Article: Carbon Monoxide in Scuba Tanks: Risks and Protection

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DandyDon

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Personally it may be considered that equally important
with far higher statistics relative to unbenownst to them
diver incident statistic is to be trained beyond experience
Electronic gadget or not
Let's say one has been present during one thousand fills
I'm really not too sure be they 21 or other that other
than the operator or the odd end user did much checking
An understanding of how a hunky dory fill station should
look and smell may perhaps be a far more legitimate for a
life saving course than implicated fear through information


In other words learn your stuff before you go have fun
 
I still get the sense that many experienced divers (of which I am not one) think that the concern with CO and especially the drive to buy expensive analyzers is an overkill response to a very low likelihood risk. There are lots more commonn ways to get into trouble and the reliance on yet another piece of technology perhaps sends a wrong message that we can be complacent underwater as long as we have bought enough cool stuff. I expect to buy a CO analyzer. But I am still taking the lesson - like from the recent tragedy in Cozumel - that basic buddying skills, using your training, and vigilant self-reliance (not just assuming that your DM will protect you) are required at all times. The toys can be helpful and if you can afford them, why not. But they are not a substitute for the basics. The more experience I get, the more I realize that I have to start being more self-reliant and less reliant on the DM like a newb.
 
I still get the sense that many experienced divers (of which I am not one) think that the concern with CO and especially the drive to buy expensive analyzers is an overkill response to a very low likelihood risk.

One question is whether the old belief from experienced divers that CO is infrequent is erroneous. Previously, instruments to measure CO were rare, expensive and inconvenient. It's only in the last couple of years that most measurements were not made under ideal compressor operating conditions right after the filters were changed. So previous beliefs that there were no problems were based on basically never checking.

Now keep in mind that problems with CO depend on how much someone gets. So remembering the symptoms of CO, how many of those cases of post-dive tiredness, traveller's flu or even dry coughs might actually have been caused by a non-lethal dose of CO and other contaminants. And although panic attacks and in-water heart attacks are usually triggered by something more obvious like exertion and victims being pushed over the edge, how many of those cases were contributed to by the edges having been moved closer by CO having blocked part of the blood stream's oxygen carrying capacity?

All of these may or may not be happening. Old 'observations' from the era when it wasn't being realistically or regularly measured aren't good evidence, so need people to get out and measure it. In the mean time, there's already a small amount of circumstantial evidence and anecdote that CO may be contaminating as much as 3-5% of all tanks in concentrations that can be medically significant, mentioned previously in this and other thread. There have also been recent reports in other threads from people who have been using these instruments that they are occasionally finding problems. So problems are happening, but the question is how often.
 
Is CO a problem? We need the facts. If someone is using an analyzer and finds tanks high in CO please post it here on SB. This will bring attention to that dive operation more than walking way and hopefully influence shops to meet our expectations and prevent a fellow diver form possibly getting a CO hit in the future.

ML
 
I still get the sense that many experienced divers (of which I am not one) think that the concern with CO and especially the drive to buy expensive analyzers is an overkill response to a very low likelihood risk. There are lots more commonn ways to get into trouble and the reliance on yet another piece of technology perhaps sends a wrong message that we can be complacent underwater as long as we have bought enough cool stuff. I expect to buy a CO analyzer. But I am still taking the lesson - like from the recent tragedy in Cozumel - that basic buddying skills, using your training, and vigilant self-reliance (not just assuming that your DM will protect you) are required at all times. The toys can be helpful and if you can afford them, why not. But they are not a substitute for the basics. The more experience I get, the more I realize that I have to start being more self-reliant and less reliant on the DM like a newb.

However, in this case basic skills may not be enough to save ones life. CO toxicity can sort of sneak up on you, when you least expect it, rendering you unconcious before anyone can realize it. And if your buddy got his air from the same batch of tanks, or from the same faulty or poorly maintained compressor, then he too may be susceptable to that same poisoning. Basic buddy skills serve a diver, any diver greatly at any level, however they can be rendered moot when both you and your buddy are rendered incapitated oir ill at depth. And sometiems, for al lthe skill in the world, a highly trained, astute buddy may not be enough to help if you go unconscious at depth, loose your reg, and asphyxiate on water. Of course, the incident pit is never that forgiving. A more liklely scenario, is that you fall unconscious, your reg falls away, you draw in water while unconscious. Your buddy finally notices after taking pictures of a moray eel, panics, and rushes you to the surface, blowing past a safety stop or any deco obligation the two of you might have. So now in this worst case scenario, they still have to attempt reviving you, clearing your airways, hopefully getting you on O2, hopefully getting you to medical aid as soon as humanly possible, then getting you and your buddy into a chamber. What could have avoided a near death experience, two bent divers, and a small fortune in hospital costs? a $300 "toy." Most toys are not that effective.

Suggesting that CO analyzers can be viewed as some sort of a nicky-neat toy, takes away from the true purpose of the devices. You should not look at a CO tester and think toy, you should think required tool for my trade or even life support testing. Just as you look at (hopefully) your BC or regulators being life support. If we instill this sort of thinking in new divers, then perhaps they will not view their equipment as toys or as just gear. What you are posting about is a pervasive attitude, amongst recreational divers who look at dive gear as though it is no more than snorkel gear. I think the watering down of a lot of certification programs are a direct cause of this sort of attitude. Just as a Nitrox diver would not dream(Hopefully) of not testing their Oxy content of their tank, we should not think of diving without testing the quality of our air/gas. In this instance, I would much rather decome dependant on this tool, which just may save my life, and is a far cry from becoming dependant on a dive computer for instance. Both devices give me information, however one calculates information I should be able to calculate on my own, whereas the CO checker gives me information I cannot gather otherwise.
 
How would this work when diving with Nitrox, are you able to test for both?

---------- Post added April 9th, 2012 at 02:06 PM ----------

How would this work when diving with nitrox, would the co change the mix of nitox?
 
I imagine the sensor will still pick up the CO since its designed to sense a different molecule. So for Nitrox, all you do is two separate tests, one for Oxy content, the other for CO content.
 
My husband and I are fairly new divers (less than 100 dives each). We both took the PADI open water, and Advanced, and have done nitrox training. Until recently I did not even know that CO poisoning was a potential issue with diving! I don't recall seeing that in the books, or dvds, or hearing it from a real live person. Maybe I missed it? Anyway, thank you for all the discussion, and opening my eyes to this possibility.

I think it makes a lot of sense to get a tester and check the tanks before you dive - $300 is not a lot to spend if it could save you & your buddy's life! Any recommendations on a specific tester to purchase? Thanks for the great discussion! Headed to bed a much more educated diver!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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