Can anyone smell the air from a tank and determine where it was filled?

[GeorgeC]

Soooo.. I am in my LDS and a customer is picking up a tank looks at the bill and says $7.00 for a fill! Are the fill costs going to keep going up? The owner states the cost will go up and up because filter prices are going up. One of the filters cost $140 and needs to be changed every 100 hours of use. Coupled with the cost of air testing he makes nothing on fills.

Customer asks the owner how water gets in a tank. The owner states, bad air comes from improper maintenance on the compressor. Some shops don't change the filters as required? If the air smells like crayons then there could be oil/water in the air. I am thinking smells like crayons? If true, that could be way to know if you have bad air on a dive vacation.

Now for the closer.

Owner: As he looks down to about 50 customer tanks on the floor states as a matter of fact I can smell the air from any cylinder and tell you where you had it filled.

Customer: You got to be kidding me

Owner: No really there are a few places that fail to perform the necessary maintenance on the compressor and I can tell you what shop you had it filled.

So the feeling for embarrassment comes over me for him, once again he sets low expectations and fails to meet them every time, my hair stands on end and the douche chills envelop my body. Thinking to myself. How can he say this with an honest face and expect anyone to believe this.

I am wondering if he can smell the gas in my car and tell what gas station I use. lol

He is the guy who services all the regulators in the shop!

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

 

[Pug211]

Where you in TN that sounds like my shop....lol

 

[Scuba-Stu]

Fart in his intake and then see if he can tell where its coming from.

 

[almitywife]

i know a lds employee that is so full of himself its a wonder he doesnt smell **** everytime he opens his mouth

on the other hand, i do know a sydney dive shop that skimps on their maintance and ive received one of their deadly tank fills in the past & a reg service report that specifically asked me where i was getting my fills from so if someone was to have a bad tank i would suspect this shop (that i no longer go to)

 

[Garrobo]

If I can smell the air I wouldn't use it.

 

[FritzCat66]

Oh yeah, with a refined enough palate you can tell not only which dive shop a tank was filled at, but what percent oxygen is present, whether they used partial pressure fills or membrane, and how long the air has been in the tank as well. Without looking, a good taster can also tell if the tank is aluminum or steel, and even how many times the steel has been tumbled (these are of course advanced tasters).

I think there's a whole forum here for folks who insist only on "vintage" air - I believe some shops that cater to them keep cylinders of fill air just for them (they prefer air from the time Cousteau was still alive).

If breathed through a regulator, technical DIR tasters can even tell how long the hose is.

>*< Fritz

 

[Teamcasa]

If I can smell the air I wouldn't use it.

Ding!
If I can smell or taste it, I just blow it out and get a new fill somewhere else.

 

[spectrum]

We have a local shop with a dumpster, empty bait containers and LP gas tanks below the intake and I never noticed anyting.

 

[Scuba-Stu]

Oh yeah, with a refined enough palate you can tell not only which dive shop a tank was filled at, but what percent oxygen is present, whether they used partial pressure fills or membrane, and how long the air has been in the tank as well. Without looking, a good taster can also tell if the tank is aluminum or steel, and even how many times the steel has been tumbled (these are of course advanced tasters).

I think there's a whole forum here for folks who insist only on "vintage" air - I believe some shops that cater to them keep cylinders of fill air just for them (they prefer air from the time Cousteau was still alive).

If breathed through a regulator, technical DIR tasters can even tell how long the hose is.

>*< Fritz

Voit 1976 is quite spectacular, and is peaking right now.