Air in tank marked Nitrox?

[TikTok]

A friend came back from diving today and in his photos I noticed he was wearing a yellow and green tank marked "NITROX". Now he isn't Nitrox certified but he said the dive op had assured him they had just filled the tank with air. This seems a bit odd to me. If a tank is marked for one gas, I would have expected people to stick to that gas (in this context at least). Otherwise I would have thought a accident could easily ensue if the tanks were mixed up and another diver was expecting Nitrox but received air.

Is this kind of situation common practise with dive operators?

 

[Chivas]

Not with anyone I would dive with. Only exception would be if they had no other choice for a tank to use and I PERSONALLY analyzed it with MY analyzer.

 

[Azza]

A friend came back from diving today and in his photos I noticed he was wearing a yellow and green tank marked "NITROX". Now he isn't Nitrox certified but he said the dive op had assured him they had just filled the tank with air. This seems a bit odd to me. If a tank is marked for one gas, I would have expected people to stick to that gas (in this context at least). Otherwise I would have thought a accident could easily ensue if the tanks were mixed up and another diver was expecting Nitrox but received air.

Is this kind of situation common practise with dive operators?

This does happen rather frequently but should pose no problems as long as the tank is marked with the oxygen percentage I.E. EAN21 in this case.

If I am doing a shallow dive (ie under 10 metres) I wont bother mixing nitrox and will fill my tank with air (Through a filter of course so it stays O2 clean) to save time and to free up the fill station

 

[jonnythan]

One of the big problems with those dumb nitrox stickers.

All you need is a piece of masking tape on the tank neck with the fill date and mix written on it.

 

[CIBDiving]

Well, your friend is certified to dive EAN 21. Some people get anal about tank markings, some won't fill a tank with a nitrox sticker with air or won't fill a non marked tank with nitrox. There is a fair reason for one, the other is more the shops problem than a real problem. A tank marked for nitrox is (supposedly) O2 clean, so you can put 100% O2 in for a PP blend. Some operators won't pump air into these bottle (I guess because they want you to pay for the nitrox fill) and have a varity of bogus reasons why. A tank Not marked is supposedly not O2 clean and a PP blend is considerably more dangerous.
Since there are all sorts of nitrox ( from air to 99% ) and they all require a different dive plan ( PPO2 and MOD ect.) just grabbing a bottle of nitrox that you don't know (and haven't verified) what it contains is not done anyway.

 

[RiverRat]

It's quite common for Nitrox divers to dive "air" in their Nitrox marked tanks. I do it all the time. After all, "air" is nothing more than 21% "nitrox". One must make sure though that you get good, clean fills, grade E air, so that the integrity of your Nitrox cleaned tank and valves remains intact. Especially if the place you get your Nitrox mixes O2 and air in the tank. Everything must remain "O2" clean. The reason the tanks are marked for Nitrox is so that air divers don't use them with Nitrox. Getting air instead of Nitrox could get you bent, and getting Nitrox instead of air may kill you outright. Any nitrox diver expecting nitrox would test his gas (O2 percentage) prior to the dive so that should not be a problem. I would think it's not common practice to use Nitrox tanks but if they were straight up about it and kept an eye on the tank I don't see a problem.

 

[Gary D.]

A friend came back from diving today and in his photos I noticed he was wearing a yellow and green tank marked "NITROX". Now he isn't Nitrox certified but he said the dive op had assured him they had just filled the tank with air. This seems a bit odd to me. If a tank is marked for one gas, I would have expected people to stick to that gas (in this context at least). Otherwise I would have thought a accident could easily ensue if the tanks were mixed up and another diver was expecting Nitrox but received air.

Is this kind of situation common practise with dive operators?

Every air tank has Nitrox in it to start with. Nitrox isn't some mysterious gas that was cooked up out of the blue. It is just the percentage of O2 your dealing with.

Basically your starting out with 21% O2. If you make it 22% O2 it called Nitrox and not air anymore.

I had a shop refuse to put air in a tank I had dedicated for Nitrox. They are using the same system, filters and hoses for both so that wasn’t an issue. The kid said he could only put Nitrox in a Nitrox tank. I told him I wanted a 21% mix and that was OK with him so he did it. He was nice but he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the marquee.

Just because the tank is marked Nitrox that isn’t the end. The percentage should to be there as well.

Gary D.

 

[RiverRat]

The kid said he could only put Nitrox in a Nitrox tank. I told him I wanted a 21% mix and that was OK with him so he did it. He was nice but he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the marquee.
Gary D.

I hope they don't let him work on regulators and stuff

 

[wedivebc]

I think any tank with a nitrox band that is a rental should be analyzed so that you know the tank monkey didn't just top off a 40% mix with air and call it good. A non-trained diver might not know how to analyze the mix so is at the mercy of the shop to analyze for you. With that in mind I think your concern has merit

 

[msedivingdoc]

A friend came back from diving today and in his photos I noticed he was wearing a yellow and green tank marked "NITROX". Now he isn't Nitrox certified but he said the dive op had assured him they had just filled the tank with air. This seems a bit odd to me. If a tank is marked for one gas, I would have expected people to stick to that gas (in this context at least). Otherwise I would have thought a accident could easily ensue if the tanks were mixed up and another diver was expecting Nitrox but received air.

Is this kind of situation common practise with dive operators?

:1poke: YES you should be concerned!!! If this was a professional charter...they know better. Simple mistakes happen, but if they give you a BS answer instead of concern you're better off never using them again. I get this from, "he said the dive op had assured him they had just filled the tank with air." If a dive op handed me an "air" tank and said...ohhh we filled it with nitrox... :lurk2: I would run not walk from the dive. :sulkoff: Certain procedures are there for safety... if broke the operation runs unsafe. So basically to TIktok and all, do not dive with a BS operation.
I did it once and my gal ran out of air at 40ft because of jacked rental equipment. When I showed the opperator the faulty gear the kid said, "Opps that one wasn't supposed to go out till fixed." I was furious :bigun2: ... what kinda answer is that???