carbon monoxide in tanks - cozumel

[treasurehunter]

I dove with Palancar the day of all the problems. I know one person got a 5 hour ride in the chamber. A couple on our boat, doing there first OW dive, she was very sick and wasn't too cohirent. Don't know if she followed my suggestion and got medical attention. One person was suffering from hyperthermia, find this a little hard to believe with water temps of 80f. All togethere I heard of 5 different incidence that day.
My opinion bad air, also, the next day not a tank from Palancar was on the boat, but this is second hand information.
Make me wonder if I should fork out some cash on a tester??

Gene V

I ve been staying at the occidental and diving with palancar and other dive OP's in Cozumel for four years at about 24 dives per visit. Never had any issue except the cattle boating from palancar(Moooooo) so i stick to the small boats with less divers on board.

On thing i realized when traveling to foreign Caribbean location(because thats the only places i've been) is that when something goes wrong there isn't much accountability or justice and you will have to go back home with in the week or next.They basically protect there own interest and bury the truth.

So that said. I will for sure fork out the cash for an analyzer because one bad tank is one to many. I can't imagine going on a great vacation with my wife and one of us or both not coming back home for an incompetent dive OP or fill station that only cares about there bottom line. I'll take my own life in my hands for a minimal amount of $$$.

 

[Uber]

I ve been staying at the occidental and diving with palancar and other dive OP's in Cozumel for four years at about 24 dives per visit. Never had any issue except the cattle boating from palancar(Moooooo) so i stick to the small boats with less divers on board.

On thing i realized when traveling to foreign Caribbean location(because thats the only places i've been) is that when something goes wrong there isn't much accountability or justice and you will have to go back home with in the week or next.They basically protect there own interest and bury the truth.

So that said. I will for sure fork out the cash for an analyzer because one bad tank is one to many. I can't imagine going on a great vacation with my wife and one of us or both not coming back home for an incompetent dive OP or fill station that only cares about there bottom line. I'll take my own life in my hands for a minimal amount of $$$.

Same story here... done 100 or so dives with them over the years...(rest of the family like the resort) I would definitely fork out for an analyser if I could find something easy to use and reliable... not liking what I see out there so far... would like something like my Analox ...

...out of interest which other ops pick up at the Grand pier? I have only seen the Dive with Martin boat 4 times in all the time I have been staying there...maybe I am not just paying attention

by the way... no reply from Palencar so far... I sent them the links to both this thread and the one in the Coz forum... I will leave it another couple of days before I point out to them that "pleading the Fifth" doesn't work with the scuba community!

 

[redacted]

Same story here... done 100 or so dives with them over the years...(rest of the family like the resort) I would definitely fork out for an analyser if I could find something easy to use and reliable... not liking what I see out there so far... would like something like my Analox would be nice...

...out of interest which other ops pick up at the Grand pier? I have only seen the Dive with Martin boat 4 times in all the time I have been staying there...maybe I am not just paying attention

Most any of the smaller op will pick up at the southern resorts. I used DWM once and was disappointed. they were quite busy and cut us short on BT and SI to get ready for PM dives. Last time we went to OG we used bottom time divers amnd were very satisfies. Cozumel Diving | Scuba diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator

 

[Scared Silly]

Order the Pocket CO SCUBA - Carbon Monoxide Detector

Anyone have any experience with this model.

Regards,

I know of a few people who have used it. I am currently using the ToxiRae 3 which I think is a better option. Runs $150.

 

[divergirl50]

Looks like we should be carrying that tester with us. We have gotten lax on it. One never knows where one tank is actually getting filled. Lots of dive shops get their fills from a central station in Cozumel...not sure about the Maldives. Was the fill done on the boat???

 

[divergirl50]

Most dive shops will pickup at the Occidental. They allow any dive shop to pick up. Try Pelagic Ventures for small boat and good bottom times.

 

[DandyDon]

I dove with Palancar the day of all the problems. I know one person got a 5 hour ride in the chamber. A couple on our boat, doing there first OW dive, she was very sick and wasn't too cohirent. Don't know if she followed my suggestion and got medical attention. One person was suffering from hyperthermia, find this a little hard to believe with water temps of 80f. All togethere I heard of 5 different incidence that day.
My opinion bad air, also, the next day not a tank from Palancar was on the boat, but this is second hand information.
Make me wonder if I should fork out some cash on a tester??

Gene V

I still wonder why so few of us bother to spend $150 to be sure...?

Order the Pocket CO SCUBA - Carbon Monoxide Detector

Anyone have any experience with this model.

Regards,

Yep, that's the one I bought back when no one on SB had any info on any. You need to keep it in a Pelican box between tests as it is sensitive to air contamination and humidity, but I've got it to work okay. Swamp Diver gave expert advice and better suggestions tho.

Half of my Nitrox tanks have tested 5 ppm this week, and I did recheck my technique so feel certain now.

While it appears that incidents of bad air occur, and there are idiot operators out there, who fail to monitor their product, it seems to me that those DM's who make their living using air day-in and day-out would be in a perfect position to police this issue. After-all they are getting their air from the same supplier as well...while it all might be one big conspiracy, I have a hard time believing that any supplier distributing bad air wouldn't be watched very closely by those industry consumers who use their product. Do you think that perhaps the supplier Are there any DM's or former DM's on here that might shed some light on their experience with this issue?

I really think you don't understand typical DMs.

I ve been staying at the occidental and diving with palancar and other dive OP's in Cozumel for four years at about 24 dives per visit. Never had any issue except the cattle boating from palancar(Moooooo) so i stick to the small boats with less divers on board.

On thing i realized when traveling to foreign Caribbean location(because thats the only places i've been) is that when something goes wrong there isn't much accountability or justice and you will have to go back home with in the week or next.They basically protect there own interest and bury the truth.

So that said. I will for sure fork out the cash for an analyzer because one bad tank is one to many. I can't imagine going on a great vacation with my wife and one of us or both not coming back home for an incompetent dive OP or fill station that only cares about there bottom line. I'll take my own life in my hands for a minimal amount of $$$.

Yep. Divers die on Cozumel pretty often actually for example, but the only way we ever learn of any is if the news story is published in a victim's home town or if someone here reports. Most destinations keep such quiet: bad for business.

Looks like we should be carrying that tester with us. We have gotten lax on it. One never knows where one tank is actually getting filled. Lots of dive shops get their fills from a central station in Cozumel...not sure about the Maldives. Was the fill done on the boat???

The Maldives case was on a boat, with many severely wrong issues, but then how many of us know all the possible issues? I don't care where air comes from; I test. All I do is fill a one gallon slider bag with the tester turned on, wait 3-5 minutes while I assemble my other gear, then look. So easy, so cheap, but so seldom done.

Another CO Scuba case, this time from Picton, NZ.

CDNN :: Diver Poisoned by Carbon Monoxide in Scuba Tank

From that article....

Marriott said the compressor was tested by an independent testing station every three months, which was the case before they bought the business as well.

She said they and other dive shops followed a regime of compressor maintenance, including regularly changing filters.

Yeah and they replace the filters right before the tests.

 

[FastEddy]

"Half of my Nitrox tanks have tested 5 ppm this week, and I did recheck my technique so feel certain now."

Hi Dandydon:

Do you find there is increased CO in nitrox tanks as compared to air tanks, as a general trend?
Were they filled from an electric compressor or liquid fuel, in the tropics or texas?
Did the other half of the Nitrox tanks you used test at 0ppm?
Does the monitor you have jump from 0 directly to 5ppm or is it capable of registering values in between 0-5ppm, e.g., 1 ppm?

I tested an air tank last night filled locally and got 0ppm with a Spectrum CO monitor from Enmet: ENMET CANADA

I personally find even 5ppm too high for my liking. 5ppm-10ppm is what I usually get in my office building's heated parking garage (which I tested on one occasion).

 

[DandyDon]

"Half of my Nitrox tanks have tested 5 ppm this week, and I did recheck my technique so feel certain now."

Hi Dandydon:

Do you find there is increased CO in nitrox tanks as compared to air tanks, as a general trend?
Were they filled from an electric compressor or liquid fuel, in the tropics or texas?
Did the other half of the Nitrox tanks you used test at 0ppm?
Does the monitor you have jump from 0 directly to 5ppm or is it capable of registering values in between 0-5ppm, e.g., 1 ppm?

I tested an air tank last night filled locally and got 0ppm with a Spectrum CO monitor from Enmet: ENMET CANADA

I personally find even 5ppm too high for my liking. 5ppm-10ppm is what I usually get in my office building's heated parking garage (which I tested on one occasion).

Gosh no. Nitrox should be produced at cleaner standards than regular air, but in the Caribbean you really should generally expect welders oxygen mixed with regular air, hope it's safe to dive, and try to not be around if the compressor blows.

I'm in Roatan now, but I'll have to get back to you on the compressor. I've given up on tours and records and just check my own. Yeah, the other tanks tested at 0ppm, which really means less than 5 as the analyzer doesn't show anything until 5.

The Spectrum CO instrument and Target multiple analyzer are interesting. It'd be nice to have CO and O2 testing in one if you don't have to changer sensors in use? Cost is always a factor for something the agencies are not suggesting necessary; know what these run?

5-10ppm is negligible at one atmosphere and not dangerous at several atmospheres, but it's a flag to watch closely.

Back to agencies are not suggesting necessary: I just have to wonder but I guess this is just a risk that shouldn't happen, so they see dive destination risks as beyond their scope, an area for someone else to oversee. DAN is amazingly ignoring this too much for me. The destinations are generally strong at hiding accident news and avoiding tank testing after "drownings." Unless we see a larger number of divers carrying and using CO testers and making their findings public, I don't guess we'll see a change.

As usual, in this case no one had a CO tester on hand, and we can only hope that the local authorities did seize and test the tanks - but I am not hopeful.

 

[beachnik]

I've been following this thread. I decided to google for 'CO tester' and stumbled upon the link below. Some interesting info about several testers.

I don't know anything about the person doing the tests (for all I know, he's one of you).

Anyway, it looks like it's worth reading.

MOD SCUBA BLOG