cylinders are required in many industries. But for scuba, the visual inspection process plays a more prominent role than for the gas industry because these cylinders are used in ways never imagined by those who first developed cylinder safety related-guidelines.

Divers submerge cylinders in both fresh and salt water. Water may enter the cylinder during air filling as well as back flow through the regulator when the cylinder is nearly empty. Too little thought is given to a regular program of care. Because cylinders appear to be hardy, which they are, owners tend to view them as indestructible, which they are not! Cylinders are dropped, banged against one another and struck against a wide variety of other hard objects.

Divers' care can contribute to a cylinders long life. Very poor care may reduce the cylinder's service life to a few months or cause it to rupture explosively, endangering both lives and property.

Dive professionals who inspect and service cylinders play a vital role in ensuring that cylinders have a maximum useful life, because while a few cylinders do explode each year, many hundreds are removed from service by visual inspectors and hydrostatic facilities before people are killed and businesses are destroyed.

The frequency of inspection is dependent upon usage. Experience shows us that cylinders used by average scuba divers providing average care under average conditions must be visually inspected at least annually and hydrostatically re-tested every five years. Since conditions and people are seldom "average", a visual inspection is appropriate whenever a problem is suspected. An alert service technician should consider an immediate visual inspection when any of the following occur:

1. damaged cylinder exterior

2. internal noise

3. increased weight

4. evidence of corrosion product on regulator filter

5. cylinder completely emptied or burst disc fails

6. air compressor defective unusual air smells

7. unknown previous history

8. a removed valve

9. after hydrostatic retest

10. after long-term storage

Adventure Sports Unlimited has technicians who have received appropriate training and are fully qualified to provide proper care and service for your scuba cylinders. We follow the guidelines provided by the Compressed Gas Association, the U. S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) and the American National Standards Institute. The guidelines are strictly followed for one primary reason: The safety of our customers and employees! If the dive industry can maintain the established safety standards, it can continue to self-regulate rather than government regulation, which will alleviate escalating costs!

SCUBA Visual Inspection (VIP)