Caution testing lifejackets

[CJL]

I recently visited the RNLI Training College in Poole and got talking to one of the staff there about testing lifejackets.

My employer every six months (it seems a lot less than that) collects in all our lifejackets and subjects them to an inspection. This includes looking for nicks and cuts but also inflation for 2 hours to check that they hold air. (They are serviced by Crewsaver in Gosport every 12 months on top of that!)

The RNLI fella said that we should be careful blowing up the lifejackets using our mouths as the moisture in our breath can collect in the bladders of the lifejackets giving rise to the material inevitably rotting.

Has anybody else heard about this? Is this a bit of an over reaction?

Chris

[Poly]

Originally Posted by CJL

Has anybody else heard about this? Is this a bit of an over reaction?

Yes been mentioned here in the past too. Recommendation is to use a pump rather than mouth.

[C2 RIBS]

Yes this is what we have been advised, use a pump or moisture gets into the inflation

[SeaSkills]

Technically correct, but in my experience it isn't a huge risk. When we've changed gas bottles inside the stoles of jackets that have regularly been inflated by mouth over long periods we've never found a problem.

I would suggest, though, that two hours isn't very long to leave a jacket inflated on test. Overnight is the general recommendation

[m chappelow]

i go around schools youth groups doing talks on lifeboats and beach sea safety ,and i have an old lifejacket which i manualy inflate to show how they work ,and in 12 years i have had no problem of the stole sticking together but this is on a regular basis ,a few times each month , , i think there is a good possibility of one sticking together if not used for a long time and stored pressed underneath heavy kit .one big possibility is of bacteria building up. some of the old ablj diving lifejackets of the past the ones that could be used for emergency breathing had some realy bad bacterial growth inside them from a survey done by a university back in the 1970s,but most was from sea water entering the stole by dump valves ,but with a normal lifejacket you wouldent be sucking the air back out or trying to breath from it . i think there is more risk of the fabric cracking and leaking on the folds than it rotting .the rnli lifejacket manual says every 3 months inflate to 1 psi which is the same as oral pressure and wait 2 hours for leakage,then test t 24 hours every 6months,

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally Posted by CJL

The RNLI fella said that we should be careful blowing up the lifejackets using our mouths as the moisture in our breath can collect in the bladders of the lifejackets giving rise to the material inevitably rotting.

nonsense....

[ChasTheBoat]

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

nonsense....

actually as someone who has done the crewsaver maintainers course this is not nonsense its perfectly true

our trainer even had one that had started to rot

[MikeCC]

We always recommend customers use a (low-pressure!) pump rather than mouth to test inflate lifejackets.

Some years ago, when the cot death issue was at its height I was at a talk by a forensic scientist who found there were toxic fumes caused by bacteria in human fluids attacking substances in the plastic mattress covering. Whether the plastics are similar and the effect would be the same I don't know, but the idea of the material breaking down is enough for me.

Personally, I'd think why introduce a potential hazard when you don't need to?

Would also echo SeaSkills and say leave inflated overnight.

[m chappelow]

i suppose its what you have eaten the night before that causes the fabric to rot ,a vindaloo curry perhaps.

[Doug Stormforce]

Just leaving a life jacket fully inflated over night is not enough.

Its pretty customary to

A/. Test them under pressure as when you fall in the water their will be the pressure of the sea trying to squeeze the air out of the valves.

B/. Having tested them fully inflated deflate 1/3 and test agin to ensure that the oral inflation valve still works when it has less internal pressure forcing it up.


I know the original thread said this test was in addition to the manafactureres annual test however I think its important for people to realise that self testing a life jacket is not as straight forward as you might initailly think.

[hobbit555]

When I worked at an outdoor centre all jackets were inflated and left in a cold room for 48 hours then they were then buoyancy tested by attaching a 15kg weight and thrown into fresh water. All were inflated by compressor. (200 jackets in total. sod blowing them up)
The company also had a policy of dipping all inflation tubes in sterilising solution to stop germs being passed on between the kids.
It was much easier to tell the kids about all the hundreds of other children that had placed their mouths around the inflation tube. the kids never seemed to blow the lifejackets up.
In seven years never had a problem with jackets rotting and by this time most jackets were abraded externally to the point that they were replaced.

I think this is another example of over active safety orientated world that we live in today

[m chappelow]

Originally Posted by hobbit555

When I worked at an outdoor centre all jackets were inflated.

I think this is another example of over active safety orientated world that we live in today

when my family started boating in the late 1950s there were not that many lifejackets made for leisure use ,most boaters used ex m.o.d stuff from the war ,anyone remember the victory kapock lifejackets or the ex raf mae west ones ,one size fit all ,as kids we played with them in the street until we needed them on the boat ,and they always worked even if someone had blown them up with impatigo or a snotty nose .

[CJL]

Originally Posted by Doug Stormforce

Just leaving a life jacket fully inflated over night is not enough.

Its pretty customary to

A/. Test them under pressure as when you fall in the water their will be the pressure of the sea trying to squeeze the air out of the valves.

B/. Having tested them fully inflated deflate 1/3 and test agin to ensure that the oral inflation valve still works when it has less internal pressure forcing it up.

Interesting..........

We have a national contract with Crewsaver and have thousands of lifejackets. They say that 2hrs is sufficient for an inspection .... not a service though.

Every year our lifejackets go back to Crewsaver for a full service, in addition to the inspection.

Chris