pescador775
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Here's the deal; oil vapor and volatiles like toluene (byproduct of overheated diester oil) carry a strong odor. Most divers can detect " bad" air. WRT the boogey man, carbon monoxide, a breathing gas laden with CO may carry an odor because CO is a product of combustion and is often entrained with smoke and particles. However, it is possible that a compressor could inhale or generate CO which is rendered odorless after passing through a filtration system. Thus, some divers may have an interest in CO detection equipment. Then, there is the oxygen clean issue. Generally, if the diver has normal sense of taste and smell it would be redundant to carry any instrumentation for contaminant detection unless the diver wishes to insure integrity of an oxygen clean tank. This is because the contaminant level which voids the O2 clean "warrantee" may be lower than the sensitivity of some divers' noses. However, assuming the contaminants being sampled have already been pumped into the tank this raises a problem for that situation. In any case, the diver's nose is the best judge of acceptable air for general diving use (except for CO). Therefore, if the diver is apprehensive about the quality of air when traveling or otherwise using questionable air sources it would appear to be sufficient to transport and use a portable CO monitor such as the Oxycheq product and depend on common senses for the rest. Beyond this I see no advantage in carrying scientific equipment for sampling and analysis, that is unless the diver is a salesman offering filter media and similar.