A tour of Meridiano 87 - filling station

[DandyDon]

Sounds like your technique was spot on, RubberDucky. You might see what the Analox CO tester looks like next month if you want a backup.

 

[swamp diver]

And if they weren't, the source of contamination (CO or other) may not be the last filling station.

In a general sense this is true but at most resorts and shops they only use one fill station, however there may be multiple compressors to sort through at the one fill station. As you probably know in Cozumel if a dive op is using Meridiano all their tanks would be filled solely by that operation.

For personal tanks at home if one always checks each and every tank before diving then an anomalous tank would be from the compressor which last filled the tank.

 

[ReefHound]

For personal tanks at home if one always checks each and every tank before diving then an anomalous tank would be from the compressor which last filled the tank.

These tanks weren't being checked regularly. It was a customer checking not the dive op.

I'm just sayin', there are other possibilities.

 

[beachnik]

Thanks RD for posting your experience testing tanks from Meridiano... In the meantime get yourself a quality low reading CO detector and test each tank before use.

Wow, this is really good info. I think the solution is for us (or PADI/DAN) to band together and hire you to go back to Cozumel as our ambassador.

My memory is far from flawless, I hope I don't screw this up, but here goes...

I visited Meridiano on May 10. That was the end of a one week dive trip - daily diving - 2 to 4 dives per day. There were 8 in our group. Most of us were using 'air', one person was alternatively diving with 'air' and 'nitrox'. No one complained about nausea, shortness of breath or anything that would cause me to think that we had any bad air.

RubberDucky would have been using Meridiano tanks about a week after my visit. Of course, there are lots of unknowns here. Were the tanks he used partially filled a week previously and then topped off a few days before his dive (?). You can develop an almost endless list of possibilities.

Having toured the plant myself a decade ago I seemed to recall that it would be difficult for any vehicle to get near the intakes, however a loading dock was on the other side of the plant where tanks were loaded and offloaded. If a truck left their engine running it is possible the exhaust would fill the plant and enter those intakes.

The Norwalks are together, sitting end-to-end, in a room by themselves. The room is just big enough for the compressors and some space around them. To enter the 'Norwalk room', I went directly from the filling station area through a regular door.

The loading dock is immediately adjacent to the filling stations. It's a logical layout, but your point is well taken, if a truck is left to idle at the loading dock, that could create problems. I don't recall if there was a device on the door to the compressor room that would cause the door to close automatically. I've clearly forgotten something, any room with large machinery has to have an over-sized door that allows big equipment to be moved in-and-out - - I don't remember such a door.

When I was in the 'Norwalk room', I looked up towards the ceiling - I think there was some type of window/skylight arrangement overhead (hmmm, there's that memory thing again). I suspect it wasn't open. Read on.

When I was a kid just out of high school, I worked for a while in a machine shop. I remember as I stepped into the Norwalk compressor room there was that strong aroma that I associate with machine shops - kinda' an oily smell. The smell prompted me to put my hand a few inches from one of the Norwalks, it was pretty warm. I don't mean to alarm anyone, I don't know that this is a problem, it's just the thing that caught my attention. I guess if there were 'ventable skylights' in the compressor room - and they were opened - it could suck air from the loading dock into the compressor room on it's way out through the skylights. Who knows. Lot of speculation here.

The temp that day was about 85F. It was warm in the 'Norwalk room'. It didn't bother me or the guy giving the tour, but someone else in the group said 'OK, I've had enough, let's get out of this room'.

but there are no photos of the backup Bauer compressors which may be installed in whatever space they had left over resulting in poor cooling. One of the posts in this thread said the Norwalk compressor was down for repairs, and that the Bauer compressors were in use.

The repair of the Norwalk (hence, the use of the Bauer) had been done some time (weeks?) before my visit.

The Bauers are in a separate room adjacent to the Norwalk room (even further from the loading dock). There's a door between the two rooms. As I mentioned in the OP, the Bauers were not in use during my visit. The aroma of 'oily air' fell off quickly as I entered this room and closed the door separating the two compressor rooms.

Frankly, I didn't ask any questions about the 'oily air' smell because I assume it to be normal around machinery. I should have asked questions.

Incidentally, there are several big bay doors on different sides of the filling area and loading dock. That should help keep truck exhaust away from the compressor rooms. Read my separate post following this one.

I'd certainly would like to know if Meridiano is running a purification system with catalyst in the filter to convert CO to CO2. Catalyst though is very moisture sensitive and if the filters were wet (oily taste suggests condensate getting through) the catalyst would not be able to convert the CO to CO2.

Don't know. I'll see if I can find out.

 

[beachnik]

About the loading dock and the various doors around the exterior of Meridiano 87...

Want to see the Meridiano facility (exterior) and take a 'walk' around it?

Some of you know what Google 'Street View' is. Lots don't. If you don't know specifically what 'Street View' is (it's not 'Satellite' view and it's not 'Map' view), save yourself (and us) a lot of time and aggravation, visit this page first:
Google Maps with Street View

OK, now that I've got the ranting and whining out of the way, go here:
Cozumel - general interest - Google Maps

Notice I've put a little marker at the location of Meridiano (corner of 30 Av. Sur and 7 Sur). Drag the 'street' view icon over the Meridiano location and you'll be switched to street view. You'll now be able to 'walk' down 7 Sur where you'll see one of the docks with two large bay doors. I think this dock is for picking up full tanks.

Now, walk east on 7 Sur to the back of the building. Go north on 'General Francisco J. Mujica'. That'll take you to the dock used to unload empty tanks. This photo is so dark, you can't see deep into the production area. However, the 'Norwalk room' is back further (west) and to the right (north) of this dock.

Incidentally, some of you know this, but some don't. If you want to visit the Meridiano web site and see a translation of the Spanish, use Google to do the translation, like this:

Google Translate

When you arrive at the above page, you'll see a ton of tanks being filled in the filling station area. There were no where near that number of tanks during my recent visit.

 

[helman]

informacion importante les informo que con ayuda de la tienda de buceo aldora divers en cozumel, la empresa meridiano 87 ya ha instalado equipos para monitorear el CO en linea y asi ofrecer mas seguridad y confianza a todos sus clientes y usuarios de sus servicios

 

[DandyDon]

informacion importante les informo que con ayuda de la tienda de buceo aldora divers en cozumel, la empresa meridiano 87 ya ha instalado equipos para monitorear el CO en linea y asi ofrecer mas seguridad y confianza a todos sus clientes y usuarios de sus servicios

Here is one possible translation...

important information to inform you that with the help of the dive shop in Cozumel Aldora Divers, Meridian 87 and the company has installed equipment to monitor the CO in line to offer more security and confidence to all its customers and service users

Great it sounds like the Analox Clear units have been installed. I would love to see pics if anyone goes down for a tour....?!

 

[Brules]

No pics of M87? Great thread though!

 

[DandyDon]

Oh I will still test every tank. There are still things that can be missed. But glad they finally got them installed and kudos to Dave for making the deal...!!

 

[beachnik]

Terrific. I was just there (Cozumel), wish I'd known - I would have definitely visited Meridiano.