Man loses hand in scuba tank explosion

Anyone knows what is the shelf life of a tank? Is there a regulation on the age of the tank used by dive centres? Is there a way divers can check on the "age" of the tank?

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Man loses hand in scuba tank explosion
18/08/2009 8:34:00 AM
THE South West Rocks community is in shock after a well-known dive master was seriously injured by an exploding scuba tank.
Murray Amor, 62, lost his right hand and suffered serious injuries to his right leg when the tank exploded at the South West Rocks Dive Centre about 3.40pm on Sunday.

Mr Amor is the equipment service manager at the centre and was doing a routine refill of some tanks when one blew up.

Police believe the tank Mr Amor was filling ruptured and blew into several pieces, tearing large gouges in the brick walls of the building.

Mr Amor was rushed to Kempsey Hospital and later airlifted to Sydney, where he was believed to be in a stable condition yesterday.

South West Rocks Dive Centre owner Peter Hitchins said Mr Amor was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances.

“He’s in good hands,” Mr Hitchins said.

“He’s conscious and having a joke. Obviously now we’re all hoping for a speedy recovery.

“We’re all in shock.”

Mr Hitchins said he would wait until the police investigation had concluded before making a comment on what had caused the explosion.

On the centre’s website Mr Amor is described as an experienced skipper and dive master.

Most tanks have really long service lives as long as they pass hydrostatic, visual and in the case of aluminum, eddy current testing.

Regulations vary country to country.

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Originally Posted by greenturtle

Anyone knows what is the shelf life of a tank? Is there a regulation on the age of the tank used by dive centres? Is there a way divers can check on the "age" of the tank?

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With care, standard scuba steel and aluminum tanks are theoretically good forever. Although there are some aluminum cylinders out there that have a history of sustained load cracking and need special inspections to make sure of their safety.

The problem comes in failure of tank owners and filling stations to take proper care of their cylinders. It would be awfully strange for that tank to have blown up without being internally or externally damaged in the first place. That damage comes primarily from moisture in the tank causing corrosion. Moisture can come from not blowing out the valve before hooking up to the fill valve as well as junk being pumped in as a result of a filter system failure.

As has already been posted, the rules and regulations are different in every country so the primary responsibility for safety is squarely on the shoulders of the tank owner.

If you have a tank, have it professionally inspected regularly. When you take it in for a fill, crack the valve once to blast any residual moisture in the valve before handing it to the fill monkey. If he/she blasts it clear as well, all the better!

It will be interesting to see what the result of the investigation in this accident will turn up.