So you think you are diving air...

[lhpdiver]

This thought occurred to me this morning. Round here anyway, if you take a tank with no nitrox sticker on it from a dive op (implying air) , it could have anywhere from 21% - 36% nitrox. No one bleeds off a tank's content before refilling. Depending on the roll of the dice you could be breathing almost anything.

btw - the pretty yellow/green band means very little. Alot of tanks with no bands on them are filled with nitrox...

 

[lamont]

which is why i think everyone should get nitrox training in BOW, and should be trained in using O2 analyzers and encouraged to purchase one, and the silly tank band marking thing should be relegated to arcane history. those green and yellow bands should simply be assumed to be on every single tank. the NOAA nitrox standards were written at a time when nitrox was uncommon and portable O2 analyzers weren't used.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Its good to have your own tanks at times eh?

 

[lhpdiver]

Its good to have your own tanks at times eh?

I have 11 tanks - but I leave them all home when I travel

 

[Divesherpa]

Sounds like a great reason not to dive deep air on rental tanks, eh?

I agree with lamont on this one. When I teach an OW class, I almost insist that students do the nitrox class immediately ( hence, a huge course discount).

Also, as bug stated, diving your own tanks makes this very easy. When you get them from being filled, analyze them, label them, then DIVE,DIVE, DIVE!!!

 

[Divesherpa]

I have 11 tanks - but I leave them all home when I travel

I believe most shops sell analyzers. This sounds like a great reason to support your LDS. By the way, 02 analyzers have a VERY minimal markup, so, Buy Local, Dive Global.

Problem solved!!

 

[friscuba]

Any shop which fills a non-labeled tank with nitrox should be reported to their affiliated agencies. If you know this is really happening, it should be reported and the owner/operator/responsible crew members ought to be chastized. They may think they are doing someone a harmless favor by filling a tank with nitrox, but there are dangers involved.

later,

Steve

This thought occurred to me this morning. Round here anyway, if you take a tank with no nitrox sticker on it from a dive op (implying air) , it could have anywhere from 21% - 36% nitrox. No one bleeds off a tank's content before refilling. Depending on the roll of the dice you could be breathing almost anything.

btw - the pretty yellow/green band means very little. Alot of tanks with no bands on them are filled with nitrox...

 

[lhpdiver]

Any shop which fills a non-labeled tank with nitrox should be reported to their affiliated agencies. If you know this is really happening, it should be reported and the owner/operator/responsible crew members ought to be chastized. They may think they are doing someone a harmless favor by filling a tank with nitrox, but there are dangers involved.

later,

Steve

Perhaps this is a good candidate for one of those ScubaBoard Polls...

"Have you ever received a nitrox fill in a tank with no green/yellow band on the tank" ?

 

[vodolaz]

Any shop which fills a non-labeled tank with nitrox should be reported to their affiliated agencies. If you know this is really happening, it should be reported and the owner/operator/responsible crew members ought to be chastized. They may think they are doing someone a harmless favor by filling a tank with nitrox, but there are dangers involved.

As long as MODs suffice for labelling and doubles are left out of this altogether, I agree.

 

[jbd]

This thought occurred to me this morning. Round here anyway, if you take a tank with no nitrox sticker on it from a dive op (implying air) , it could have anywhere from 21% - 36% nitrox. No one bleeds off a tank's content before refilling. Depending on the roll of the dice you could be breathing almost anything.

btw - the pretty yellow/green band means very little. Alot of tanks with no bands on them are filled with nitrox...

DOT regulations required that cylinders containing compressed gases be labelled to indicate the contents of the tank. If any incident could be traced back to improper or non existent labeling, it probably wouldn't take much to get the DOT interested in taking a closer look at the scuba diving industry.