What the?? Air on or off???

[E. Davis]

Last year when as I was instructing the last checkout dive of an O.W. class at Lake Wazee , I was again reminded of how easy it is to become complacent and simply rely on my dive buddy (or in thes case, a well meaning D. M.) to know their "Righty Tighty from their "Lefty Loosey"when it comes to tank valves and keeping me safe. The students changed out tanks from their first dive, got geared up together, and did their pre-dive checkouts. Great Job, I was thinking to myself! I hadn't bothered changing out my tank as I had plenty of air for the last dive and left my air turned on, less 1/2 turn. I checked out my D. M. buddy, then he checked out my gear as well...he checked my valve, then turned "on" my air for me.... thanks. I took a couple of breaths from the regulator, and got in the water. Needless to say, as soon as I tried to take that third breath, underwater, I had no air! I then realized I had not turned my tank off after the first dive and had allowed my dive buddy to turn OFF my air , thinking he was doing me a favor. Fortunately, we were in the shallows so I only needed to turn my air back on. Yet another lesson learned!
With my story told, and realizing that I must not be the only one that has had this sort of problem with shut or shut less 1/2 turn tank valves, it got me thinking of a way to install a visual indicator on the tank handle, to show at a glance whether the valve is Green for open or Red for shut. Without going into the details of the design, is this something that we, as a dive community would like to see on our valve handles? Wife doesn't want me to spend any more time or money on developing this idea until she's convinced I'm not the only paranoid diver who's been spooked over this situation and thinking he needs one for each of his tanks. Any and all comments would be appreciated. 
Thanks, Ed 
   

[DiveCaptDean]

While i dont think its a "bad" idea...i personally dont feel the need for it.  This is not to say that others would love to have something like this.  It might be nice to see used on a cattle boat in the tropics somewhere just for the crew to have a quick glance method of checking valves.  I would have the concern of complacency...if green means go and red means stop....would people still do their pre-breathes and pre dive safety checks?...I personally breathe my regs for 5 to 8 breaths before hitting the water and then 3 or 4 more prior to going under..I guess that why i personally wouldnt use it...but again..i can see its function in typical recreational diving...
g/l
Deano

[Colin]

Ed,

I would think this would appeal to the technical divers out there, so they can see at a glance if their teammate's isolator is open or closed, and whether each post is open or closed. Granted, pre-dive checks are certainly more important as Dean said, but this could be one more step erring on the side of caution.

Colin.

[dwitt2n]

...redundancy is always a good thing...and if that check became part of your pre dive - then it wouldn't be a bad thing...but I agree with Deano...    ....& ...we are the final check before hitting the water....

[nellamit]

Don't we already have a device like this? It's called a pressure gauge. If you had checked your pressure on the surface like I was taught to do as part of my final predive check it would have read low pressure after having taken 2 breaths after the valve had been closed.

[Vtach]

I open and close my own gas along with a predive breathe of my primary and backup prior to donning and again while in the water.  I feel it is important to have this in my routine so I do not become complacent.  Sorry but I would not use a device such as this.  Not that its a bad idea, it might be applicable for others, just wouldn't work for me.

[wazee-sports]

Here is the reality fellows...

The last diver that was pulled from the local lake had O psi showing on his computer.
When his air was turned off by the local dive team, it was noticed the it only took one half of a turn.
The valve was then turned all the way on... the computer then read over 1400 psi.

Just last year, again the local dive team was called into the local lake for two divers with an problem.
These two divers made a rapid assent to the surface while sharing air.
Story is that just after reaching a depth of 104' one of the divers felt like he was running out of air, noticed his psi dropping and signaled for his buddy. They made it to the surface and got a ride to local hopital and then released to go home. It was reported that the diver with problem had his tank open about one half of a turn.

I can only wonder how many other cases like these are out there.

Any extra added safety devises that can be added to our sport is a plus.

[dfreeman]

I was there for one of those incidentd at Lake Wazee.  Not opening the valve all of the way happens more often than most will admit.  If you stay calm, it is an easy problem to fix, just reach back and turn the valve on.  If you panic, the excitement is just starting.  I do not know if an indicator will work, but who knows.

Doug

[deep_al]

I think some device so that divers can obviously see the difference between a closed and open valve is a great idea. It could only make teh sport safer.

But ultimately I agree with Todd every diver should be held responsible for their own equipment.  I know that even when I am wearing a single al80 I like to make make sure I can reach the valve.  Ever since my first scuba experience (a resort dive) in Key West when the divemaster on the boat "checked" my valve (accidentally turning my valve off and open a half turn) right before I jumped off the boat, I feel you can only trust your self.  So even when some one double checks my air, I check it again. 

[DiveCaptDean]

Again-
Both of these situations could have easily been avoided by a proper pre dive check.  Lets not get complacent.....

Keep in mind Ed...I do think your idea is a good thing to investigate..I just dont want it to take the place of the proper pre dive.

If you can pull it off...and it can be a simple piece of equipment...go for it...i certainly think it has potential to sell..

G/L and keep us posted
deano