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The BANNED diving equipment That Killed 14 Divers (And Is Still Sold)

Scuba Gear Lab

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An aluminum scuba tank alloy called 6351-T6 has ruptured explosively more than thirty documented times since the early 1990s, and it's still completely legal to fill, dive, and sell today. This video breaks down Sustained Load Cracking, the invisible structural flaw hiding inside decades-old aluminum cylinders made by Luxfer, US Divers, and Walter Kidde, and why federal regulators chose mandatory eddy-current testing over an outright recall. We walk through the documented cases, including a 1982 fill-station injury and a 2011 Florida tank explosion that killed a former Marine, and explain exactly why these tanks are still circulating on the secondhand gear market decades after manufacturers abandoned the alloy. If you own an older aluminum cylinder, or you're shopping for one used, this video shows you exactly what to check before it ever goes on your back: the alloy stamp, the eddy-current inspection sticker, and the one question most dive shops never get asked.

Sources:
1. Are 6351-T6 Alloy Scuba Cylinders Safe to Use? - Divers Alert Network
https://dan.org/alert-diver/article/a...

2. Cracking and Ruptures of SCBA and SCUBA Aluminum Cylinders - PSI-PCI
https://www.psicylinders.com/inspecto...

3. Federal Register: Hazardous Materials - Aluminum Cylinders 6351-T6 (2006 Final Rule)
https://www.federalregister.gov/docum...

4. Federal Register Vol. 59, No. 142 (1994) - 1982 cylinder rupture case
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/F...

5. Iraq War Vet Dies in Unlikely Scuba Explosion - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/US/scuba-tank-...

6. Man killed in Fla. scuba tank explosion - UPI
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/...

#scubadiving #scubagear #divesafety #scubatank #divingequipment #scubasafety #diveraccident #aluminumtank #scubagearlab #divegear #oceansafety #techdiving

for Contact : Vonrheinj@gmail.com

10 Comments

@terrysikes6638 7 days ago

6351 T6 aluminum stopped being used before 1990. Many shops will not fill a scuba tank made in 1991 or before.

@rcl3514 6 days ago

A lot of missing and incorrect information in this video. First, the unfortunate victim, can not be linked to SLC failure, because the failure at least to my knowledge has never been conclusive. Some reports indicate that the cylinder may have had pure oxygen in it and if so with the wrong cleaning and grease may have sparked the explosion. Tampa/Clearwater is not included in the NIOSH or DOT SLC reports. Boca Raton and Key Largo are the only 2 Fl reports. 2nd, of the over 25 million cylinders world wide with the 6351 alloy, only 17 failed. 6 were SCBA bottles used in firefighting and not SCUBA and 11 failed while filling. At least 6 were attributed to over fills and mechanical damage and not SLC. You can tell what the material is, simply by reading the numbers on the shoulder. There is several numbers, including a 4 digit code telling you what the material is. Luxfer did do a recall. If you had an affected tank, they would exchange the tank for a brand new one during a certain time frame. It was like 18 months they did it for. Of the up to 17 deaths reported worldwide, from cylinder ruptures, 0 have been in the US. The other instances of deaths many are from locations where safety standards are not as high as the US and also include mechanical damage and or modification of the cylinder itself.

@johnwilliamsscuba6487 7 days ago

1 trade to one person out of the literally millions that are out there

@Verbotene.Wahrheiten 8 days ago

good video man

@BeyondTheDeath-Zone 7 days ago

good to know

@sdriza 4 days ago

I've got one

@ts440s 7 days ago

This is bs nobody will ever fill this tank they are all stamped and pre date 1990

@VoeViking 5 days ago

More AI slop. Another channel to block.

@chrisphilhower6029 7 days ago

Back in Aug 2023 I was OW Certified. Dec I purchased a Catalina 80cf Aluminum. Looking at the Manufacture Date, I need to get a Hydro in 2027. I use EAN 32%. That means another O2 Clean since the only shop within 20 miles of where I live does Partial Blending.