Air in tank marked Nitrox?

[lamont]

Scenario: Dive boat, 16 divers...

AND NOT A SINGLE O2 ANALYZER BETWEEN ALL OF THEM?????

sorry for shouting, but compared to the $1000+ some people will drop on an air-integrated hoseless computer they're a dirt cheap piece of safety equipment...

 

[The Kraken]

So true,
but most recreational "air" divers don't use O2 analyzers.

The whole point is that it helps prevent a dangerous situation.

And as the immortal Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I got to say about that."

the K

 

[Goose75]

I don't think the shop should have given an air filled NTROX tank to a non-nitrox certified diver. First because the diver problably knows nothing about nitrox and won't check to make sure it is 21%. Second because the diver won't know to have the tank refilled at a clean source. One may not be available where he's headed. The refilling station should say no but that means no refill and no more dives. Great way to inconvience a customer.

 

[pete340]

gotta agree with everyone who thinks the nitrox bumper stickers are worthless.

Most of the comments are from the wrong perspective. The purpose of marking a tank Nitrox is so that the casual recreational diver, who knows nothing about Nitrox, won't use it.

junk all the stupid rules, teach nitrox in BOW, put the onus on the divers to analyze their tanks, all tanks are nitrox tanks. doubles may have trimix, so don't touch if they're not yours. simple.

As they say in the army, if the map doesn't match the terrain, trust the terrain. That's not how diving is taught today. The labelling of Nitrox tanks is consistent with the way things are taught, and it serves an important purpose.

 

[ScubaSixString]

Here's the real solution. Get everyone certified in Nitrox at the OW level and make it very easy for already certified divers to get nitrox trained. There just isn't much to it.
End of problem.

I for one think the big honkin nitrox stickers are for the birds. They convey no useful information other than "hey look, my tank is special". I don't have them on any of my tanks anymore. Simply VIP stickers with 02 service information. I use Duck tape/Masking tape for the contents and blending information and large MOD stickers on the sides of my singles.

"They convey no useful information other than "hey look, my tank is special""

And that, in itself, IS their purpose. If you see a tank with at big NITROX sticker on it, you don't use it until you know whats in it.

A BOW diver won't know how to analyze it, but i would hope he'd know better than to use it without having someone showing him for sure it had 21 in it.

If you asked for an air fill and somehow got a tank with MOD 50 taped on it, would you use it without analysis?

 

[in_cavediver]

junk all the stupid rules, teach nitrox in BOW, put the onus on the divers to analyze their tanks, all tanks are nitrox tanks. doubles may have trimix, so don't touch if they're not yours. simple.

Hey, haven't you ever heard about trimix stages?

Agree about the rest. Teach everyone about nitrox from the get go. Explain to everyone that not everyone is following the same rules. Assuming everyone will play nice is just plain stupid. Gee, lets not tell new divers that tanks may have gas other than air in them even though they lack the nitrox label. Information is the key. It really is that easy.

 

[Rec Diver]

O2 analyzers tell you nothing about CO levels.

Do you know what the O in CO means and the O2 in Oxygen means? If you do then you would not that a tank with carbon monoxide in it has no oxygen it, therefor the level of O2 in a carbon monoxide tank would be O. This would be the reason you don't use that tank, the O2 analyzer would not register any oxygen. Are you getting the picture? Air has 2 molecules of oxygen, carbon monoxide has only 1 molecule of oxygen.

 

[pants!]

Do you know what the O in CO means and the O2 in Oxygen means? If you do then you would not that a tank with carbon monoxide in it has no oxygen it, therefor the level of O2 in a carbon monoxide tank would be O. This would be the reason you don't use that tank, the O2 analyzer would not register any oxygen. Are you getting the picture? Air has 2 molecules of oxygen, carbon monoxide has only 1 molecule of oxygen.

I'm pretty sure no one on earth will give you a CO fill, no matter how much you ask for it.

Your tank of 32 can have lethal levels of CO and you would never know if you use an oxygen analyzer. You need a CO analyzer.

You're obviously missing something. O2 and CO are totally different molecules, despite both having oxygen atoms in their makeup. A tank with 2% CO2, 32% O2, and 66% N2 will analyze identically as a tank with 32% O2 and 68% N2.

One of those tanks will kill you, one will not.

 

[in_cavediver]

Do you know what the O in CO means and the O2 in Oxygen means? If you do then you would not that a tank with carbon monoxide in it has no oxygen it, therefor the level of O2 in a carbon monoxide tank would be O. This would be the reason you don't use that tank, the O2 analyzer would not register any oxygen. Are you getting the picture? Air has 2 molecules of oxygen, carbon monoxide has only 1 molecule of oxygen.

Tell ya what. I'll mix up a tank of 10% CO, 10% CO2 and 21% O2 and you put any analyzer on it and tell me what it reads. O2 analyzers will tell you nothing about CO or CO2 levels.

 

[Damselfish]

I disagree that the big stickers are useless. As with most things this is flavored by where you dive. Big neon stickers or bands are very useful in a shop where there's a lot of tanks, especially like at a resort. Maybe it's not foolproof, but it does a much better job than something subtle of getting the attention of someone not Nitrox certified that they shouldn't be grabbing one of those. (Is Nitrox mentioned in OW now, just something about it's existance and that people shouldn't be grabbing those tanks?)

And when you are diving Nitrox, if there's a bunch of tanks waiting on a dock or preloaded on a boat it's useful to quickly spot what is supposed to be Nitrox. Of course you still have to analyze it, but a quick glance to see something obvious is easier than seaching for something small. I've also seen ops do bright green tanks or caps in addition to or instead of labels. When I get on a boat and am deciding what spot or tanks to go for, looking for a big bright green thing is sure as heck easier than hunting around a busy boat reading bits of masking tape.