St. Pete Florida Diver dies when scuba tank explodes

Wow. That is just weird and tragic. Sounds like his bottle might have been overfilled. I have never seen that happen before. I've seen bottles get punctured and take off like rockets. But never explode.
 

allen_idaho said:
Wow. That is just weird and tragic. Sounds like his bottle might have been overfilled. I have never seen that happen before. I've seen bottles get punctured and take off like rockets. But never explode.
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I would disagree. Overfilling might have been an indirect cause resulting in metal fatigue, but more than likely he was the victim of an AL6351 tank. Luxfer and other manufactures used an aluminum alloy 6351 prior to 1990 that was susceptible to Sustained Load Cracking usually seen in the neck. When stored under pressure, SLC develops. When these "cracks" fail, they fail violently. Most of these bad tanks are no longer in service, but from the information in the article, it would seem that isn't the case.
 

You're right DiverDown. I just took eight 6351 tanks to the scrap yard because the local dive shop won't fill them anymore. I have seen many more on Craigslist for sale. Diver Beware!
 

Ha Ha! No, I got $175 for them and went out and bought two 120cu ft. steel tanks.
 

Salvor6 said:
You're right DiverDown. I just took eight 6351 tanks to the scrap yard because the local dive shop won't fill them anymore. I have seen many more on Craigslist for sale. Diver Beware!
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You should have cut the bottoms off and sold them as Asian bell chimes for the garden. Some of those chimes sell upwards of $250.
 

Every tank valve has a burst disc in it for when the pressure gets to high from maybe being in the heat or being over filled the air will be released quickly.The burst disc is rated for the pressure of the tank.A few things could have happened to this guys tank.Maybe he bought it used and someone put a valve on it from a tank with higher pressure.Or since you can buy burst disc replacements for any pressure you want even from ebay someone could have installed one for a rating higher than the pressure of the tank.Or the tank was improperly stripped with a acid chemical that changed the property of the metal in the tank.Certain paints will do this too.or the tank was corroded from salt on the inside or the valve threads cracked.

I have been collecting certain tanks,even from the scrap yards.They can still be hydro-ed.I plan on getting my own compressor and filling my own tanks.They dont need to be filled to the tank rating.when you have 50 tanks each can have 2000 psi in them.Scuba shops wont fill tanks older than 1980 and wont fill luxfer tanks,plus they all rip you off with the visual inspection even though the sticker is valid from some other shop.They all want to make money off your tanks,it doesnt even matter if the tank is brand new.Add up about 50 vis inspection charges throughout the 5 year hydro span.

Most scuba shop owners that fill tanks hire people that dont even know what they are doing when they fill a tank.DOT needs to have courses on tanks and how to properly fill them,how to inspect them and how to check valve and see if the valves have the proper burst disc in it.

I worked at a dive shop on a marine base in hawaii and we had a steel tank blow up on us.Lucky no one was in the fill room at the time.It destroyed the shop and compressor.shrapnel went everywhere.And my ears rang for 2 days.The tank was in current hydro and had a vis done on it.It wasnt painted and it was a navy owned tank.The navy came and cleaned up the mess and took the tank parts away,we never heard why it exploded.i figured it was metal fatigue.And they paid to have the shop rebuilt and gave us a brand new compressor.
 

just to be on the safe side.Everyone here Check your tanks that you have that you bought used to see if the valve has the correct burst disc in it for the rating pressure of the tank.I a tank doesnt,slowly bleed off all the air and fix it yourself or have a qualified shop do it.
 

VIPs should include burst disk inspection, which is a critical feature. However I do feel the faulty aluminum "80's tanks" alloy may be the key factor here. In addition to the numerous events since identification of this problem, this incident has occurred locally in Sebastian, blowing pieces of the roof across US1 after killing the dive shop owner. I cannot remember 100% if it was also due to the outdated 6351 alloy, but I do remember an issue about "clammer" tanks....the clammers/boat hull scrubbers/general commercial divers don't tend to take great care in maintenance with their cylinders. The stereotype claims as long as it holds air, they'll try to fill it.
 

Yesterday we received the following email message from the principle of my kids school;

Dear St. Jude Families,

Good evening, I am writing to request your prayers for Miss Swoch. You may have seen in the news the explosion of a scuba tank at an apartment building yesterday. Sadly, that explosion happened at Miss Swoch's apartment and took the life of her friend. Miss Swoch suffered no injuries, thank God, but is very upset and still in shock over the events. She is surrounded by family and knows that we are all keeping her and her friend's family in our prayers.

We have arranged for a substitute for her classes this week and appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

God Bless,

Mrs. K. Wiand
Principal
 

yes, I too took 2 luxfer tanks to the scrap heap, $35.00 for the both of them. pity someone died from this, wether it was an overfill or bad tank. I'll never buy from luxfer again. I got 4 good tanks and that's enough for me. I had one from u.s.divers that was made by luxfer but marked usd. my local dive shop guy in sandusky caught it and away it went. my prayers for his family and friends.
 

inletsurf said:
VIPs should include burst disk inspection, which is a critical feature. However I do feel the faulty aluminum "80's tanks" alloy may be the key factor here. In addition to the numerous events since identification of this problem, this incident has occurred locally in Sebastian, blowing pieces of the roof across US1 after killing the dive shop owner. I cannot remember 100% if it was also due to the outdated 6351 alloy, but I do remember an issue about "clammer" tanks....the clammers/boat hull scrubbers/general commercial divers don't tend to take great care in maintenance with their cylinders. The stereotype claims as long as it holds air, they'll try to fill it.
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About the accident that happened in Sebastian - I heard from a 3rd party that 2 burst disks were installed by accident after doing a tank inspection. That's what I heard, and I am not trying to start any arguments. Very sad that it happened. The explosion really did a number on the building - it was blown apart, and someone lost their life.
Tanks are nothing to mess around with - 3000 lbs per square inch can do some serious damage.
 

I met Russ and Sara the Saturday before last at St. Pete beach. He was the only other guy on the beach with a mask on checking out the sea critters that were in the calm surf. We talked about his time in the military and his career in diving, how he got certified and the time he spent in Tarpon Springs. He mention the diving he was doing was with mixed gases or what ever they call it, I told him I never had an interest in that and that I was old fashioned and just dove with oxygen...he laughed. I was impressed to learn that he was going for his rescue diver and told him some of my stories about my time spent in NJ on the Berkeley Township Underwater Search and Rescue Dive Team. He told me he was from Cedar Rapids Iowa, and I laughed and said I was from Bayville NJ and lived on Cedar Creek, we laughed. he said he was going to go back to school and enter into a Marine Biology program, I told him I was in school for Radiology so when I did manage to find something I could at least check it out without destroying it...we laughed...He told me about a guy in Bradonton who does dive trips to West Palm Beach, and I told him I would check into it and get his number from the guy at the dive shop and maybe someday we could do a trip to West Palm.

A true Patriot who served his country, and just seamed like a good all around American...the kinda guy you could trust with your life...I'am shaken by the loss of this young man I just met...
Rest In Peace Russ
 

Does anyone have a link to the dive shop in Sabastian that blew?? Just curious my first dive lessons were taken in Sabastian. Have much respect for my instructor there, great guy.
Many Thx in advance ----
 

Air tank blast kills dive shop owner

November 14,2001
By Tony Judnich
TC Palms staff writer

The 72-year-old co-owner of Dive Center of Sebastian was killed Tuesday
when an air tank he had been filling exploded and blew out part of the
building.

Ron Scherrer, of Sebastian, died from massive chest and head trauma from
the explosion at the Dive Center about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sebastian Police
Detective Joe Dillon said.

The cause of the explosion wasn't immediately known.

"It appears to be purely accidental," Dillon said. "We're treating it just
as a mishap at this time."

The Dive Center is at 1716 U.S. 1, at the southeast corner of the
intersection of U.S. 1 and Madison Street.

Scherrer's wife and the store's co-owner, Virgene, had been working behind
a counter at the center when the explosion occurred, but she was not
injured, Dillon said.

A male customer, whose name was not available, had been at the counter when
the accident happened, but he also was not injured, Dillon said.
Scherrer had been filling a tank with compressed air for the customer,
Indian River County Fire Capt. Robert VonBuelow said. The air tank had been
in a cooling tank, along with two other air tanks, just inside and to the
left of the front door, he said.

The force of the blast threw Scherrer into a corner on the other side of
the door, Dillon said.

The tank Scherrer had been filling was split wide open by the explosion.
VonBuelow said all three tanks that had been in the cooling tank probably
would be sent to the Dive Center's insurance company for further analysis.
Five wooden portions of a roof overhang, stretching about seven feet on the
Dive Center's east side, near the front door, were blown off from the
explosion. Some cement blocks on the east wall were dislodged. On the
building's west side, a hole about 2-by-2 feet was blown out of a cement
wall, about 30 feet across from the front door. Chunks of cement were strewn
on the grass outside of the building, close to traffic moving north on U.S.
1. Investigators were unsure how the hole was created. Inside, portions of
the center's ceiling were left hanging.

The Scherrers had opened the Dive Center in 1982.

Tom
 

R.I.P. to my fellow diver. So Sad.
 

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