Yup. That makes it right. My shop would not do it. I'm guessing that your shop O2 cleans the tanks and knows you well - yet still not according to protocol. I'd love to hear what their insurance company thinks of that practice.
Annual O2 cleaning?
- Thread starter Marie13
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Yup. That makes it right. My shop would not do it. I'm guessing that your shop O2 cleans the tanks and knows you well - yet still not according to protocol. I'd love to hear what their insurance company thinks of that practice.
My LDS does not O2 clean tanks. They bank 32% One of the great things about scuba is that government has not seen fit to regulate it...yet. If a shop requires O2 cleaning for anything other than partial pressure blending I would take my business elsewhere.
You stated: "I have gotten 50% and 100% O2 fills from one of my favorite shops many times without a green and yelow sticker on my tanks."
So in your opinion, if someone comes into a LDS with a tank without a sticker on their tank, they should unquestionably fill with 100% or 50% O2? Seriously?
And as to "no government regulation", I call BS on that too. Or perhaps your shop ignores the DOT Hydro service regulation too?
Eh, I think the discretion of the LDS comes into play. If you go in asking for an O2 fill in a marked 40, 50% in a marked 80, some 3L rebreather tanks, and a loop card to back it up, they're probably going to be less inclined to press the sticker issue.
I've taken twinsets in and asked for a nitrox fill and they asked where my nitrox stickers were. I simply said they don't have nitrox stickers because they don't need nitrox stickers, and if they wanted them on there, they were certainly welcome to place them gratis on the tanks. However they would promptly be removed in the parking lot. They didn't put stickers on, and they analyzed bang on at 32.
I've taken twinsets in and asked for a nitrox fill and they asked where my nitrox stickers were. I simply said they don't have nitrox stickers because they don't need nitrox stickers, and if they wanted them on there, they were certainly welcome to place them gratis on the tanks. However they would promptly be removed in the parking lot. They didn't put stickers on, and they analyzed bang on at 32.
You seriously need to chill out. I said they don't have a yellow and green sticker. My deco bottles have the MOD sticker of 70 on my 50% bottle and 100% O2 on the other. The tanks I use as back gas have had trimix, air and nitrox in them. I never said anything about hydros. My comments were about someone suggesting an annual O2 cleaning requirement.
OK...I'm chilling and agree that we're belaboring the issue. I guess each shop does things their own way. It's just a function of how much insurance liability they're each willing to assume. Personally, I would not partial fill or O2 fill any tank that I did not 100% know was O2 clean.
Jack Hammer
Contributor
It's a bit of a mess of recommending frequency of O2 cleaning. I do mine as "needed", somewhere between 6mos and around 2 years or so typically. And then, only the tanks that'll get pure O2. The valves I'm more concerned with as I'm unable to check all the pathways. I generally O2 clean the valves for any cylinder that'll see pure O2 at every vis. My doubles/stages rarely see pure O2, if they do its at low pressure when I'm mixing. If I gotta tumble them I'll O2 clean them too while I'm at it. Oxyhacker is still a great and relevant book.
You would literally have to vis/clean every fill then. That's part of the fallacy of "O2 clean." It's only O2 clean until you pump it full of gas, no matter what the source is. You could contaminate a brand spanking new freshly cleaned and VIP'd tank with a dirty fill whip. As soon as it's out of your custody its pedigree is suspect.
I use proper components in my valves and regs, clean them as best as I can using the proper procedures, and live with the fact that there's an amount of uncertainty in everything I'm doing, whether its transfilling from a welding bottle, boosting O2 and helium, or driving to the dive shop risking a catastrophic traffic accident.
I am unclear (between @tridacna and @MaxBottomtime) whether they are both talking about the same stickers.
I took Max to be saying that his tanks don't have the big yellow and green Nitrox stickers. But, presumably, they still have a VIP sticker that says the tanks are O2 Clean.
tridacna's statements are unclear (to me) whether he would require the big yellow-and-green Nitrox sticker in order to even fill with banked Nitrox.
I don't have Nitrox stickers on my tanks. Just the ordinary VIP stickers that say my tanks are O2 Clean. I've never had any trouble getting Nitrox or trimix fills on my tanks, including from shops that do PP filling (never seen anywhere that banks trimix, but I understand they do exist).
When I get a VIP, I tell the shop I want them O2 Clean also. I expect to have the O2 Cleaning process re-done every year because, as JohnnyC pointed out, nobody (including me) REALLY has a way to KNOW if my tanks got any kind of hydrocarbon contamination in them during the previous year (unless I just never had them filled).
The shop would definitely not want the liability of assuming tanks were still O2 Clean and, thus, not clean them again at VIP time, if that shop is the place that is going to put stickers on saying that they are O2 Clean.
I took Max to be saying that his tanks don't have the big yellow and green Nitrox stickers. But, presumably, they still have a VIP sticker that says the tanks are O2 Clean.
tridacna's statements are unclear (to me) whether he would require the big yellow-and-green Nitrox sticker in order to even fill with banked Nitrox.
I don't have Nitrox stickers on my tanks. Just the ordinary VIP stickers that say my tanks are O2 Clean. I've never had any trouble getting Nitrox or trimix fills on my tanks, including from shops that do PP filling (never seen anywhere that banks trimix, but I understand they do exist).
When I get a VIP, I tell the shop I want them O2 Clean also. I expect to have the O2 Cleaning process re-done every year because, as JohnnyC pointed out, nobody (including me) REALLY has a way to KNOW if my tanks got any kind of hydrocarbon contamination in them during the previous year (unless I just never had them filled).
The shop would definitely not want the liability of assuming tanks were still O2 Clean and, thus, not clean them again at VIP time, if that shop is the place that is going to put stickers on saying that they are O2 Clean.
However, even if you get your cylinders filled at the same shop, every single time, that is still no guarantee they are clean. The only time you know for sure they are is right before they screw the valve on. After that, it's playing the odds they are.
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