W W Meixner
Banned
The Captain Hook's dive shop in Big Pine Key, FL will not fill a tank with air if it has a nitrox sticker attached to it. I've never encountered this before. The shop claims it's a DOT regulation. If that's the case, then every other dive shop along the east coast I visit apparently is violating DOT regulations. Is this correct?
BP...
There is no regulation...
Some shops that are performing partial pressure fills...have two banks...one bank for air...and one ''hyper-filtered'' bank for NITROX/other mixed gas fills...
If they fill your O2 cleaned/NITROX banded tanks from the ''air'' bank...you tanks will require O2 cleaning before they can be filled with NITROX blends again...
If you've got O2 cleaned tanks...with NITROX bands...and you only want an air fill...fills should be from the hyper-filtered bank...
I used to do this all the time...
This way your tanks will stay O2 cleaned...
Any time you want 21% in O2 cleaned tanks you should always ask if their ''air'' bank is hyper-filtered NITROX compatible...
There are likely hundreds of divers in the field with O2 cleaned/NITROX banded tanks that are no longer O2 cleaned because of non-hyper-filtered 21% fills...
Warren...