Alarm over shop's high Carbon Monoxide levels - Victoria, Australia

[DandyDon]

That's a fair point. I myself dismissed the first time this happened to me as "I'm probably dehydrated." But not the second time....

I remember a Belize group trip with a lousy local op, when all of the air divers got sick the first day, while we Nitrox divers who got their tanks provided from another operator were fine. I suspect that the op drained tanks and cleaned their compressor after so many near hits.

 

[Bob DBF]

The last time I had an issue was back in the mid-90s when tanks from a well-known shop at a famous destination always had a "taste" and gave me a headache.

A buddy and I got a taste at 30', nothing before, aborted the dive. Back at the shop we found out the compressor malfunction was discovered after we left and was being rebuilt. The shop owner cleaned the tanks and refilled them and we picked them up next trip. Never breathe air with a taste!

We were lucky because it had a taste, so we aborted the dive. No taste and the CO has an open hand.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

We were lucky because it had a taste, so we aborted the dive. No taste and the CO has an open hand.

Was the taste linked to CO? Carbon Monoxide is odorless.

 

[Bob DBF]

Was the taste linked to CO? Carbon Monoxide is odorless.

Read about HPAC failure modes before oilless air compressors, and after.

 

[DandyDon]

Was the taste linked to CO? Carbon Monoxide is odorless.

I'm not clear on what Bob meant by that statement, but CO does not have a taste. A tank with CO may well have other impurities from a compressor problem like they found in his case, so they were lucky that it did.

No taste and the CO has an open hand

 

[chillyinCanada]

Instead of dumping straight from the tank into the bag, I have an air-gun which attaches to a BCD hose in my save-a-dive-kit. That requires attaching some regulators of course, but maybe more reliable and less annoying than trying to control a bag and a tank-valve.

I have two CO detectors/alarms in my home; the wall-mounted ones are pretty cheap, around $30. I had just assumed those wouldn't really work for scuba.

As far as the once-per-day checks, I decided to do 2-minutes of research and discovered you can get an inline model for about $500. Now, $500 might be a lot for an individual scuba-diver, but for fill-station that is CHEAP! Much better than demanding your potentially unreliable employees to check the CO 1-2x per day, which they'll probably skip. I retract my once-per-day idea as pretty silly.

Pro CO Alarm Analyzer Panel Mount

The Nuvair Pro CO Alarm panel mount analyzer is designed for installation on a control panel or other flat surface for flush mounting. The analyzer connects in-line to high- or low-pressure compressors for continuous monitoring of carbon monoxide contaminants in the system. Equipped with audible...

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At Murex, the diver and the guide checked every tank together and then slapped divers name on tank before being loaded onto boat.
One hoped that the calibration was right. I checked it against air tank first. Seemed OK.

One trip in Padang Bai, where we checked tanks on board, problem arose. Not that there was trouble in the tank, only between guides ears. Things went much more smoothly once he learned how to use the detector properly.

 

[poseident]

Was the taste linked to CO? Carbon Monoxide is odorless.

In my case it was more of an oil/exhaust type taste, which makes sense....they were sucking outboard motor exhaust (this was the age of 2-stroke outboards) into the compressor.