Smelly Air

[sambolino44]

Have you ever detected any kind of odor in the air from your scuba tank?

 

[DennisS]

I picked up two tanks at the local dive shop and when I first breathed it, I tasted toluene or xylene. I took it back to the shop and they agreed it was bad. We drained it and refilled it and it was fine. They started cracking valves and sniffing tanks looking for other bad tanks. I never had it happen before or since at the shop.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I have not, I do check mine for that tho. I know some people who have been made sick by the gas they breathe and in in each case the gas had a funny odor.

 

[gypsyjim]

I have never had it happen, but friends have. If the gas smells or tastes at all "funny", it is not a good idea to be breathing it, especially at depth/pressure. IMO

 

[Bob DBF]

Once, didn't get any smell or taste till fifty something feet. Buddy and I immediately surfaced and headed back to the dive shop, found out it was oil contamination, got the tanks cleaned and no problems since. It was quite a surprise. That was back in '81.


Bob
-----------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[ScubaSam]

I've only had one bad air incident earlier this year. It smelled/tasted funny but we thought it was because our gear was in the hot sun as we geared up and we thought it was either our mask or regs. It was a very hot day and we were anxious to get into the cold water. Buddies and I called the dive after 11 mins because the smell/taste did not go away while we were underwater.

I was the only one in our group of four who had a dull headache when we surfaced. I learned to trust my gut that if something seems "off" to stop, slow down and question it.

One of the filters had burned out in the air fill house and we were the unlucky four to get airfills from that bank.

 

[warmwaterturner]

Yep, twice in Cozumel. Both times on Nitrox mixes. It did not "smell" bad but it tasted odd.

 

[gypsyjim]

As Sam said it happened to a couple of my friends this summer, locally. It also happened at the old Sunset Waters Resort in Curacao a few years back, while I was traveling with a PADI course director. In both cases it was bad filters. The course director and his assistant ripped apart the system in Curacao themselves, and changed the filters, over the objection of the op, but upon inspection those filters WERE bad. One of a few issues they had with that operator.

 

[fjpatrum]

So, what does "odd" taste like? I can definitely smell any weirdness, if I'm not underwater that is, but how would you describe the taste of toluene or xylene or any other contaminant?

In my OW class they told us don't breathe air if it tastes bad, but didn't givve any kind of example of a "bad" taste. I have always assumed it was one of those "you'll know it if you come across it" situations, but any pointers of something to look for as a trigger would be good.

 

[Hank49]

So, what does "odd" taste like? I can definitely smell any weirdness, if I'm not underwater that is, but how would you describe the taste of toluene or xylene or any other contaminant?

In my OW class they told us don't breathe air if it tastes bad, but didn't givve any kind of example of a "bad" taste. I have always assumed it was one of those "you'll know it if you come across it" situations, but any pointers of something to look for as a trigger would be good.

It shouldn't have ANY taste or smell. To be safe, don't use any air that you can smell. It could be just a dirt filter that needs changed and is a bit moldy. I've used tanks like that. But it could be a lot worse too.