Testing your breathing Gases Prior to Diving

[tstormdiver]

Something very disturbing I witnessed & heard this week alone. I saw an instructor teaching a Nitrox class ask a technical diver (not an instructor) to show his students how to analyze their cylinders. A Nitrox instructor teaching the course & not knowing how to analyze & teach how to analyze is completely unacceptable! I don't care what agency they instruct for. I also talked to a friend who wants to eventually move into technical diving, he was Nitrox certified & not taught how to analyze his cylinders. After talking to my head instructor at our shop, I will be giving this guy a Nitrox refresher course (probably much more thorough than what he had & with analysis done on several cylinders). What the blazes is going on? That instructors can not analyze or don't teach the analysis on contents? When I teach a Nitrox course I make my students analyze multiple cylinders on different analyzers. I even (if available) try to find a mis- matched marked cylinder with contents that are not what is marked on the cylinder to drive home the point, that if you have not analyzed or witnessed the analysis of the cylinders, you don't know what is in them. Don't ever assume!!!!

I even seriously ticked off a buddy who is much more advanced than I am, when I refused to begin a dive at Ginnie because he had not analyzed his cylinders. I am going to keep it family friendly here,... but told him in no uncertain terms that I did not want to have to pull him out, just because he had the wrong, or too hot a mix to dive the system. He begrudgingly checked his cylinders & all was good. My mind was at peace during the dive & it was a good one. Glad I stuck to my guns. If someone will short cut something as simple as analysis of their cylinders,... What else will they short cut?

 

[HIGHwing]

? I'm most concerned about the CO poisoning as I'm never deep enough to worry about an MOD on Nitrox and don't any other mixes.

^^^ Needs to review Enriched Air/Nitrox materials.

A Nitrox instructor teaching the course & not knowing how to analyze & teach how to analyze is completely unacceptable!

The moderators should split this off into an I2I thread so we can debate how you'd handle a blatent standards violation that puts divers at risk.

 

[Suzuki416]

Isn't the real issue with the Cave diver - not that he didn't analyse & mark his cylinders - just that he ignored what he'd put on the cylinder.
You can't stop this from happening. The cylinder was correctly labled - the person just choose to ignore the markings.

I check every cylinder for CO & O2 content & then tape them. Its real easy to fix this above water - & dumb to have to deal with it underwater.

 

[tstormdiver]

Isn't the real issue with the Cave diver - not that he didn't analyse & mark his cylinders - just that he ignored what he'd put on the cylinder.
You can't stop this from happening. The cylinder was correctly labled - the person just choose to ignore the markings.

I check every cylinder for CO & O2 content & then tape them. Its real easy to fix this above water - & dumb to have to deal with it underwater.

What are the chances,... that instead of just simply ignoring the markings,... he actually & honestly believed he had put air in the cylinder? No excuse for not analyzing. That would have been proof positive..... In today's busy society it is easy to be in the middle of something, get distracted & then think that you had done something when you had not. It happens to the best of us.... Kind of along the lines of the parents who have tragically lost their children due to distraction & leaving their children in a hot car.... No one ever means those things to happen,... but it does. I get laughed at because of the # of cylinders I have,... but I also believe in dedicated cylinders,... especially for Oxygen.

---------- Post added August 13th, 2013 at 01:57 PM ----------

The moderators should split this off into an I2I thread so we can debate how you'd handle a blatent standards violation that puts divers at risk.

Why? It goes to show how lax things have become. I seen several divers who don't analyze or know how to analyze. There's nothing to debate.

 

[PfcAJ]

What are the chances,... that instead of just simply ignoring the markings,... he actually & honestly believed he had put air in the cylinder? No excuse for not analyzing. That would have been proof positive..... In today's busy society it is easy to be in the middle of something, get distracted & then think that you had done something when you had not. It happens to the best of us.... Kind of along the lines of the parents who have tragically lost their children due to distraction & leaving their children in a hot car.... No one ever means those things to happen,... but it does. I get laughed at because of the # of cylinders I have,... but I also believe in dedicated cylinders,... especially for Oxygen.

It doesn't matter what you 'believe' is in the tank. The entire purpose of MOD stickers is so you don't breath the tank lower than the MOD. The second that gets thrown out the window, all bets are off.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

^^^ Needs to review Enriched Air/Nitrox materials.


The moderators should split this off into an I2I thread so we can debate how you'd handle a blatent standards violation that puts divers at risk.

Very simple. You report them. If you don't and you are a professional you are in violation of standards from the agencies I am familiar with.

And students should know this.

 

[fnfalman]

Why? It goes to show how lax things have become. I seen several divers who don't analyze

People do what they do, and you do what you do. Their lives are on their heads, especially if they were trained and decided to take shortcuts or ignore their teachings.

or know how to analyze.

You telling me that "trained" Nitrox/Advanced Nitrox/Mixed Gas divers were not trained how to use analytical devices in their classes? I find that hard to believe, especially with Advanced Nitrox/Mixed Gas divers.

There's nothing to debate.

Of course there's always things to debate.

 

[tstormdiver]

You telling me that "trained" Nitrox/Advanced Nitrox/Mixed Gas divers were not trained how to use analytical devices in their classes? I find that hard to believe, especially with Advanced Nitrox/Mixed Gas divers.

I am talking recreational Nitrox & recreational professionals that teach it. You may find it hard to believe, but it is there.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

When I travel overseas, then I'll worry about analyzing rental tanks.

The whole point of this silly thread is somebody thinks that paranoia is a solution to safe diving.

... I'd say the guy who died wasn't paranoid enough ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DBailey]

May I query, are you equating "reputable" with "error-free"? If so, may I know the make and model of the error-free robots your 'reputable' shops are using? I need a few to command as slave-bots here at my general locale.

Please remember that I am talking about air fills in non-O2 clean tanks.

I equate "reputable" with "responsible". Yes, is there a possibility of an error, but it is a miniscule risk.

I really like these discussions because it shows how people will go to the extreme for scuba diving, but I bet they do not take the same level of safety in their daily lives. I equate analyzing my air fills with wearing a helmet, fire retardant suit, and five-point harness while I drive. Is it safer? Yes. Is it overkill? Yes.