Nitrox cylinder to use for air?

[Steve_C]

What's VIP? ��

Visual inspection. Tanks are supposed to have it done each year. It will have a sticker. Basically they take off the valve, look inside, check a couple other things.

 

[Mustard Dave]

Visual inspection. Tanks are supposed to have it done each year. It will have a sticker. Basically they take off the valve, look inside, check a couple other things.

The OP's from the UK - over here, the requirement is visual every 2 1/2 years and hydro every 5.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Drain it per Steve_C's post, and absolutely remove the sticker. I was taught, and I teach, that only dedicated labeled cyllinders are to be used for nitrox.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Mustard Dave]

Drain it per Steve_C's post, and absolutely remove the sticker. I was taught, and I teach, that only dedicated labeled cyllinders are to be used for nitrox.
DivemasterDennis

Hang on a moment - we don't know what sort of label it is yet...

hi
i was wondering if someone could help please?
I have bought a second hand cylinder and it is labeled up as Nitrox. Do I simply drain it and fill it with air (and remove sticker)? Or is there something 'special' I need to do?

thanks

What sort of label is it? There are a couple of types.


The type above is a roll of tape used to mark a cylinder after the gas has been filled with anything other than air and has been analysed. The person testing it will write the specific mixture of gas the cylinder contains.



This one is to say the cylinder has been O2 cleaned and is suitable to be used with 100% oxygen within the dates marked on the bottle.

If it is the first type, you have two options, but first, you have been alerted to the fact the cylinder may contain a gas mixture other than air. You can either ditch the contents of the cylinder and re-fill it, or you can analyse it and breathe it. If you are going to breathe it, the contents should always be verified by the diver - never take one of these labels as gospel, as it could have been incorrectly tested or mislabelled.

The second type says nothing about the contents - the purpose of this label is to tell anybody handling the cylinder it contains oxidising gas (for fire safety reasons) and to tell the pump-monkey that the cylinder is O2 clean and can be safely filled with oxygen. If this is the type of label the OP is talking about, there is no need to remove it, even if she only wants to use it with air. Removing it would only mean she would have to pay again for it to be O2 cleaned if she wanted to use it with nitrox in future.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm admittedly not a Nitrox or Gas "expert". But my guess would be that after you empty it according to the good advice given, you may want to remove any sticker that says Nitrox or O2 clean--just in case you at some point want to get it filled again with Nitrox after using Air, and you are using a shop or place that doesn't do this safely (ei.; doesn't pre-blend the nitrox or have the "membrane" that does that, such as at our shop and apparently many others). You don't need the Nitrox label if you are dealing with shops that can fill a regular air tank safely with Nitrox. Of course, that is if you are SURE you'll use the nitrox tank yourself and not some other diver picking it up by mistake thinking it's Air. There would be other info. placed on the tank anyway indicating whose tank it is, what the Nitrox Blend is, etc.--if that other person bothers to read what they pick up by mistake.

 

[MrsNic]

Hang on a moment - we don't know what sort of label it is yet...



What sort of label is it? There are a couple of types.

its a massive one saying EANx NITROX

---------- Post added March 11th, 2015 at 11:55 PM ----------

The only reason I thought about removing the sticker is in case someone picked it up and went to use it thinking it had Nitrox in it?

 

[MrsNic]

 

[Mustard Dave]

its a massive one saying EAN NITROX

Does it say the actual mix though? Is there a date stamp on the sticker saying the date it was 02 cleaned, or when it must next be cleaned?

Edit - just seen the photo after posting.

Just leave the sticker as it is - all it is for is to say it is O2 clean and suitable for nitrox. You can put air in there without any problem.

As you are unsure of the contents, either drain it and get it refilled, or test it.

 

[diver 85]

The OP's from the UK - over here, the requirement is visual every 2 1/2 years and hydro every 5.

Lucky dogs---on the VIP....For once the US came learn something from you brits.....

 

[rongoodman]

The only reason I thought about removing the sticker is in case someone picked it up and went to use it thinking it had Nitrox in it?

No one in their right mind would do that without analyzing it first. I'd just remove the sticker because I think they're tacky. A small sticker, like the ones from Halcyon, or a piece of tape with the analysis on it is more than enough.