scubastingray
Contributor
Ah my mistake. I did not mean to offend. What scrap yard did you take it to for $20? I have a few tanks at my folks place I might take in. I haven't decided if I'll make lamps instead yet.
Bought two AL80 tanks filled with 34% Nitrox
- Thread starter agesilaus
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kwinter
Contributor
Totally ridiculous. So someone buys a tank and just to be safe, you recommend dumping the gas and taking it somewhere to be filled with fresh gas?
1. If you suspect the original was tainted, it could have had hydrocarbon residue. In which case not only should the gas be dumped, but the tank should be thoroughly cleaned. Tack on some more cost.
2. Then the tank is filled at the LDS. But how do you know their gas is clean? Now you're back to square one with a tank that was cleaned in a way you aren't certain, and filled from a source you can't be sure about. And most shops don't have CO detectors.
After spending all that money, the guy is no better off than he started. I stick by my initial statement. Analyze the tank for O2 and CO and then dive with it before bothering with the inspections.
Garth
Contributor
mind blown): ..
I do not recommend it be dumped and filled with fresh gas. Never said that. The tank is out of hydro and vis. You dump the gas, get it hydro'd, vis'd, and then once passed refilled and used. You all do what you want. Just don't ever expect me to dive with anyone that would follow your advice or pull their butt out of the water should something happen. Recommending he analyze and use is not only stupid but would violate the agreement I sign every year as an instructor regarding safe diving practices. Not to mention my own morals and ethics when it comes to those practices. I bought four al 80 a couple years ago from people I not only knew but trained who getting out of diving. I knew who filled them and when. They were all full of nitrox compatible air. But the vis had just expired. I took them down to the shop, dumped them, did the vis, and then used them. I practice what I preach and do that to set an example for my students. Did I need to do that from a practical standpoint? No. I did need to do it from an ethical one.
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I agree, and don't understand the logic behind breathing the gas. The tank is going to need a hydro and viz after breathing the gas before the next fill, so that cost is already added to the cost of buying the tank, so what we are talking about is just the fill which is what, 5-10 dollars?
For me, any tank I buy used is suspect unless I know who it came from and who performed the last viz.
Fills are actually $4 here and I felt that $8 was worth it. I asked the fellow how long the tanks had been sitting but all I got get from him was: "awhile". A couple of years was my guess. He was getting that 1984 tank filled somewhere tho there are only a couple of LDS here and they all say they won't fill a pre-1990 tank.
BK
BK
kwinter
Contributor
Please explain to me how an instructor who signs an agreement about safe diving practices and is concerned about morals and ethics can write the following in the same post:
I'm glad I don't share your ethics. It is YOU that people should be concerned about diving with. I wonder how many other people don't meet the Lapenta standard and should be allowed to die. Minorities? Democrats?
Please pardon any typos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Don't know if this is true but I was told by a dive shop owner that it is Alabama state law that rental tanks brought back by customers must be completely drained and refilled before renting to someone else.
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halocline
Contributor
Well, if I bought a tank with nitrox in it, I'd be more comfortable to analyze O2 content and dive it than I would with an air-filled tank. That's because the standards for nitrox are such that it's probably more reliable than an air fill. But either way it would depend on who I bought it from, when/where it was filled, etc....
There are two issues brought up in this thread. 1) Should a not-nitrox-certified diver ever dive a tank of nitrox, and 2) Should you empty a tank when you buy it used rather than use the gas in it.
On the first issue, I don't see a problem as long as you understand the principle of MOD, know what it is for the blend and don't exceed it, and it's a single dive. You don't need a nitrox certification to accomplish this.
On the second issue, to me it depends (as I wrote earlier) but the really safe thing is to discard the gas if it's from an unknown source.
BTW, the poster that said that the tanks needed to be drained and inspected because the hydro had expired is not accurate. There's no law that says tanks need to be drained when the hydro expires, they just can't be re-filled. In fact, I've occasionally had tanks around several months after hydro is due (I think I have a few that are due now) because I want to dive them to use the gas rather than waste a fill.
There are two issues brought up in this thread. 1) Should a not-nitrox-certified diver ever dive a tank of nitrox, and 2) Should you empty a tank when you buy it used rather than use the gas in it.
On the first issue, I don't see a problem as long as you understand the principle of MOD, know what it is for the blend and don't exceed it, and it's a single dive. You don't need a nitrox certification to accomplish this.
On the second issue, to me it depends (as I wrote earlier) but the really safe thing is to discard the gas if it's from an unknown source.
BTW, the poster that said that the tanks needed to be drained and inspected because the hydro had expired is not accurate. There's no law that says tanks need to be drained when the hydro expires, they just can't be re-filled. In fact, I've occasionally had tanks around several months after hydro is due (I think I have a few that are due now) because I want to dive them to use the gas rather than waste a fill.
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