bad air

[artw]

We got some contaminated air from a dive shop in Hamilton this weekend. we are not sure what was in them but all 4 tanks smelled and tasted like the end of a car exhaust pipe. sure it could be just the smelly downtown Hamilton air but -still- air should go through a filter right?! I sure as hell wasn't going to take those tanks down to 80ffw on the Lilly Parsons with me.

Why was I filling tanks in Hamilton? After our dive in Brockville on Friday morning we had to go directly to my uncles for Easter (we were late) and didnt have time to refill our tanks up in the Brockville area so the only place possible to get fills was Saturday in Ham. and all our dive shops were closed Sun and Mon up here.

Lessons learned. When you walk into a diveshop and you see a greasy, dirty fill station, the person filling the tanks is not a diver, and you need to show them were the viz and hydro information is, walk away!!!

Art

 

[FreeFloat]

Actually, mine were sort of reminiscent of formaldehyde...........

However it's not what you can smell in the air that'll kill you, but all the stuff that's probably in it that you can't........

 

[d33ps1x]

However it's not what you can smell in the air that'll kill you, but all the stuff that's probably in it that you can't........

Check it out. Scroll down to CO analyzer...

 

[Bob3]

I hope you bothered to let the shop know they were pushing crappy air.:11:
I had that happen to me only once, I actually saw water running out of the fill hose when the guy unhooked it from my tank. There was about a pint of water that wound up inside my tank.
The sad part is that I was friends with the guy's 2 daughters so I had to let him live. :lightingz

 

[artw]

I've sent the shop an email. It's really not the lost day of diving that bothers me. it's the fact that there is dive shops out there that pump suspect air and divers might not say anything. In this situation it might just be a bad compressor seal or something but I am not going to put my life at risk to determine that.

 

[DPVDiver]

I've sent the shop an email. It's really not the lost day of diving that bothers me. it's the fact that there is dive shops out there that pump suspect air and divers might not say anything. In this situation it might just be a bad compressor seal or something but I am not going to put my life at risk to determine that.

Do you use those tanks for Nitrox? If so you may want to get them check out and cleaned if needed. Actually, you may just want them cleaned anyway. The bill for that might upset you.

Kris

 

[FreeFloat]

Do you use those tanks for Nitrox? If so you may want to get them check out and cleaned if needed. Actually, you may just want them cleaned anyway. The bill for that might upset you.

Kris

Is it necessary to have tanks cleaned? Personally, I wouldn't trust now that there isn't some trace contaminant in them.

Only other thing I can think of is to purge them completely (down to 0), and of course if I did that a shop would want to at least vis them again......

 

[d33ps1x]

Any response frm the shop?

 

[Steve Blanchard]

Is it necessary to have tanks cleaned? Personally, I wouldn't trust now that there isn't some trace contaminant in them.

Only other thing I can think of is to purge them completely (down to 0), and of course if I did that a shop would want to at least vis them again......

Why would you not clean them???
I don't know if he uses his tanks for nitrox but why chance it,
life support equipement??
I have scary contaminated air stories if your intrested.

Steve

 

[FreeFloat]

Why would you not clean them???
I don't know if he uses his tanks for nitrox but why chance it,
life support equipement??
I have scary contaminated air stories if your intrested.

Steve

Don't forget, I still have 2 nearly-empty smelly tanks myself downstairs, from that same fill station....

Sure, fire away with a story or two.