Graeme Tolton
Contributor
Testing the air going into the compressor wont tell you if your compressor is creating co.
This is why I own a CO Monitor..
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Steel 12litre filled with air (21%)
---------- Post added July 1st, 2013 at 07:44 PM ----------
The petrol powered compressor that filled this cylinder is mounted permanently into a van (truck). Its not a new compressor & the exhaust & intake locations are for want of a better word - compromised.
However, I (knowing the people involved) suspect that this compressor is run for too long & gets far too hot.
I'm still wishing someone would set up another group buy for CO analyzers like last year.
Absolutely correct. I wasn't trying to be scientific, but rather to give an "every day" reference point of how bad that reading was.
Scared Silly
Contributor
tplyons
Contributor
Definitely feeding my urge to buy one too.
And that is the main reason for the post...
If one person now takes air fills a little more seriously then this thread will have done its job.
My friend has had a headache for 2 days but is otherwise fine & the HSE has already been in touch - they seem to be taking this very seriously.
Just because it is filled by a 'diving professional' doesn't mean its not bad for you..
Griffo
Contributor
Scary Scary incident. A a very good reminder to test EVERY tank before diving.
swamp diver
Contributor
Anytime you see a petrol-powered compressor I would assume the tanks are at high risk for CO contamination. It is very easy for the wind to change direction and lead to contaminated intake air or on windless days for an exhaust plume to build up around the compressor vertically and horizontally until the intake is part of the plume. We had two deaths here a decade ago from a spreading exhaust plume on a wind-free day.
Research has been done looking at these plumes using portable petrol-powered compressors on fire trucks. Even with the compressor and its exhaust at the back of the truck and the intake up by the cab's roof it was shown on a windless day that plume will soon engulf the entire truck. As a result many of the trucks now not only have a CO monitor on the filtered compressed air but also a CO monitor hanging off the snorkel intake which the supervisor can hear should it alarm and can monitor the quality of the ambient air.
Personally I would never dive a tank from a petrol-powered compressor unless I checked my tank with a CO analyzer beforehand. The risk of CO contamination is just too high and as this thread shows it is usually not just a few ppm but often CO concentrations where the surface effective concentration could kill you at max recreational depths.
I'd be curious to know if the filters had a catalyst bed (i.e Hopcalite) to convert CO to CO2? It should have had one with the petrol powered compressor. If it did have a catalyst bed then the CO concentration upstream of the filter would have been much higher.
It would also be interesting to note if there was an odour to the air. As we saw on this board in a previous CO fatality involving a petrol-powered compressor there was no exhaust odour because the activated charcoal bed was new and removed the exhaust odour leaving only the CO which is odourless.
Selchie in LB
Contributor
What about boat refills? I notice the boat's engine always running during fills. I never really questioned the possibility of CO contamination.
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