There's a large number of dive cylinder valves out there, and getting the right one for your needs can be daunting. The Scuba Doctor dive shop has a large range to chose from and have we tried to make it easier for you with detailed info about each type of valve.
A Left valve is the typical/common/standard valve orientation used by recreational scuba divers using one cylinder. The valve opening and closing stem and hand-wheel are on the left side as you look at the valve outlet. It's also popular for use on side mount setups on the diver's left side, and for the OXYGEN cylinder on rebreathers.
A Right valve is the atypical/uncommon/non-standard valve orientation often used on the second cylinder of sidemount divers and twin cylinder technical divers. The valve opening and closing stem and hand-wheel are on the right side as you look at the valve outlet. It's popular for use on sidemount setups on the diver's right side, and opposite side stage bottles to keep the valves facing in the same direction, while keeping hand-wheels on opposite sides. It's also commonly used for the DILUENT cylinder on rebreathers.
Please Note: Be careful to properly specify whether you need a left or right valve by stating the orientation. Some manufacturers use the opposite names for their left and right valves, just to confuse everyone.
!!! IMPORTANT !!! Cylinders and valve threads come in a variety of sizes and great care must be taken to ensure that you are fitting the valve to the correct cylinder. The valve thread specification must exactly match the neck thread specification of the cylinder. Improperly matched neck threads can fail under pressure and can have fatal consequences if someone is hit by the flying valve or cylinder. Only qualified scuba servicing professionals should be installing this equipment. Please ensure you have the training and experience required before purchasing this item if you intend to fit it yourself. If you are unsure, please call your local scuba technician to provide appropriate information for your system.
Australian Standard Diving Cylinder Valve Thread
Most Australian Standard aluminium and steel tanks/cylinders/bottles use a standard 3/4-inch NPSM (NGS) parallel thread, sealed by an O-ring, which has a 60° thread form, a pitch diameter of 0.9820 to 0.9873 in (24.94 to 25.08 mm), and a pitch of 14 threads per inch (5.5 threads per cm). It is torqued to 40 to 50 N·m (30 to 37 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders.
European Diving Cylinder Valve Threads
On most steel and aluminium diving cylinders in Europe the M25X2 ISO parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring and torqued to 100 to 130 N·m (74 to 96 lbf·ft) on steel, and 95 to 130 N·m (70 to 96 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders, is now commonly used. (M25 means the diameter of the thread is 25 mm and the X2 defines the 2 mm pitch of the thread.) On smaller cylinders where the neck isn't large enough for the M25X2 thread a M18x1.5 parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring, and torqued to 100 to 130 N·m (74 to 96 lbf·ft) on steel cylinders, and 85 to 100 N·m (63 to 74 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders is used.
Please Note: The M25X2 metric thread valves are only for use with metric M25X2 threaded cylinders. While they can be wound into a cylinder/tank with a 3/4 inch NPSM threaded neck, they will not seal properly and the combination can be very dangerous. Do not try and use these M25X2 valves on typical Faber, Catalina, Luxfer etc. cylinders purchased in Australia.
When someone tries to fit a M25 valve into a 3/4-inch BSP cylinder thread, they will get it to seal, but only after damaging the brass threads on the valve. This produces an unstable fitting which can result in the valve coming out with an incredible force that could seriously injure someone, or even kill. You have been warned.
All parallel thread valves are sealed using an O-ring at top of the neck thread which seals in a chamfer or step in the cylinder neck and against the flange of the valve.
There are two basic types of cylinder valve to regulator connection in general use for Scuba cylinders containing air:
In Europe there is now a standard for cylinder valves for scuba cylinders containing gases other than air:
Most of the 200 to 240 bar valves supplied in Australia are a DIN/K convertible valve. They are made with a DIN regulator connection, but such that a DIN plug adaptor can be screwed into the DIN outlet so that an A-clamp or Yoke regulator can be connected to the valve.
Yoke valves are rated between 200 and 240 bar, and there does not appear to be any mechanical design detail preventing connection between any yoke fittings, though some older yoke clamps will not fit over the popular 232/240 bar combination DIN/yoke cylinder valve as the yoke is too narrow.
DIN valves are produced in 200 bar and 300 bar pressure ratings. The number of threads and the detail configuration of the connections are designed to prevent incompatible combinations of filler attachment or regulator attachment with the cylinder valve.
Adaptors are available to allow connection of yoke regulators to DIN cylinder valves. These plug adaptors (or inserts) are rated for 200-240 bar, and can only be used with valves which are designed to accept them.
Australian standards require that the cylinder valve includes a bursting disk, a pressure relief device that will release the gas before the cylinder fails in the event of over pressurisation. If a bursting disk ruptures during a dive the entire contents of the cylinder will be lost in a very short time. The risk of this happening to a correctly rated disc, in good condition, on a correctly filled cylinder is very low.
Wreck Dive | Boat access
Level: Open Water and beyond.
On 20 July 1947 this Fairey Firefly Second World War-era, carrier-borne, fighter aircraft crashed into the sea off Frankston, Victoria as the result of a collision between another Fairy Firefly at 1500 feet.
See also, Wikipedia: Fairey Firefly,
Heritage Council of Victoria: Fairey Firefly Aircraft - Frankston, and
Australian National Shipwreck Database: Frankston - Fairey Firefly.
We have the GPS marks and details for what might be two or three Fairey Firefly Aircraft wreck sites near Frankston on the eastern side of Port Phillip.
Firefly Aircraft 1
Latitude: 38° 6.004′ S (38.100067° S / 38° 6′ 0.24″ S)
Longitude: 145° 0.714′ E (145.0119° E / 145° 0′ 42.84″ E)
Firefly Aircraft 2
Latitude: 38° 5.980′ S (38.099667° S / 38° 5′ 58.8″ S)
Longitude: 145° 0.692′ E (145.011533° E / 145° 0′ 41.52″ E)
Firefly Aircraft 3
Latitude: 38° 6.091′ S (38.101517° S / 38° 6′ 5.46″ S)
Longitude: 145° 0.627′ E (145.01045° E / 145° 0′ 37.62″ E)
The GPS marks for the Firefly Aircraft 1 and Firefly Aircraft 2 are 50 metres apart. It might be two separate aircraft, or the broken up and separated parts of a single aircraft. We simply don't know.
The GPS marks for the Firefly Aircraft 1 and Firefly Aircraft 3 are 205 metres apart.
If you have further information about these aircraft wreck sites, please contact us.
Heritage Warning: Any shipwreck or shipwreck relic that is 75 years or older is protected by legislation. Other items of maritime heritage 75 years or older are also protected by legislation. Activities such as digging for bottles, coins or other artefacts that involve the disturbance of archaeological sites may be in breach of the legislation, and penalties may apply. The legislation requires the mandatory reporting to Heritage Victoria as soon as practicable of any archaeological site that is identified. See Maritime heritage. Anyone with information about looting or stolen artefacts should call Heritage Victoria on (03) 7022 6390, or send an email to heritage.victoria@delwp.vic.gov.au.
Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes parts of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-west, down to Wilson's Promontory in the south-east, including the Mornington Peninsula, French Island and Phillip Island, plus Western Port. We wish to acknowledge the Boon Wurrung as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.
Firefly Aircraft 3 Location Map
Latitude: 38° 6.091′ S (38.101517° S / 38° 6′ 5.46″ S)
Longitude: 145° 0.627′ E (145.01045° E / 145° 0′ 37.62″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-25 09:27:56 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Firefly Aircraft 1, 205 m, bearing 38°, NE
Fairey Firefly Aircraft.
Crashed: 20 July 1947.
Depth: 18 m.
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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.
The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.
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