Reminder - Always Personally test your Nitrox Mix

[redacted]

What is the rational behind always testing ean; but assuming air is OK?

 

[Lorenzoid]

What is the rational behind always testing ean; but assuming air is OK?

Seems to me that if a shop has both Nitrox and air tanks being handled in the same area, there is NO good rationale for not testing tanks that are supposed to contain air.

 

[Kharon]

My training was that either you did the test yourself or watched it being done and logged. You never just grab a tank and trust it. That's why I don't use nitrox.

---------- Post added February 17th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ----------

Seems to me that if a shop has both Nitrox and air tanks being handled in the same area, there is NO good rationale for not testing tanks that are supposed to contain air.

Since the O2 costs, they are unlikely to be filling air with nitrox.

 

[redacted]

My training was that either you did the test yourself or watched it being done and logged. You never just grab a tank and trust it. That's why I don't use nitrox.

---------- Post added February 17th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ----------



Since the O2 costs, they are unlikely to be filling air with nitrox.

So, you think shops screw up FO2 mixes to save money???

 

[Doctorfish]

I think Awap makes 2 good points. Logically, if we test FO2 on nitrox tanks, we should be testing air tanks as well and also doing a Carbon monoxide analysis on everything. I would think few recreational divers actually do all that, I certainly don't.

As far as the second point is concerned, money might not be the driving factor. I vote for stupidity.

I guess we divers are just lucky there aren't more errors.

 

[rivers]

My tanks get analysed when i pick them up from the gas station, and on the dive day before i get in the water.

 

[scadreau]

As a blender, I can tell you that you should always test your tanks. Blenders are human and we make mistakes. Sometimes it is only a small fraction, sometimes it is several percent. There are many reasons it can happen, especially in a busy fill station. I have encountered one operation that had no working analyzer and will never dive with them again.

The life you save may be your own.

 

[uncfnp]

Most off was 68% in a tank marked for 36.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't think I've ever gotten a nitrox tank from a dive op where I was not handed an analyzer or watched the dive shop employee do the analysis right in front of me. I don't think you need to buy your own.
I agree completely that it is foolhardy to take another person's word for something so critical to your own survival. Even being off by a few points can affect your no deco time or MOD dramatically.

I rarely dive nitrox, but my experiences at several shops has been the same as yours. I suppose it makes some sense to buy your own analyzer if you dive nitrox a lot. Your own could also be out of whack but it is unlikely both yours and the shop's would both be.

 

[KevinNM]

I know people who always have a full tank or four in their truck. They analyze the tank(s) when they pull it out in the field to dive.