O2 Tank in Ottawa

[D M I]

Hi

There are some hydro station that do perform Hydro's, visuals and in the end fill your tank, and there is nothing wrong with that. I must say thou that when I hear stories of tank threads being damaged from hydro testing is tend to make me think does the person doing the testing no the difference between a metric and standard thread size. As it stands now in Ontario it is the station facility that gets certified not the person performing the work, and as of next year 04 any new hydro stations being certified it will be the individual working on site, who will get certified and who will be responsible for there own work and re testing anually will be mandatory. Please note as of last week two new hydro stations were aproved. one at Climb/Dive Toronto and The Dive shop in Newmarket.

D M I

 

[DPVDiver]

It will need to be O2 cleaned after hydro. Trust me, It wont be clean especially if it comes from Davidsons. Divemed, if you just get the hydro and don't clean it, when you take it to get it filled I suggest telling him to wait 10 min before filling and getting as far away from that fill station as you can. Also, let me know when you are doing it so I'm not in that area.

Kevin is right, call around for the O2 clean pricing. Try these:

Kanata Diving Supply, I think Kevin does their work
Dolphinos, Pat Shannon does their O2 stuff
Sharky's Scuba, Bruno is their tech
and Dive Tech in Mallorytown, talk to Dan, probably the best price.
His hydro guy tumbles and O2 cleans with the hydro all at once for I think around $40.

O2 cleaning is something I am extremely picky about, that is why I really suggest you get it done properly.

 

[Kevin R]

What type of thread damage are you seeing. We've been using davidsons for years, and the only threads I've seen damaged were when they used a screwdriver to pry out the caps we install when we send out the tank, and they stopped that practice when we pointed it out to them. I haven't seen a tank come back damaged to the point that it needs to be replaced. I agree that if it is cross threaded, it would be ruined, however, with a thread as heavy as the valve threads, that would be pretty hard to do.

After the tank comes back from Hydro it will always have to be O2 cleaned. The water they fill it with during the test cannot be trusted to be clean, even if it doesn't show up on a blacklamp inspection.

I am especially particular about O2 cleaning and I don't fool around with it. It's not hard, but it's not worth the risk if it's not done right. I've had people contact me asking how to do it themselves and my answer is always the same. However, and I'm sure there's not a shop owner/operator on this list who will disagree with me, doing it right is more costly and time consuming, and those costs need to be made up somewhere from a business perspective.

Kevin

 

[D M I]

Yo


Well said Kevin. lf there is a flash out it is mainly caused by the diver turning his valve on to fast and the heat generated by this action, can or could possibly cause a flash. This type of phenomena does happen and is mainly isolated to the first stage so turn your tanks on slowly. The percentage of compressed 02 in your mix also determines the flash point. Baboooooooom


D M I

 

[pufferfish]

DPVDiver once bubbled...
It will need to be O2 cleaned after hydro. Trust me, It wont be clean especially if it comes from Davidsons. Divemed, if you just get the hydro and don't clean it, when you take it to get it filled I suggest telling him to wait 10 min before filling and getting as far away from that fill station as you can. Also, let me know when you are doing it so I'm not in that area.

Kevin is right, call around for the O2 clean pricing. Try these:

Kanata Diving Supply, I think Kevin does their work
Dolphinos, Pat Shannon does their O2 stuff
Sharky's Scuba, Bruno is their tech
and Dive Tech in Mallorytown, talk to Dan, probably the best price.
His hydro guy tumbles and O2 cleans with the hydro all at once for I think around $40.

O2 cleaning is something I am extremely picky about, that is why I really suggest you get it done properly.

Just curious out of that list above are all those places doing their own hydros? Which ones actually do the whole process, hydro, O2 clean, etc.

I was looking at picking up another used Jumbo D here from a med gas company but when he factors in the hydro, clean, and fill cost it is better to buy a new one from Diversco for $140. I assume when they come new with valve in place they are O2 clean? Is this assumption correct?

 

[D M I]

Hello

All new tanks sold by Diversco are indeed cleaned, this is a safety standard procedure from the manufacturer. There are no impurities used during or after the aluminum cylinder punching process and or steel tank milling, and Cleaning prior to shipping is the norm. I purchased six cascade not to long ago and they were certified solvent free or if you want to call it 02 cleaned, and By the way the manufacturer does not call it 02 cleaning as a standard term, that is a diving industry term. Be careful of new tanks that have had there plastic valve cap removed from the bottle neck or valve port. I have a complete video collection from Catalina on tank manufacturing processes if any one want to drop by and view it.

D M I

 

[DPVDiver]

The damage I've seen looks like they took a screwdriver and hammer to the threads. No word of a lie, we got a couple back we could not even screw in the valves. Since we started labelling them Thread OK there has been no problems. Being unsure of the exact process of hydro testing I am unsure if it is the screwdriver damage you spoke of, but it is definitely not cross threading.

As for the air tests, I would trust any of the above mentioned stores. Even if they don't pay 6x the regular price of an air test. I regularly get fills from three of the four.

 

[DPVDiver]

If you ask those stores, at least the three I deal with they will be able to give you their two test results. 1 - for regular air 2 - for air sent through there hydrocarbon filter for mixing nitrox. The levels and acceptable levels are right there on the test sheet for both.
At least last time I checked.

 

[pufferfish]

DPVDiver once bubbled...
If you ask those stores, at least the three I deal with they will be able to give you their two test results. 1 - for regular air 2 - for air sent through there hydrocarbon filter for mixing nitrox. The levels and acceptable levels are right there on the test sheet for both.
At least last time I checked.

DPV how about posting here the fill station name, the lab used and date of the test, and the actual value for the condensed hydrocarbon (oil) and particulates. Out of those four shops I think you might find one can provide you with a recent (less than six months) oil and particulate value but I could be wrong. In particular I am interested in a particulate assessment. I will gladly stand corrected on this matter if you can show otherwise.

 

[pufferfish]

DPVDiver once bubbled...
As for the air tests, I would trust any of the above mentioned stores. Even if they don't pay 6x the regular price of an air test.

DPV if you are going to post stuff please get your facts straight. Assuming the OUC is still offering air testing a test from them costs $120 if you are a member.

A test from an accredited lab like Maxxam or Seatech costs $250 per test.

If the shop does the test twice a year as required by CSA Z180.1-00 then we are talking a whole extra $260 a year for the shop. What is that about fifty cents a fill or less?

I don't see the problems here folks with having all shops use an accredited lab other than maybe some of those poorly maintained systems out there might fail the test.