On Sunday in the rough seas my tank some how spun the valve open and let all the air out. It was several hours before we noticed but it did not get wet. My question is do I need to do anything special to ensure that it does not rust from the inside out?

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If you're fishin you're wishin

Aluminum doesn't rust (though technically, it can oxidize somewhat).

I'd probably just fill it and flush it a couple of times, but if you're worried, just go to your LDS and have them do a VIP on it. The valve comes off, they take a peek put some air and slap a new sticker on it.

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"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." A. Lincoln

Ok thanks man. I am sure it's fine bc it had a cap over the valve but I was just making sure. Thanks buddy

Kris

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If you're fishin you're wishin

Best way to make sure there is no moisture is to vaccumn them before filling a couple times a year. I use an old refrigeration vaccumn pump.

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Did the tank drain completely? As long as the tank still had air pressure it should have kept the water from coming inside the tank.

If in doubt X2 on just getting a new VIS. No worries.

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Just dropped it off for the VIP. Can't be to safe

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If you're fishin you're wishin

Heh, I didn't realize you had it capped- in this case, I think you are being too safe, but it is one of those guidelines that if you empty a tank completely you should VIP it.

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"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." A. Lincoln

If the valve is loose enough to let air out, and the tank drains completely, technically it's not "empty." It will equalize with atmospheric pressure which is somewhere around 14.7 PSI if I remember correctly. The problem is at that point, air is free to flow in and out of the tank until it's tightened down and/or pressurized. So instead of dry air from a SCUBA compressor, you've got normal atmospheric air in there. That means two potentially dangerous things. 1) CO/CO2 which is bad for you 2) Moisture/water vapor which is bad for the tank.

Is this the end of the world? Of course not. How many dive shops do you see take their customers tanks outside and dump them before they fill them. I just wouldn't let it happen very often. A few cycles of filling and diving that tank and it should be OK. What you'd want to make sure is that no actual water got into the tank. But if you took it for a VIP, I'm sure the shop will take care of it.

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Capt. Sean Patterson

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Ok thanks guys. I know for sure that no water got in there because it only came out of te center console long enough for me to realize what happened. The shop should take care of everything. It only costed like $15 to get the VIP done but this is all useful info for the future .

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If you're fishin you're wishin

Yeah, you really only have to worry about rust with steel tanks. If you're worried, it's always better to have the inspection done on it.