carbon monoxide in tanks - cozumel

[redacted]

I agree. There isn't one PEEP about this over in the Cozumel forum and they don't miss a thing that happens there. I would also like to see some facts and data here.

-Charles

Yes, but Cozumel does a pretty good job of suppressing news that is bad for business. If this is a false report, I would expect to see an authoritative disclaimer fairly soon.

 

[svs]

Strange story. Could be anything from oxygen toxicity to fish poisoning.

 

[e_mcarthur89]

I heard about this while I was staying down there this week. Heard that 2 divers were pulled up onto a Dressels boat, one wasn't breathing. They were able to revive him and get them to shore. Another 2 divers were affected too apparently. All I know is that it was bad air, not sure about the CO part.

 

[NewEnglandTransplant]

Thanks for this update. Which meter did you select -

D-

 

[Merchant.r]

I was at the Grand when this happened. It was our last day in Coz so we weren't diving. But we heard about some of it when we got back from our drive around the island...

My husband and I dove 3 days with Palancar and had no issues.

 

[Scared Silly]

CO is a lurking potential problem in fills.

Keeping CO out of a compressor system requires good design and maintenance and vigilance.

Is Dive Plancar a PADI resort? As I recall, PADI requires at least quarterly air quality testing. Quarterly isn't enough at a busy fill station.

PLEASE CONTACT PADI IMMEIDATELY IF IT'S A PADI RESORT. This could be a real safety issue.

PADI no longer requires quarterly testing ... not that they felt is was unnecessary but because there were no resources to manage it let alone verify the reports.

 

[FastEddy]

Periodic air testing only provides a limited snap-shot and not on-going prevention of sporadic events such as filter's failing to be changed on time or fumes entering the reserve tanks from explosions of mixtures of air and lubricating oil in the compression chambers or other parts of the air system (even in electric compressors) due to high ambient air temp and/or overworked compressors and/or low quality lubricants with a low flash point. The only way to ensure that CO does not enter the system is with an in-line CO monitor that shuts the compressor off when CO is detected beyond the filter.

The damage an incident like this does to a diving business makes it apparent how little a 700 dollar in-line carbon monoxide monitor costs for an operation's compressor. From this point forward, I will refuse to dive with any operation that does not have an in-line CO monitor. On top of that, I will test each and every tank prior to diving with my own portable CO monitor. If I don't get the same level as the ambient air (or lower), I am out of there.

 

[suprane]

Strange story. Could be anything from oxygen toxicity to fish poisoning.

Oxygen toxicity?!?!... Uhh, the first diver was affected at 35 ft! He would have had to have been on nearly 100% O2 (about 78% by my calculations to reach an ATA of 1.6!) to have been affected at that depth! And the other two were hit at about "80 ft."?!.. Again, sort of shallow to have an O2 toxicity hit! Air has a MOD (Maximum Operating Depth) of 172 ft and to reach an ATA of 1.6 (potential toxic range) of oxygen at 80 ft would require in excess of 47% O2 in their tanks! (Feel free to correct me if my numbers are off!.. They come from my TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures training. Oh yeah,,,, and the fact I have been practicing anesthesia for over 30 years!).
I doubt that "oxygen toxicity" is even a plausible explanation! Especially in light of the fact several divers were effected!
You would actually be VERY surprised to learn just how often divers die from "bad air"! I had a friend (along with a DM and another diver!) die at CoCo View resort on Roatan several years ago from CO poisoning. It was fortunate that no one else died as several of the other tanks on the boat tested positive for CO! The attorney from Houston that handled the law suite for the family indicated that his firm gets MANY similar cases every year!

 

[Uber]

Yes, but Cozumel does a pretty good job of suppressing news that is bad for business. If this is a false report, I would expect to see an authoritative disclaimer fairly soon.

from whom?

 

[FastEddy]

Here is an interesting article that points out a failure rate of 3-5% when testing Grade E air sent in from dive operations.

Carbon Monoxide tester for scuba and firefighting

I was shocked to learn that the incidence is still that high in the modern day of inexpensive CO monitors. How many people would eat food X if they knew in advance they had a 1/20 chance of being poisoned?

CO often causes permanent neurological damage for those who survive, e.g., memory loss, depression, etc.