Anyone have a supplier for 'generic' VIS stickers ?

[Stu S.]

One of mine has a sticker from May 2008. I get it filled about once month with air or nitrox. Nobody has said anything.

 

[Rhone Man]

..as I mentioned, some local shops consider WWW powerhouses (Scubatoys/Leisure Pro) to be the evil empire and don't want to see that you've been shopping over there, it has nothing to do with questioning if Scubatoys actually knows how to do a visual.

If you really want to p1ss them off, then buy generic VIP stickers from Leisurepro: Visual Inspectin Certificate Inspection Sticker

I have always thought the North American VIP regime was too zealous. I have always thought that the European model of VIPing every two and a half years was more realistic. I know that view is not popular on SB, so no need to Quote me and give me a dressing down. I know.

But on the flip side, VIPs are cheap in the US, so why wouldn't you?

 

[Peter_C]

If you really want to p1ss them off, then buy generic VIP stickers from Leisurepro: Visual Inspectin Certificate Inspection Sticker

I used to use those stickers from LP, until I was turned onto ones that cost $1.00 each and have a punch out for O2 or not O2 cleaned and they state that they are approved for use of enriched air up to 40%.

 

[Thalassamania]

Acceptance should not be a problem, just show them your PSI certification.

 

[Belmont]

I don't know where this VIP every "year" thing came from. Why not 9, 18, 22, 24 months.

In my line of business customers ask if our products are guaranteed for one year (Many years ago a supplier advertised a one year 100% guarantee as a marketing bright idea, it stuck in the customers minds.)

Our (smartass) answer: the only thing that can be truly guaranteed for one year is a calendar.

 

[spectrum]

Acceptance should not be a problem, just show them your PSI certification.

Then some will go to the liability stance knowing that you are not an insured dive shop. Why would they want to risk touching a cylinder with no deep pockets behind it.

The fact that most private inspectors are truly trained with a vested interest in the cylinder is beside the point. It's the same "my shop", "my compressor" rule that governs other loony cylinder topics.

Should not is a correct statement. Unfortunately I have witnessed the contrary at multiple locations.

Back to the OP......
As for the cost, if you are not using each cylinder enough to make the cost trivial on a cost per dive basis then perhaps some should be retired or put on hiatus. Sure the fee adds up but there's no free lunch. I have worked alongside a trained PSI inspector doing my cylinders and done right the going rate is more than justified.

Pete

 

[Thalassamania]

Everyone: ask who actually does the inspections at the shop you go to, ask to see their certification. I'll post a poll ... I think it'll be quite revealing.

 

[halocline]

Everyone: ask who actually does the inspections at the shop you go to, ask to see their certification. I'll post a poll ... I think it'll be quite revealing.

I'm fairly certain there are no PSI trained inspectors at the local shop where I get my fills and VIS. There's certainly no legal requirement for this certification, it's just a private company selling training. The whole annual VIS is just an industry invention anyway; there are no laws governing the practice, last I heard. I'd be interested to know the research and technical justifications for the VIS standards anyway.

IOW, it's exactly what Pete says; the shop owns the compressor, so you have play by their rules. If I were in their position, I'd probably want to do the same.

 

[Rhone Man]

Everyone: ask who actually does the inspections at the shop you go to, ask to see their certification. I'll post a poll ... I think it'll be quite revealing.

I spent a year doing VIPs for a local dive store before I went to college. I got informal training but no formal training. I am pretty sure in those days (1991) there was no agency which officially certified people to do visuals anyhow. If I had a tank that looked dodgy, I called in the boss in to look at it.

Happily none of our tanks exploded.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Scubafanatic,

I'm not saying that an annual vip is a good answer, only that the OP seems to suggest that he wants to misrepresent (ie, LIE) about his tanks. He seems to suggest that he intends to put a sticker on a tank specifically for the purpose of misleading the dive shop.

It's easy to get a $6.00 nitrox fill here. That would be 60 cubic feet of nitrox at $.10/cubic foot. Considering the concept of "rock bottom pressures" and the idea of keeping some gas in reserves for an emergency, it is very likely that I will only need 60 cubic feet of nitrox to refill an 80 cubic foot tank.

I would agree that the idea that a tank with a vip sticker from an outside company is somehow unsafe and needs to be re-vipped immediately is silly.



Mike_S, and others who believe shops commonly don't have a trained inspector doing vip's: I bet you are right. However, I don't feel that this gives anyone the right to misrepresent the certification of their cylinders.

I think this is some of the best advice in this thread:

Back to the OP......
As for the cost, if you are not using each cylinder enough to make the cost trivial on a cost per dive basis then perhaps some should be retired or put on hiatus. Sure the fee adds up but there's no free lunch. I have worked alongside a trained PSI inspector doing my cylinders and done right the going rate is more than justified.

Pete

Keep cylinders until the marginal cost of keeping them hydroed', vippe'd, filled, and stored equals the marginal benefit. When the marginal cost is too high, you have too many cylinders. It seems your marginal cost is too high, as you seem to express feeling like you are enjoying negative utility, so my advice as an economist would be to sell tanks until you reach your equilibrium quantity.