O2 Cleaning for Nitrox

[loosenit2]

My question for the OP. Is that note meant for diving in the park or at the fill station should one want a nitrox fill?

i believe it is for the fill station only.. never had a park or dive operator check my tanks if not doing a fill

 

[Couv]

i believe it is for the fill station only.. never had a park or dive operator check my tanks if not doing a fill

If it's for Nitox fills then their requirement makes absolute sense if they are partial pressure filling.

 

[loosenit2]

If it's for Nitox fills then their requirement makes absolute sense if they are partial pressure filling.

It would make sense if that is what they did, but I said in the original post that they bank 32%. Appears they require it for all NITROX fills.

 

[Couv]

but I said in the original post that they bank 32%.

ooops, missed that. ;-)

 

[Divin'Papaw]

There is one shop I know of down here in South FL that banks nitrox but won't fill non-O2 clean tanks. I refuse to use them nor their boats for that specific reason. All of the other shops I know of gladly fill non-O2 clean tanks with banked nitrox of 32-36%.

I'm not aware of a single incident caused by a non-O2 clean tank filled with banked EAN32 or EAN36 that exploded due to the PPO2 being too high. If anyone knows of any please let me know and point me to the details if possible.

 

[tursiops]

There is one shop I know of down here in South FL that banks nitrox but won't fill non-O2 clean tanks. I refuse to use them nor their boats for that specific reason. All of the other shops I know of gladly fill non-O2 clean tanks with banked nitrox of 32-36%.

I'm not aware of a single incident caused by a non-O2 clean tank filled with banked EAN32 or EAN36 that exploded due to the PPO2 being too high. If anyone knows of any please let me know and point me to the details if possible.

I don't think you will find such a report. The only filling danger with (say) 32% Nitrox is when it starts as 100% plus the right amount of 21% to dilute it down.

 

[NAM001]

Interesting. The shop I get nitrox from uses a membrane system. They'll fill any tank with up to 36%. I usually have my normal (i.e. not O2 cleaned) aluminum 80's filled with 32%.

Apparently this shop (and they're pretty busy...) is under the impression that a cylinder and valve need only be O2 cleaned if they are to come in contact with gas > 40% O2.

any vessel or container (includes piping) is subject to.

 

[NAM001]

There is one shop I know of down here in South FL that banks nitrox but won't fill non-O2 clean tanks. I refuse to use them nor their boats for that specific reason. All of the other shops I know of gladly fill non-O2 clean tanks with banked nitrox of 32-36%.

I'm not aware of a single incident caused by a non-O2 clean tank filled with banked EAN32 or EAN36 that exploded due to the PPO2 being too high. If anyone knows of any please let me know and point me to the details if possible.

They are now and have been pushing the idea that all nitrox fills are done in the worst case pure O2 and then topped of with air. In which case supposedly to make 23.5% you have enough O2 that exceeds the psi of the 50 Psi or so to require O2 cleaning. Things like this irk me because the tank is only O2 clean till the first fill which using the same worst case is not guaranteed to be clean gas as regulations go. Rather it assumes that all fill stations and handlers are in full compliance, which we know is a case of failed logic to start with. clean tanks are worthless if your compressor piping is not clean also. O2 and air sistems are supposed to be separated or In other words not use the same lines. The only work around to this is to have an additional filter system supplying the grade E hip whips. or all air is hyp air. nitrox delivery as I have been told by courses have to be separate lines or considered to all be O2 lines. That dies not work with oil compressors. Regs IMO are excessive when it comes to nitrox but then the rules were made for general use and not scuba use. Again IMO it is hard to create teh condition the rules were made to protect us from in the scuba realm as opposed to the general industrial world.

 

[bletso]

There is one shop I know of down here in South FL that banks nitrox but won't fill non-O2 clean tanks. I refuse to use them nor their boats for that specific reason. All of the other shops I know of gladly fill non-O2 clean tanks with banked nitrox of 32-36%.

That's way way it should be done. Vote in their pocket book, but make sure they know why. There are establishments I will never do business with again. They now why. When enough people hit them where it hurts they will change their policies.

 

[rddvet]

There is one shop I know of down here in South FL that banks nitrox but won't fill non-O2 clean tanks. I refuse to use them nor their boats for that specific reason. All of the other shops I know of gladly fill non-O2 clean tanks with banked nitrox of 32-36%.

I'm not aware of a single incident caused by a non-O2 clean tank filled with banked EAN32 or EAN36 that exploded due to the PPO2 being too high. If anyone knows of any please let me know and point me to the details if possible.

Sounds like Jupiter dive center. I’m vip certified, always carry my card, but they wouldn’t fill my tanks from their premixed nitrox because I stickered the tanks clean for nitrox preblend but not oxygen. I specifically stickered that way because my valves were due for rebuild and I didn’t have time to do it, so couldn’t confirm they’d be oxygen clean. I had a long argument with the shop manager and their gear tech about why oxygen clean wasn’t necessary for preblend but it didn’t matter. Basically they just wanted to vip my tanks. It especially makes no sense because it was never an issue in the past. Between that and three dives where they couldn’t actually drop us over the reef and kept dumping us in the sand I gave up on them.