Vitkovice cylinders - changes over the last years

Many divers, especially those with many years of experience, have formed an opinion about Vitkovic cylinders. They are largely unflattering and fully reflect the flaws and shortcomings that these cylinders had in the past. Yes, I am writing with full awareness that they did, because more than 2 years ago (for the benefit of all potential customers) these cylinders became a thing of the past.

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All the opinions about the cylinders being heavy and clumsy and having poor quality corrosion protection have nothing to do with the current products from Vitkovice. The smelter has been thoroughly modernised and new technologies have been introduced in almost all production stages with a significant impact on the final quality and appearance.

CE marked breathing cylinders are now galvanised on the outside and protected on the inside, which has significantly improved their corrosion resistance. The type of paint coating was changed and the fully automatic paint line was modernised. As a result of these measures, powder coating is also possible.

The stamping process has been improved and new cylinder designs have been introduced in line with customer requests, which are now made from the best steels. All this has led to a significant reduction in weight and the new safety techniques have been successfully tested by the TUV certification body. This has resulted in European approval for up to 10 years(!) even for CE marked cylinders for underwater breathing apparatus.

In view of the fact that the number of diving centres with compressors with a working pressure of 300 bar, purchased mainly to cater to paintball and PCP shooting enthusiasts, is constantly increasing, the Vitkovice factory is successively introducing diving cylinders with this working pressure to the market.

They are enjoying increasing interest, which should not surprise anyone. The most frequent customers are people who dive in traditional twinsets and often attach popular V-weights weighing around 5-8 kg to e.g. 12-litre cylinders. Czech 12-litre cylinders for 300 bar weigh only 17.0 kg, which, in comparison to e.g. Faber cylinders of the same capacity for 230 bar weighing 14.2 kg, gives us a difference of 5.6 kg, i.e. more or less the weight of an average V-weight, but we take under water not lead but air, which allows us to dive longer.

Tests carried out by Michal Kosut of the Witek Smilowski Diving Instructor School show that people using at least 8 kg of ballast can safely think about switching to twinset from 12l cylinders with working pressure of 300 bar. Unlike cylinders with a working pressure of up to 232 bar, such cylinders are not made of seamless tubes (the weight of such cylinders is the same over their entire length), they are pressed from a single piece of metal and thanks to this their bottom is heavier, which makes it easier to trim them with small ballast.

The latest design to be launched this year will be a 15l cylinder for 300 bar pressure, with a typical diameter of 204mm – this will allow those with a standard buoyancy waistcoat without the additional cost of buying a wing plate jacket and twinset to stay underwater as much as those with a much more expensive configuration.

We also offer 10 and 12 litre cylinders which are mainly dedicated to schools and people with low height and petite body build, e.g. women and young people. These cylinders have a slightly increased diameter compared to standard 171 mm cylinders and it is 178 mm. This small difference gives the possibility to use them in typical waistcoats and at the same time it lowers the height of the cylinder by a few centimetres which allows better trim and more secure fixing in the waist belt of the jackets for people with a small body build.

Also important is the fact that these cylinders are the lightest on the market – e.g. a 12-litre cylinder with an operating pressure of 230 bar weighs only about 13.0 kg, which is a minimum of 1.2 kg less than the competition and almost 2.5 kg for a set!

These cylinders are available with a flat bottom just like in aluminium cylinders, which additionally allows for savings related to the lack of need to use feet (they can be put on if necessary) and for followers of e.g. the DIR system it allows for comfortable transport and pumping which is difficult in case of cylinders with a traditional convex bottom.

We invite you to get acquainted with the assortment of cylinders from Vitkovic with a wide range of capacities from 1 to even 20 litres in the breathing range and from 1 to 80 litres in the technical gases range offered by the only Authorised Representative in Poland, FHU Optimal-BIS from Rybnik.