Loose rules in Fort Lauderdale, FL

[PfcAJ]

I wonder how you manage this? If you have a solid grasp of what you're talking about, you do know, of course, that there is no oxygen tank where we divers pick up Nitrox.

The same dive shop that fills my nitrox fills my oxygen.

 

[tarponchik]

The same dive shop that fills my nitrox fills my oxygen.

So we came to the same thing I said before: you trust the guy who filled your tank. End of story.

 

[CuzzA]

@tarponchik I'm sorry, but you're derailing this thread with nonsense. Let it go and move on.

 

[seeker242]

There is at least one training agency (obviously not PADI, SDI, or SSI) whose standards dictate that any dive below 100' must use Helium. Their thinking is that the risk of getting narked is too great past 100' without Helium in your mix. Obviously, there are divers who think the same way, or there wouldn't be an agency with those standards.

GUE. And there's nothing wrong with being extra safe.

 

[PfcAJ]

So we came to the same thing I said before: you trust the guy who filled your tank. End of story.

No, I don't. I analyze everything I breath. Air-100% oxygen.

There's no 'trust' involved.

 

[tarponchik]

Try looking at the manufacturers specs. For instance, page 23:

MO2-865 O2 EII Pro Technical Manual.pdf

Thanks, plus/minus 0.2% O2 looks nice. But we do not know their SOP how they test it. Like I said, most likely this is done in the air when results do not depend on the flow (as they disclose on pp 13 and 15).

 

[boulderjohn]

I feel pretty good about the accuracy of my analyzer, but if it is a percent or two off--well, I am afraid I don't think it matters. All around the world, thousands of people are trusting their nitrox analyzers every day. Have you heard of a recreational diver having an oxygen toxicity issue because of an inaccurate reading? In fact, have you heard of a recreational nitrox diver having an oxygen toxicity issue--period?

Well, what about technical divers, who use the same kinds of testing methods and go much closer to the edge on MODs? Yes, oxygen toxicity is too often a cause of a fatality, but is it because of an inaccurate gas reading? If so, I have never heard of it. Those fatalities come because the diver is breathing the wrong gas at the wrong depth because of some other error. The most well known recent one came when the diver insisted that the tank he had marked oxygen really had air in it, refused to analyze, and took it to 100 feet, where he might have realized it really did have oxygen in it just before he died. In another case, a diver who had not dived in months was sure he had air in his doubles and took them on a dive to 160 feet without analyzing--they had 36%. In another famous case, the diver intended to leave his tank with 50% at a shallow depot site but left his deep stage bottle there instead, then went on breathing his 50% bottle to a depth of 200 feet. None of those are due to analyzers being a percent or two off.

 

[Nemrod]

The Nitrox is completely okay at 100 feet or more, mix appropriate. If we want to invent more rules, just make them optional please. I am not into GUE, GOO, or what is the newest one, uh, UTD or some such?

As to the OP, having dived up and down that coast for many years with various operators you will find everything from those who guide you and try to hold your hand to those who will pull over the reef and yell DIVE-DIVE-DIVE and wave your axx off the boat.

Whatever SCUBA club or retail training business in Houston that has some particular set of rules do not expect them to be universal nor should they be. Most of the ops are pretty good at figuring you out before you even hit the water as to the need or not they are going to have to baby a diver or group of divers and adjust accordingly.

I just came back from down there, dove solo most of the time, the shops asked to see my cert cards for the first trip after that not and when a shop saw that I took the course from them it was pretty much done as to nanny diving for me. One of my most successful trips down SoFla ever, even in the Keys they let up on the nanny crap and just let me dive. I wish it were always that way.

N

 

[JohnnyC]

And maybe you still believe in Santa? Oxygen analyzers used by divers in dive shops to check tanks are so inaccurate you can use them only to tell if you got air or some kind of Nitrox, and then trust in the guy who mixed it. But if I am already taking extra risk by diving solo, why would I add another risk factor? Risks do accumulate, just like errors.

Lol, are you serious? AJ's covered enough already. Suffice it to say, you're flat out wrong.

 

[uncfnp]

And whose rules were being broken? The Houston scuba police department?

I am interested in understanding different peoples perspective on "scuba rules". Seems like lots of people are inventing lots of rules.

Certification agencies make rules that must be followed by instructors for training dives. Other than that, each dive op is free to make up any (or no) rules they desire. Although some places do have some odd government rules.

Last time I rented a tank the only card I presented was my visa. Even stranger, they asked me what size of tank and I said "a small one, those big ones look too heavy to carry". I definitely did not come across as a diver that knew what they were doing (I was renting the tank to service my regs...).

Who thinks there is such a thing as "standard scuba rules"?

The only scuba police worthy rule infraction that I saw was the viz sticker placed without an even cursory inspection and that only beacuse he charged for work not done. That is a rules violation in my book.