Contaminated air = headache

[northernone]

Thinking back I realized a near miss I could relay.

Some time ago I managed to get a fill from an unknown source. A friend's friend had a compressor and did paintball fills.

Younger, and just happy to have air, I dove it without thought.

Air tasted funny after a few minutes into the dive, though I might have dipped the reg mouthpiece in the oily bottom of my canoe the previous post dive. Continued to 30ft, splitting headache developed. I'm not one to have headaches so I made my way to the shallows as it progressively got worse. Felt like brain freeze. Thought my hood might be choking me. Some confusion and I wasn't particularly coordinated.

Back on shore I smelled the air, burnt oil flavored. Drained the tank, did a quick viz. A fairly good coating of blackish brown oil inside.

Turns out he needed to rebuild his compressor and was trying to get a few more fills out of it waiting for the parts.

Unnecessary near miss from my earlier days. Had been taught to always smell my air, didn't make it a habit until after that day. Co2 is oderless but some other contaminates can be detected by smell and are well worth detecting. Sniff!

Regards,
Cameron

 

[RainPilot]

You, sir, lead a charmed life....

I realized the other day that I had fallen out of the habit of the sniff test, have had to force myself to start doing it again.

 

[Schwob]

...the oily bottom of my canoe...

Not to distract, good informational point, just wondering:
Is there another "story" to that oily bottom canoe?

 

[RainPilot]

It's a far North thing. When it comes to canoes, the oilier your bottom the better.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

You were lucky to survive- and lucky to not suffer from lipoid pneumonia or something such as that.

 

[Schwob]

It's a far North thing. When it comes to canoes, the oilier your bottom the better.

That may be and that may be quite interesting in itself, but I was not going there. I hereby solemnly clarify that my interest was not in anyone's bottom. Just the canoes'...
(Edit) Well OK on re-read you had that covered. after the initial read my reaction was "I wrote no such thing" , funny anyway)

 

[rjgiddings]

I'm sure I got some bad air in Kauai once. I got sick underwater, and surfaced. About two minutes later my dive buddy surfaced and he hurled on the surface. That was the most brink of panic experience. Never again. Awful.

I suspect the fill generators intake was - like most air compressors- an intake vent on the side of the building. Right where cars ( and UPS trucks) park. Engines idling. Cough, sputter.

This remains un-checked, as the dive shop has been there for 20+ years, and a few dozen tourists a day roll through that place. Super busy, and a great shop with great staff otherwise. You would think it'd be happening all the time. I have no real clue if it was a bad fill from that shop, or some random nausea that affected me and my buddy. Very, very strange.

 

[Joneill]

I have no real clue if it was a bad fill from that shop, or some random nausea that affected me and my buddy. Very, very strange.

Hence, why you should always test your tanks!