Bad luck with fill’s

[TuckerM80]

Just left a scuba shop where I paid $52 for four nitrox fills on my steel HP 120’s. Diving thirds, all tanks had at least 2000 psi in each. Asked for 32% nitrox and my analyzer comes up with 30% on two and 31% on the other two. Service pressure stated on the tanks is 3500 psi with dedicated DIN valves. Tanks are were “filled” to 3100 psi. I am a cave diver but I dive HP cylinders so I don’t have the issue of not being able to get “cave fills”. At first I was questioned how I know they are HP 120’s. Employee pointed to an hp120 with a tank boot on, and mine are removed. Held my tank up to the shops tank and explained I have the boots removed and they look smaller. Employee was by themselves and had another customer looking for fills right behind me so I didn’t cause a fuss. First and last time I’ll go there, but this isn’t the first mishap I’ve had with fills. I had those same tanks filled at another location and they were marked 32%, but when I analyzed them myself with my personal analyzer, and then a buddies analyzer they came out at 24%. Has anyone else dealt with poor fills ? Should I have spoken up at my dive shop visit today ? Just feeling like I got ripped off and can’t seem to find a solid place to fill my tanks with confidence and figured I’d see what the scuba board fam thinks

 

[Dsix36]

I will play the devils advocate simply because I have recently become a new tank monkey at one of my local dive shops. Perhaps the employee is new and still learning the ropes and it was not an intentional rip off on their part at all. I think it was admiral of you to not raise a big fuss over the fills but I think that it might have been better to verify the pressure before leaving the shop and requesting to get at least the 3500 psi that those tanks are rated for. That way the employee could learn from it in a positive manner. As for the mix being off by a mere couple of percent, that can happen to any of us on a good day simply because of the variance of sensors, humidity, temp etc. while mixing to fill the banks. If he was partial pressure filling, then he did a decent job anyway.

 

[TuckerM80]

I will play the devils advocate simply because I have recently become a new tank monkey at one of my local dive shops. Perhaps the employee is new and still learning the ropes and it was not an intentional rip off on their part at all. I think it was admiral of you to not raise a big fuss over the fills but I think that it might have been better to verify the pressure before leaving the shop and requesting to get at least the 3500 psi that those tanks are rated for. That way the employee could learn from it in a positive manner. As for the mix being off by a mere couple of percent, that can happen to any of us on a good day simply because of the variance of sensors, humidity, temp etc. while mixing to fill the banks. If he was partial pressure filling, then he did a decent job anyway.

I appreciate your kind words. I actually did check the pressure in the shop, but between her running around filling my tanks and answering the phone and then dealing with the load of tanks the customer behind me brought I thought it best to not make her feel bad. Some people might take it as a learning experience, some may not. As for the blend I agree with you 100%

 

[Pavao]

. Tanks are were “filled” to 3100 psi…At first I was questioned how I know they are HP 120’s. Employee pointed to an hp120 with a tank boot on, and mine are removed. Held my tank up to the shops tank and explained I have the boots removed and they look smaller.

So if I understood you correctly, the employee just eyeballed the tank size to determine what tank it was and based on that came up with it being a working pressure of ~3k PSI, is that correct?
And when you were questioned about how you knew it was HP120, you didn’t point to the only thing that factually tells us it’s a HP120, the tank markings?

Full cave DPV here, full trimix CCR, I still think the most dangerous thing I have ever done/do on scuba is fill tanks, it’s mind boggling to me someone will fill a tank without verifying its working pressure by actually looking at it stamped on the tank.

 

[TuckerM80]

So if I understood you correctly, the employee just eyeballed the tank size to determine what tank it was and based on that came up with it being a working pressure of ~3k PSI, is that correct?
And when you were questioned about how you knew it was HP120, you didn’t point to the only thing that factually tells us it’s a HP120, the tank markings?

Full cave DPV here, full trimix CCR, I still think the most dangerous thing I have ever done/do on scuba is fill tanks, it’s mind boggling to me someone will fill a tank without verifying its working pressure by actually looking at it stamped on the tank

You are correct, employee brought the first tank out and I analyzed the gas, and then checked the pressure and found 3100 psi. So I mentioned they were 120’s, thinking that would be a polite way of saying the service pressure is 3500. (That and the red label on the dedicated DIN valve that says service pressure 3500) To answer why I didn’t point to the information stamped on the tank I’ve never taken the time to educate myself on the stamping and that’s on me.

 

[Pavao]

Yp

You are correct, employee brought the first tank out and I analyzed the gas, and then checked the pressure and found 3100 psi. So I mentioned they were 120’s, thinking that would be a polite way of saying the service pressure is 3500. (That and the red label on the dedicated DIN valve that says service pressure 3500) To answer why I didn’t point to the information stamped on the tank I’ve never taken the time to educate myself on the stamping and that’s on me.

Thats not really on you, it’s 100% on the fill station operator to know what the fill pressure is for the tanks they’re filling. It’s good for you to know, however.

If it’s truly 3500 and not 3442, then you have 7/8” neck and 300 bar DIN valves, that’s a huge clue, those are kind of hard to miss, that’d be one tank I’d fill without needing to look for the service pressure stamp.

The red label on the valve is not something I’d rely on for anything, however.

 

[Compressor]

When I go to a new dive shop for fills (like travelling), I always tell the person filling them the tanks size and pressure. I also write the same with a Sharpie on my tanks. Why?: I had a tank disc burst rupture once when the operator filled my LP85s to 4000 psi. With the tank being in a tank of water, it made a HUGE mess of the shop.

As far as the % of EANx is concerned, within 1-2% variability is normal. Anything else, I would raise and objection at the store.

 

[TuckerM80]

Thats not really on you, it’s 100% on the fill station operator to know what the fill pressure is for the tanks they’re filling. It’s good for you to know, however.

If it’s truly 3500 and not 3442, then you have 7/8” neck and 300 bar DIN valves, that’s a huge clue, those are kind of hard to miss, that’d be one tank I’d fill without needing to look for the service pressure stamp.

The red label on the valve is not something I’d rely on for anything, however.

You are correct. 7/8 neck steel HP120 with 300 bar dedicated DIN valve (yolk style will not fit around the valve)

 

[TuckerM80]

When I go to a new dive shop for fills (like travelling), I always tell the person filling them the tanks size and pressure. I also write the same with a Sharpie on my tanks. Why?: I had a tank disc burst rupture once when the operator filled my LP85s to 4000 psi. With the tank being in a tank of water, it made a HUGE mess of the shop.

Scary stuff. I will now be informing any fill station my tank size and service pressure

 

[The Chairman]

Forget the valves. The correct working pressure is on the shoulder of the tank. I used to fill my working pressure with a bit of paint so it stood out. Now I fill my own and cut out the tank monkeys.