Scuba steel cylinder blast

Earlier this month a steel scuba tank burst at a fill station in Israel, with the operator making a narrow escape. We posted this video on DivingHQ FB page and shared it on five diving related FB groups. The post was also shared by 1,500 others on their personal pages. To date the video has reached almost 250.000 people. We thank all of you for watching, sharing and getting in on the discussion. Here is a summary of what we know about the incident and what we take away from it.

This steel cylinder in the video has passed a Hydro test in 2016 (otherwise it wouldn't be filled by the station in the first place) We do not know if the Hydro was conducted correctly or not. Many viewers questioned the test claiming that this much rust could not develop within a year. While speculations are fine they are of little use when trying to determine the actual facts and so far we have heard conflicting views from different experts (real experts that is)

A closer look of the tank revealed deep corrosion under the boot, a very familiar sight to those of us who dive in salt-water and an indication that the boot was rarely (if ever) removed for cleaning. As salt water divers we also know for a fact that removing the boot once a year is not good enough. In the span of 12 months, salt residue combined with moisture will "kill a tank" especially an old one. We, therefore, choose to do without them all together and this is our recommendation to others. Divers who can not do without cylinder boots for whatever reason would be wise to take this into consideration and remove them frequently rather than wait for a year only to find out it's too late. To those of you who work in fill stations and diving clubs, our message is this : Regardless of proof of Hydro and or VIP, if you don't like what you see on a tank, don't fill it and don't dive with it. Thanx again for sharing, commenting and asking questions. www.divinghq.info Related posts: Oxygen cylinder demolishes flat

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