Annual O2 cleaning?

[MaxBottomtime]

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.

My 50% deco bottle and 100% bottle have a regular VIP sticker on them. They get partial pressure fills, thus are required to be O2 clean. My tanks used for single tank diving have the silly green and yellow stickers but sometimes are filled with air. They are not required to be O2 cleaned as they are filled with either air or banked nitrox. My doubles were filled with trimix or air and were never O2 cleaned.

 

[Miyaru]

I do all (partial pressure) blending myself, for my own gasses and for buddies/students. Any tank I haven't filled before, is O2-cleaned and serviced with O2 compatible rings/christo lube. Takes extra time, but less time than cleaning up after an oxygen fire. And material is cleaned/serviced anyway if it's been 1 year.

It's a matter of trust and risk acceptance. Another blender who fills commercially sometimes doubts an O2-clean sticker on the tank. I told him: ask the owner of the tank to stand next to it while you fill it with oxygen. If he/she hesitates, it means this person doesn't trust his/her own equipment 100% to be O2-clean, so don't fill. And even then, there's still a risk of unknown contamination.

 

[stuartv]

My doubles were filled with trimix or air and were never O2 cleaned.

Are you saying that you would do partial pressure filling into tanks that are not O2 clean?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Yes. I usually put in helium first, or would top off the tanks. I never put straight O2 into empty tanks.

 

[tridacna]

Like @MaxBottomtime says, there are no laws.

Only personal comfort and lawsuit risk.

I already sh1t nyself when partial filling my own tanks let alone others. I don’t care about green/yellow stickers. Only that the tank is O2 clean for a partial fill. If I don’t recognise you, you’re getting a fill from the stick to a max of 36%.

 

[TrimixToo]

Yes. I usually put in helium first, or would top off the tanks. I never put straight O2 into empty tanks.

Sorry, but this is an unsafe practice. You're putting pure O2 through a valve that wasn't cleaned for O2 service, and at higher pressure (and density) than necessary, too. Scuba valves aren't stellar for O2 service to begin with, even when cleaned scrupulously. If you were putting banked trimix into tanks and through valves not cleaned for O2 service, it would be fine at the usual percentages of O2 found in trimix.

 

[NAM001]

Like anything else what is required and what is complied with are often different.

 

[NAM001]

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.

I may be loading my self here but do not he cfr's call for > 23.5 and like 50 psi require O2 cleaning. Yes Osha says >40% but osha isnt the CFR's.

 

[tridacna]

You can choose to do ANYTHING you like. It's all about whether you are willing to risk an explosion or look like an (about to be bankrupt) idiot on trial. Do what you want.

In another current thread @The Chairman explained why he deleted some of his older posts - the premise was he was advocating a dangerous practice which he felt was dangerous and should not be left visible. I feel the same way about some of the advice here. Reckless and cavalier.

 

[Scared Silly]

I may be loading my self here but do not the cfr's call for > 23.5 and like 50 psi require O2 cleaning. Yes Osha says >40% but osha isnt the CFR's.

Actually OSHA rules are part of the CFRs.

Here is a summary of the various rules: Why does Luxfer require cleaning for oxygen concentrations above 23.5%?

Here is the bit from OSHA:

1910.440 29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–13 Edition)
(i) Oxygen safety. (1) Equipment used with oxygen or mixtures containing over forty percent (40%) by volume oxygen shall be designed for oxygen service.

The issue with the OSHA rule is that it applies to commercial diving:

§ 1910.401 Scope and application.
(2) This standard applies to diving and related support operations conducted in connection with all types of work and employments, including general industry, construction, ship repairing, shipbuilding, shipbreaking and longshoring. However, this standard does not apply to any diving operation:

(i) Performed solely for instructional purposes, using open-circuit, compressed-air SCUBA and conducted within the no-decompression limits;