I know that's a somewhat-rhetorical question, since we must all to some degree.
But seriously, gas testing is only done every three months. While oil has a "taste", and so you have a personal "alarm", CO, as you probably know, is completely silent - and deadly, especially at depth.
Ever have a headache post-dive? It might have been CO2 retention. It also might have been low-level CO poisoning.
Many folks and places use the "eyeball" CO detectors. Those typcially won't change color until 100ppm of CO or more is reached. The problem is that under pressure, the PCO becomes too high - 100ppm is really 400ppm of equivalent at 99' (4 ATM), which is enough to get you in serious trouble and contribute to an accident, and will definitely make you feel like cr@p for hours with a really nice headache.
Most "residential" CO alarms don't do much for you either, since the UL, in its "inifinite wisdom", decided that alarming at <70ppm was causing too many "false alarms" and thus forced manufacturers to "detune" their devices.
But what if you could test for this potentially deadly problem reasonably cheaply, accurately, and as a bonus, you had a detector that was useful in your house or boat when you're NOT diving?
Look here:
http://www.avweb.com/news/aeromed/186016-1.html#coex
There is a link at the bottom to a company that sells these (this above link is a review) which goes here:
http://www.aeromedix.com/index.php?_siteid=aeromedix&action=sku&sku=coex
I have no interest in this company or its products (financial) but I recognize a good thing when I see it. I own a couple of these - one of the older ones that were previously used by the aviation folks (no longer sold, used to be made in Canada) on my boat, and one of these here at the house that I use for confirmation of "good" gas once in a while on my own fill station.
Since its battery operated you can shove it in a bag along with a large ziplock and use it for field tests. Just blow a bag's worth of gas from your tank in there with the unit and close it up for a couple of minutes. If it doesn't read "0", better find out why!
If you dive where you are forced to buy fills from folks you don't know REAL well this is cheap insurance. CO poisoning doesn't happen often, but it only has to happen to you once!
But seriously, gas testing is only done every three months. While oil has a "taste", and so you have a personal "alarm", CO, as you probably know, is completely silent - and deadly, especially at depth.
Ever have a headache post-dive? It might have been CO2 retention. It also might have been low-level CO poisoning.
Many folks and places use the "eyeball" CO detectors. Those typcially won't change color until 100ppm of CO or more is reached. The problem is that under pressure, the PCO becomes too high - 100ppm is really 400ppm of equivalent at 99' (4 ATM), which is enough to get you in serious trouble and contribute to an accident, and will definitely make you feel like cr@p for hours with a really nice headache.
Most "residential" CO alarms don't do much for you either, since the UL, in its "inifinite wisdom", decided that alarming at <70ppm was causing too many "false alarms" and thus forced manufacturers to "detune" their devices.
But what if you could test for this potentially deadly problem reasonably cheaply, accurately, and as a bonus, you had a detector that was useful in your house or boat when you're NOT diving?
Look here:
http://www.avweb.com/news/aeromed/186016-1.html#coex
There is a link at the bottom to a company that sells these (this above link is a review) which goes here:
http://www.aeromedix.com/index.php?_siteid=aeromedix&action=sku&sku=coex
I have no interest in this company or its products (financial) but I recognize a good thing when I see it. I own a couple of these - one of the older ones that were previously used by the aviation folks (no longer sold, used to be made in Canada) on my boat, and one of these here at the house that I use for confirmation of "good" gas once in a while on my own fill station.
Since its battery operated you can shove it in a bag along with a large ziplock and use it for field tests. Just blow a bag's worth of gas from your tank in there with the unit and close it up for a couple of minutes. If it doesn't read "0", better find out why!
If you dive where you are forced to buy fills from folks you don't know REAL well this is cheap insurance. CO poisoning doesn't happen often, but it only has to happen to you once!