Bad Air!!!

[offthewall1]

Hello SB just wanted to ask if anyone has ever gotten bad air from a fill station?
a buddy and I stoped at a shop that is not our normal, and got six tanks filled.
"to add our regular LDS was closed for the day."
anyway we got our air and meet up with our other dive buddys later on that day an had a quick dive just to get wet an find out what our local water's were like after the winter. one of my buddys said his air tasted like dirt but ne will often say something wierd like this so we blew him off! Bad idea we should have looked harder into this.
we started our dive our big guy Steve went with me for a 58 min tour, while Jason who had our newest buddy stayed down for only 24 min cause he did not like the taste of his air, that none of the three of us had! yes very odd indeed.
anyway dive over, we went home an did our thing.

the next morn I felt like crap and had a raw mouth!
my buddy Steve had the same as well as upset tummy!
my buddy jason felt like he had a night out drinking!
and last our new buddy felt the same as Jason but went home that night and sleep't or his couch till his wife made him get up at around 7:00 to eat and then went back to sleep!

this is very new as none of us had ever had this happened! today my buddy jason and I took all six tanks and had them looked at our now open LDS and found oil in the tank's!

My question is this what can you do other than going to a doctor to stop the effects of bad Air!! and has anyone else had this happen?

Bad air can come from any compressor at any time - no matter how well the shop monitors their compressor. Air quality testing is scheduled by most shops on a regular basis... but certainly not daily or even weekly on most.

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad air experience... but more importantly I'm glad you're still alive. Some bad air experiences don't end up so well.

A couple of years ago we visited Honduras and learned that the week before our arrival, two divers died and 6 were hospitalized after receiving bad air.

As divers we tend to get complacent with things like checking our air. Thanks for this post... as it ias a good way to remind everyone that tank and air checks should be done prior to every dive.

Check the hydro date... check the visual date... then crack the tank valve open and smell the air. If there is any odor at all DO NOT USE THE TANK... and report it to the fill station immediately.

I'm often looked at funny on boats as the annoyance of hearing hissing air can bend peoples nerves... but I'd rather live than die.. and of course if there is an opportunity to check the tanks on land away from others prior to boarding the boat... I do that... but that's not easy on live-aboards or on boats that preload tanks for you.

Cheers... and be happy and DIVE SAFE!