British diver found dead - Talay Songhong park, Thailand

[Hiszpan]

Sadly it does not appear that there will be any more official information on this. The authorities here have concluded there investigations, funeral has been held and the tanks and ccr sold and funds sent to his family. The compressor has been sold to be stripped and rebuilt.

Did compressor/fill station belong to a Thai or was it his own?

 

[BlueTrin]

. Doctors at Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital concluded he died from decompressionsickness, also known as thebends……..

Locally, based on an examination of his compressor and bailout CO readings that it was caused by CO poisoning. The compressor was petrol driven with no intake vent or hopcolite in the filter.

Did compressor/fill station belong to a Thai or was it his own?

@Apecks ‘s previous post implies that he had his own compressor

 

[Apecks]

@Apecks ‘s previous post implies that he had his own compressor

That is correct, own compressor and blended gases himself

 

[George W. Bayley]

I have been fascinated reading this thread and it is always sad when a fatality happens.

The posts have contained just about everything from gas checks to ppm's, I don't recall
anyone mentioning filter changes and compressor running time logs.

 

[Apecks]

 

[Apecks]

Yesterday I got chance to witness a run test of the compressor by its new owner prior to been stripped down. As you can do the CO at the air intake is approx 150ppm and when tested at the whips 175ppm indicating some issue internally over above the contaminated intake.

it will now be rebuilt, air intake snorkel and hopcolite filter added before been put back in service.

 

[George W. Bayley]

That sounds like a good idea.

I must say a snorkel would certainly help, I have a piece of plastic pipe (about 24")
that fits in the air intake on my compressor and is very efficient.

 

[Hiszpan]

Interesting we spoke about CO poisoning here and I think I got poisoned last Sunday on a boat dive. It happened once or twice before but at first I put it to hard breathing rental regs or having too tight wetsuit pressing on my neck arteries and/or improper this timebreathing technique. I am sure this time though it was CO as symptoms were exactly as listed on the NHS UK website for mild CO poisoning. The source of the CO was not air in the tanks - it was the boat's engine. Breeze was light and pushing exhaust fumes into the semi-open cabin, where I was standing alone during the engine warmup phase. Compounding fact was the presence of the high dock with wall higher than myself, that enclosed the space even more. I started to have headaches on our way to first site before we even got to water ( hence I am sure it is not the tanks ). After coming home from 2 dives, splitting headache, nausea and dizziness for the rest of the day. Took me 2 days to feel 100% myself again. Boat is diesel powered, half of the deck is open, half is semi enclosed. I spoke to skipper afterwards, we will try to get CO detectors to test the presence of CO next time, to confirm my suspicions.

I am writing this as I was wondering how the deceased cave diver knew that CO is in his tank. What symptoms were the telltales. I am now able to identify them in some degree on myself after latest occurrence.

 

[DandyDon]

The source of the CO was not air in the tanks - it was the boat's engine. Breeze was light and pushing exhaust fumes into the semi-open cabin

It continues to amaze me that anyone can get a battery-powered smoke & CO alarm at any Walmart for $20 thanks to recent technological & manufacturing advances that any boat with a partial or full cabin would not have one.

The solution is easy enough. If every customer asked to see & test the smoke & CO alarms after boarding, then got off if not pleased, the problem would be fixed. Salt air is probably hard on them, but so what. Cheaply replace often.

But then, there are homes without them. Can't fix stupid.

Cars are different as hot as the cabins get when parked in the summer, but I carry one with me.

 

[DarrynSami]

Have a CO detector in my boat cabin. Indeed it will go off when the boat is not underway, engines are running, no breeze so exhaust can drift up onto the boat.