run4yurlife
Registered
hello
i am in disagreement with the manager of my local dive shop (a PADI 5 star idc center) over what constitutes responsible operation of a compressor providing both air and EAN mixes to customers and students of the dive shop and guests of the resort it supplies with tanks.
in recent days i have been observing the activities of the tank filler and i have noticed several behaviors that forum members might like to comment on:
the operator is a young local, the product of one of the worst performing education systems in the world, who has received no formal training in gas blending and has no concept of the dangers involved with the use of pressurized o2. he is not a diver and he has no idea why we "add nitrous" (his words) to the tanks and he is completely incapable of working out an equivalent air depth
the operator restricts his maintenance activities to a daily oil level check and infrequent venting of water separators. the desiccant and activated charcoal filter cartridge had not been inspected since installation some months ago, it was found to be improperly seated on a defective washer and saturated with emulsified oil which was passing freely through the filling whips
the operator is a subscriber to the hot fast fill foetid water bath school of thought routinely overfilling tanks by up to 20% (3600psig to manufacturers 3000psig stamp)
the operator routinely wanders away from the compressor room to chat on his phone or lie in a hammock for 10 to 15 minutes at a time whilst o2 is being fed into the nitrox stick through a defective (definitely not o2 clean) regulator
the operator routinely attaches a mix of EAN tanks and "normal" air to the fill station manifold (there are 5 outlets/whips with no check valves)
the operator makes no attempt to measure the contents of an EAN tank (pressure or o2 %age) prior to filling. upon completion of fill he writes on the tank the %o2 as given by the analyzer on the compressor intake without checking the actual contents of the tank. no other information is provided to the user of the tank
the shop´s o2 analyzers (there are 2) do not agree with each other, sometimes displaying a 2 to 3% discrepancy when measuring the same tank. they are not stored properly when not in use and have been displaying the o2 content of the compressor room atmosphere for several months whilst picking up whatever contaminants are present
no current air analysis certificate is displayed nor does one exist. a sampling kit is kept in the office but has not been used because it is deemed too complicated to use and "the results will take 6 months to get here anyway"
anyway, back to my dispute with the manager; during my recent involvement i have personally measured the o2 content of several EAN tanks to be 38 or 39% and several air tanks to be between 23 and 29% which had been used by resort divers. i expressed the opinion that standards had been breached and requirements and common sense ignored which led to a lively discussion and this posting. the manager´s position is that PADI requirements for 5 star idc center status are merely easily misinterpret-able guidelines and that sending an unsuspecting diver down with a significantly enriched mix is not an incident worthy of note; the onus of responsibility in this case rests, apparently, on the end user.
in summary;
does PADI endorse the filling of EAN tanks by somebody completely unqualified to do so?
does PADI have any rigid requirements to be met by a subscribing dive center?
should a reputable dive center allow any of the activities listed above to occur?
does a diver have a reasonable right to expect a competently filled tank of clean dry air without having to worry about o2 toxicity?
if a compressor room explodes and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
i am in disagreement with the manager of my local dive shop (a PADI 5 star idc center) over what constitutes responsible operation of a compressor providing both air and EAN mixes to customers and students of the dive shop and guests of the resort it supplies with tanks.
in recent days i have been observing the activities of the tank filler and i have noticed several behaviors that forum members might like to comment on:
the operator is a young local, the product of one of the worst performing education systems in the world, who has received no formal training in gas blending and has no concept of the dangers involved with the use of pressurized o2. he is not a diver and he has no idea why we "add nitrous" (his words) to the tanks and he is completely incapable of working out an equivalent air depth
the operator restricts his maintenance activities to a daily oil level check and infrequent venting of water separators. the desiccant and activated charcoal filter cartridge had not been inspected since installation some months ago, it was found to be improperly seated on a defective washer and saturated with emulsified oil which was passing freely through the filling whips
the operator is a subscriber to the hot fast fill foetid water bath school of thought routinely overfilling tanks by up to 20% (3600psig to manufacturers 3000psig stamp)
the operator routinely wanders away from the compressor room to chat on his phone or lie in a hammock for 10 to 15 minutes at a time whilst o2 is being fed into the nitrox stick through a defective (definitely not o2 clean) regulator
the operator routinely attaches a mix of EAN tanks and "normal" air to the fill station manifold (there are 5 outlets/whips with no check valves)
the operator makes no attempt to measure the contents of an EAN tank (pressure or o2 %age) prior to filling. upon completion of fill he writes on the tank the %o2 as given by the analyzer on the compressor intake without checking the actual contents of the tank. no other information is provided to the user of the tank
the shop´s o2 analyzers (there are 2) do not agree with each other, sometimes displaying a 2 to 3% discrepancy when measuring the same tank. they are not stored properly when not in use and have been displaying the o2 content of the compressor room atmosphere for several months whilst picking up whatever contaminants are present
no current air analysis certificate is displayed nor does one exist. a sampling kit is kept in the office but has not been used because it is deemed too complicated to use and "the results will take 6 months to get here anyway"
anyway, back to my dispute with the manager; during my recent involvement i have personally measured the o2 content of several EAN tanks to be 38 or 39% and several air tanks to be between 23 and 29% which had been used by resort divers. i expressed the opinion that standards had been breached and requirements and common sense ignored which led to a lively discussion and this posting. the manager´s position is that PADI requirements for 5 star idc center status are merely easily misinterpret-able guidelines and that sending an unsuspecting diver down with a significantly enriched mix is not an incident worthy of note; the onus of responsibility in this case rests, apparently, on the end user.
in summary;
does PADI endorse the filling of EAN tanks by somebody completely unqualified to do so?
does PADI have any rigid requirements to be met by a subscribing dive center?
should a reputable dive center allow any of the activities listed above to occur?
does a diver have a reasonable right to expect a competently filled tank of clean dry air without having to worry about o2 toxicity?
if a compressor room explodes and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
