Do you check tanks for pressure and contents before you leave the shop?
- Thread starter dabigcat
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ibnygator
Contributor
but I'm doing the Nitrox class right now. I've never checked contents or pressure at the shop before :boom: , but once I complete this class and have my own analyzer, I'll check every tank every time.
The more I learn...the more I realize that I have to learn...
=-)
The more I learn...the more I realize that I have to learn...
=-)
In your class you should learn that a reputable fill station will insist that you make an entry in their fill log. They will require you to analyze or watch them analyze the gas and check presure. That info along with some other stuff goes in the shops fill log.
Ziggys_Friend
Guest
Hummm, for awhile I thought I was watching the Battle of the Titans here.
But I still don't get the Nitrox sticker argument myself - how does having a nice big label on a scuba tank help you KNOW what's inside? Or, maybe more to the point, how does not having that PROVE what's in a tank is air?
It seems to me it's like when we go to the airport and they ask "did you pack your luggage yourself and if so, has it remained in your sight at all times?" If you don't fill a tank yourself how can you know what's in it unless you analyze it? I'm not saying what "should be" in it, but what really is for sure, for sure?
It's like O2 cleaning - great you do it or have it done and put a lovely sticker on the tank saying so ... and then gets a couple of really dirty fills. Tank sticker still says its O2 cleaned, but you and I know it's not anymore.
I'd think a good case could be made for NOT putting Nitrox stickers on tanks if that leads people to think that just because a tank doesn't have one, it must be air.
Call me confused (but then again, maybe I'm just breathing a really good mix...)
~<//><
But I still don't get the Nitrox sticker argument myself - how does having a nice big label on a scuba tank help you KNOW what's inside? Or, maybe more to the point, how does not having that PROVE what's in a tank is air?
It seems to me it's like when we go to the airport and they ask "did you pack your luggage yourself and if so, has it remained in your sight at all times?" If you don't fill a tank yourself how can you know what's in it unless you analyze it? I'm not saying what "should be" in it, but what really is for sure, for sure?
It's like O2 cleaning - great you do it or have it done and put a lovely sticker on the tank saying so ... and then gets a couple of really dirty fills. Tank sticker still says its O2 cleaned, but you and I know it's not anymore.
I'd think a good case could be made for NOT putting Nitrox stickers on tanks if that leads people to think that just because a tank doesn't have one, it must be air.
Call me confused (but then again, maybe I'm just breathing a really good mix...)
~<//><
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
So a law was decreed through out the land... All 2 litre bottles must have coke unless marked differently. All complied and it was obvious by the sticker who loved Pepsi or Barq's or whatever. There were many, many unmarked bottles, and that was OK... for they were all filled with coke and life was good.
But others had other ideas... "I own my bottles, don't I? SO I will mark them only if I wish" says one... and behold the first unmarked bottles were thus filled with Pepsi. "This is not good says the bottler." "I am confused!" says another. And the land was filled with furrowed brows.
"Ah, all we need are content stickers!!!" "But we had content stickers on all the bottles but Coke" "Ah, well we need content stickers on coke now too" "Why should most of the people who drink Coke have to accomodate the few who drink Pepsi?" "Ah, well it's just unsafe to not know!" "But we knew before you broke the law, and filled that which is not marked with Pepsi" "Ah, but now you must analyse!!!" "But the average Joe does not know how to use the analyser." "Ah, well all we need are content stickers!!!"
And so the discussion continued in a circle, ad nauseum... and the sanctity of the unmarked bottle has forever been impugned. Yes, there are still many, many unmarked bottles which are not suitable for Pepsi... and so the land is filled with furrowed brows where there were none. And the simple act of grabbing an air tank, now requires that we analyse it first since some will not abide by the rules of the land. But who will train the OW diver to analyse their tanks, now that we can no longer trust that they only have air? And the land was filled with even more furrowed brows.
But others had other ideas... "I own my bottles, don't I? SO I will mark them only if I wish" says one... and behold the first unmarked bottles were thus filled with Pepsi. "This is not good says the bottler." "I am confused!" says another. And the land was filled with furrowed brows.
"Ah, all we need are content stickers!!!" "But we had content stickers on all the bottles but Coke" "Ah, well we need content stickers on coke now too" "Why should most of the people who drink Coke have to accomodate the few who drink Pepsi?" "Ah, well it's just unsafe to not know!" "But we knew before you broke the law, and filled that which is not marked with Pepsi" "Ah, but now you must analyse!!!" "But the average Joe does not know how to use the analyser." "Ah, well all we need are content stickers!!!"
And so the discussion continued in a circle, ad nauseum... and the sanctity of the unmarked bottle has forever been impugned. Yes, there are still many, many unmarked bottles which are not suitable for Pepsi... and so the land is filled with furrowed brows where there were none. And the simple act of grabbing an air tank, now requires that we analyse it first since some will not abide by the rules of the land. But who will train the OW diver to analyse their tanks, now that we can no longer trust that they only have air? And the land was filled with even more furrowed brows.
but with that said, Doc, its not the intentional screw-up that gets to me.
Its the unintentional one.
And God knows, are humans we all do sometimes screw up.
It just seems to me that a contents label is a good idea. So is teaching people in BOW what nitrox is, how to use it, how to analyze gas and why knowing what the FO2 in the tank happens to be might just save your life.
What would that take - really - perhaps another couple hours? A day at most?
Then the silly stuff could go away, and instead, we'd have a standard that says that all tanks must be marked as to their FO2 and any other dilutent that is not Nitrogen. I'd go further and insist that the date of the fill and the initials of the person who did it need to be there - the latter for my next-of-kin when they pump me a tank full of CO!
An unmarked tank without a contents sticker is thus not diveable. One source of foul-ups is thus prevented - foul-ups that could, conceivably, kill someone.
Its the unintentional one.
And God knows, are humans we all do sometimes screw up.
It just seems to me that a contents label is a good idea. So is teaching people in BOW what nitrox is, how to use it, how to analyze gas and why knowing what the FO2 in the tank happens to be might just save your life.
What would that take - really - perhaps another couple hours? A day at most?
Then the silly stuff could go away, and instead, we'd have a standard that says that all tanks must be marked as to their FO2 and any other dilutent that is not Nitrogen. I'd go further and insist that the date of the fill and the initials of the person who did it need to be there - the latter for my next-of-kin when they pump me a tank full of CO!
An unmarked tank without a contents sticker is thus not diveable. One source of foul-ups is thus prevented - foul-ups that could, conceivably, kill someone.
I tend to agree but I doubt most will pay for the extry couple of hours. Also it will be a while before most agencies buy into it. A breife explanation of the what and why of nitrox is part of the PADI OW class. However the point is to get them to avoid the green sticker.
Genesis once bubbled...
but "avoiding the green sticker" won't keep them from grabbing a tank with 100% O2 that just happens not to have one!
True but the two types dives being conducted at the same time wouldn't be likely on a commercial boat.
Besides the stage rigging would likely get in the way when the recreational diver tries to mount their bc.
Also the name on the tank and the big sticker or painted MOD 20 or 20 might give a hint.
I haven't heard of such a thing being a problem.
but it only takes one mistake.
More likely is a "hot" custom mix (40%, etc) coming off a Nitrox whip into the wrong (not marked) tank which is then taken down to 110' with not-very-good results.
If the shop filling the tanks dispenses both Nitrox and Air, this can happen. I don't know how often it does, and I'm not sure you could tell, since most of the time the mistake wouldn't bend or kill you anyway - in fact, unless you analyzed the gas you wouldnt' know - but the fact remains that the risk is there and it is not mitigated by having a "band" on some tanks.
Only by marking the contents of ALL tanks do you significantly mitigate that risk.
More likely is a "hot" custom mix (40%, etc) coming off a Nitrox whip into the wrong (not marked) tank which is then taken down to 110' with not-very-good results.
If the shop filling the tanks dispenses both Nitrox and Air, this can happen. I don't know how often it does, and I'm not sure you could tell, since most of the time the mistake wouldn't bend or kill you anyway - in fact, unless you analyzed the gas you wouldnt' know - but the fact remains that the risk is there and it is not mitigated by having a "band" on some tanks.
Only by marking the contents of ALL tanks do you significantly mitigate that risk.
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