Air in eanx marked tank?

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Again...I've never had any of the problems you're describing...but it would appear to me that most if not all of what you're describing is due to the fact the shop(s) is/are on the verge of collapse...and are doing anything possible to generate revenue...

I don't think so, we tank owners are a small part of the market. IME lounging around the shop for everyone that brings in a tank to fill there are at least 5-6 people there for reasons other than a fill. And at least one of the shops is a busy charter operation, and a couple of them are the chains.

I buy my annual visual stickers from TDI/SDI...they're light blue in colour...have all the standard inspection requirement punch points...and have never come into question...at any of the Canadian/NC/Florida locations I visit...and I'll match my cylinder inspection/cleaning protocols with anyone...

That wouldn't be accepted at the shop that only accepts stickers from other scuba shops. They have that sticker along with the generic PSI sticker as examples of vis stickers that they don't accept.

I've paid anywhere from eight...to twenty dollars for NITROX fills...I pay what the operators charge...no questions asked...I always travel with my own analyzer...and AWAYS check my mix myself...

I don't if I don't have to, with only 4 fills you have enough of a cost difference to pay for a two tank trip.

I'm of the opinion...as related in your above post...if the burst disc nut is removed...the burst disc should be changed...if your valves are O2 cleaned...the above mentioned tech is not doing you/your tanks any favour by unscrewing your BD nut...visually inspecting the BD...and re-assembling as is without proper cleaning...and resealing...this isn't inspection...as much as it is tampering...and he/she wouldn't be opening up my valves...fill or no fill...

On a busy ''fill day'' this tech is going to be run off his/her feet opening up every BD nut on every tank that comes into the shop for a fill...I wonder how many are going to leak...following his/her tampering...

He was just checking that the pressure on the BD was appropriate for the tank. Apparently someone brought in a LP tank with a blanking plug in place for the burst disc. Which I don't think is a big deal, but the fill dude wasn't a cave diver so for him it was wrong.
 
PSI-PCI - EANx Standards 2005 this is where they are getting that info

Mike...

Note...normal compressed air...normal scuba cylinders...

Taken to mean...breathing air not ''hyper filtered'' for enriched air service...scuba cylinders not ''properly'' cleaned for enriched air service...

Now with current ''blend stick'' fill methods...you can fill up to and including 40% EAN...without having the cylinder/valve O2 service cleaned...meaning the PSI 2005 standard...while still vital...does not take into consideration...current ''blend stick'' fill protocols...

This is now why there is so much fill discrepency between shops...those using partial fill processes have one book of procedures which they follow...and the blend stick shops have...well not much...

I would not be placing NITROX bands on cylinders that have not been enriched air service cleaned that are being filled with EAN blends to 40% using blend stick fill procedures...as in most cases the air used may not be hyper-filtered...

Dive shops using 40% max blend stick fill procedures are now saving lots of time and money...no cleaning solutions/no cleaning time/no drying time/no oxygen compatible lubricants/no reassembly time... by not having to O2 clean cylinders for recreational NITROX (MAX 40%) users...

Warren...
 
Mike...

Note...normal compressed air...normal scuba cylinders...

Taken to mean...breathing air not ''hyper filtered'' for enriched air service...scuba cylinders not ''properly'' cleaned for enriched air service...

Now with current ''blend stick'' fill methods...you can fill up to and including 40% EAN...without having the cylinder/valve O2 service cleaned...meaning the PSI 2005 standard...while still vital...does not take into consideration...current ''blend stick'' fill protocols...

This is now why there is so much fill discrepency between shops...those using partial fill processes have one book of procedures which they follow...and the blend stick shops have...well not much...

I would not be placing NITROX bands on cylinders that have not been enriched air service cleaned that are being filled with EAN blends to 40% using blend stick fill procedures...as in most cases the air used may not be hyper-filtered...

Dive shops using 40% max blend stick fill procedures are now saving lots of time and money...no cleaning solutions/no cleaning time/no drying time/no reassembly time... by not having to O2 clean cylinders for recreational NITROX (MAX 40%) users...

Warren...
Just to throw 2 more cents in, I never installed a hyperfilter on any air system I've ever owned or operated, and I've never failed to pass OCA on an air test.

Hyperfilters are bunk if you take care of your fill system in any marginal way, IMO.
 
Hyperfilters are bunk if you take care of your fill system in any marginal way,
I've yet to fill from a station which didn't deliver nitrox compatible air. Based on my experience I guess "hyperfiltered" is the norm here on the right side of the pond.
 
I've yet to fill from a station which didn't deliver nitrox compatible air. Based on my experience I guess "hyperfiltered" is the norm here on the right side of the pond.
I don't know, but I wouldn't guess so. As I said, I've never even seen a hyperfilter, and I've never seen a compressor system that was even a little taken care of fail to make OCA.
 
I've yet to fill from a station which didn't deliver nitrox compatible air. Based on my experience I guess "hyperfiltered" is the norm here on the right side of the pond.

When Nitrox first started to be used in the UK we had the same arguments that some places wouldn't fill O2 cleaned cylinders with air. Initially because the Nitrox labelling would be confusing, then because the air wasn't doubled filtered.
The first argument held little water - air is Nitrox.
The second had some validity. Then people started asking questions about the air quality. Now, I don't think anyone supplies air that isn't double filtered. Even people with private compressors double filter.

-- Single filtering should produce air that is safe for PP filling (as Wookie says). The double filtering is to protect against filter failure, where the adverse effects of mixing a hot oily gas with pure O2 isn't to be recommended.

In the old days (pre double filtering), you used to hear of an 'oily fill' where the filters had failed. I can't remember the last time I heard of a bad air fill.

I am very surprised double filtering isn't standard across the USA.
 
When Nitrox first started to be used in the UK we had the same arguments that some places wouldn't fill O2 cleaned cylinders with air. Initially because the Nitrox labelling would be confusing, then because the air wasn't doubled filtered.
The first argument held little water - air is Nitrox.
The second had some validity. Then people started asking questions about the air quality. Now, I don't think anyone supplies air that isn't double filtered. Even people with private compressors double filter.

-- Single filtering should produce air that is safe for PP filling (as Wookie says). The double filtering is to protect against filter failure, where the adverse effects of mixing a hot oily gas with pure O2 isn't to be recommended.

In the old days (pre double filtering), you used to hear of an 'oily fill' where the filters had failed. I can't remember the last time I heard of a bad air fill.

I am very surprised double filtering isn't standard across the USA.
Interesting. I would say I double filtered when I was running a commercial fill station, I had a prefilter and a final filter, as well as a sintered filter to remove final moisture and first oil.

My current Bauer has the sintered filter and breathing air final filter in the same unit. I do maybe a fill a month on that.

My current Mako has a sintered filter and a final filter. I fill maybe 6 a month on that.

IIRC the hyper filter is a particulate filter after the final filter, yes? How does that filter out hydrocarbons if the final filter breaks down?

Hydrocarbons are the main contaminant that make you fail OCA.
 
Actually, DOT requires not only a contents label but a hazard class label every cylinder filled at a fill station and offered for transportation.

CGA does as well.

DOT says nothing about a nitrox band, lol
 
DOT says nothing about a nitrox band, lol
No. The nitrox band was an invention by Bob Olson to advertise.

Worked for him, but as an industry standard it sucks.

But no one mentioned nitrox bands, you made that up. What the OP said Nitrox Sticker.

DOT and CGA require cylinder contents markings, like a nitrox sticker.

I use this one: Comes off easy.
IMG_2378.JPG
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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