CO Analysers

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...... can you please provide some feedback, thanks?
cootwo, along our bluebuddy datalogging system for scientific divers and our Dive Computer Training service, is one of our best selling product.
We are a small dedicated team and we care about our products and our customers. We treat them with respect and we expect the same.
Very few of our customers are members of ScubaBoard or even heard about it.
 
Very few of our customers are members of ScubaBoard or even heard about it.

There are a couple of ways to interpret that correlation, but that aside, I see this on the ScubaBoard Community page:

Members: 215,923

Make any set of assumptions you want about what percentage are active and how many of those people might have an interest in a CO analyzer. However, if I were marketing equipment to divers, I'd have some interest in my public image on such a board, and in capturing as many of those people as customers as possible. Half a percent of that number would be over 1K sales. But what do I know?

Edit: As DandyDon pointed out, it's a *CO* analyzer, not a *CO2* analyzer. My brain knew that but my fingers didn't. Corrected above.
 
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CO2 analyzer.
Many are here to learn, and may go on to copy & paste to searches, so it's important to use correct terms. Carbon dioxide is not much of a risk. Carbon monoxide CO is.
 
Just got back from diving with Aqua Safari in Cozumel. I used the Sensorcon to test our tanks and never got a reading above 5ppm. We were comfortable with those readings and had no incidents. Most of the readings were 2 to 4.
Yikes! I'd have been coming unglued.. or just changing operators. When I was there in 2015 I tested 50 or so tanks between my wife and I. I didn't detect any at all.

It sounds like aqua safari isn't using meri-d, I would have to guess. If the whole island was having CO readings that high we'd be hearing about it on FB and other threads.
 
Carbon dioxide is not much of a risk. Carbon monoxide CO is.

That would be better phrased as "a bit of CO2 in a tank is no big deal, CO is". CO2 can be very dangerous, even in open circuit diving.
 
Yikes! I'd have been coming unglued.. or just changing operators.
I'd be complaining for sure, if I got many at 4ppm - except I think this was her first time with the Sensorcon and her technique may have allowed boat motor exhaust to affect her results - if she was trying to hold the unit up to a cracked valve. I offered that suggestion to her above. Trapping tank gas in a gallon ziplock and waiting 30 seconds is my suggestion with that unit, along with leaving it on in the hotel room and attached to a backpack while traveling.

That would be better phrased as "a bit of CO2 in a tank is no big deal, CO is". CO2 can be very dangerous, even in open circuit diving.
That sounds like about the same thing I said, but okay. If we're going to get into details, I don't think that CO2 is much of a risk as long as the O2 is still around 21%. Of course, typos happen, but the devils in the detail.
 
@DandyDon, The way I tested the tanks - and admittedly, this probably isn't anything close to ideal - was that I would cover the tank top with my ziplock bag, pinch it around the top so that only air from the tank was then getting into the bag, and then cracked the tank a bit to fill the bag with air. This method could still allow for air from the immediate environment (contaminated by exhaust) to get into the bag immediately prior to putting the bag over the top of the tank. And that's why I was ok with 2-5ppm, because I couldn't be certain the bag wasn't already contaminated to begin with. In other words, I can't say with certainty that the air the dive op provided was 2-5ppm or my method resulted in 2-5ppm.

I'm not a scientist and I know nothing of what makes up CO molecules. Is it possible for CO to adhere to the inside of a baggie and contaminate future readings? Do I need a brand new bag for each tank? Should I use a completely deflated bag for each reading?

Again, if you want to make a video and post it on youtube I'd be happy to watch and use it as instructions. I'd hate to think that my money was poorly spent because my technique stinks.

At any rate, we survived to dive again, and next time around maybe I'll have the technique perfected. I can practice on my own tanks at home. :)
 
Ok, you used the ziplock but the engines were already running - I see, thanks. Yeah, that's a best effort that may not be totally accurate. I try to test before the boat is moving, but that's not always possible as fast as pickups go - and the engine is probably running all the time anyway, and then there is the ambient air so close to the busy street. Those machines do produce a lot of CO, like when people run a lawn mower inside a garage often don't survive.

As far as my views go, you seem to have done a good job, as good as possible on a busy boat pickup, obtained results that may not have been accurate but were close enough as long as the results were low, and made the right call. Thanks again for sharing your experiences and explaining further.

I'm not a scientist and I know nothing of what makes up CO molecules. Is it possible for CO to adhere to the inside of a baggie and contaminate future readings? Do I need a brand new bag for each tank? Should I use a completely deflated bag for each reading?
Nor am I, but I don't think that using a used bag would affect the results on a mostly full bag. I am more likely to use a new bag each day because they so often develop leaks quickly, possibly because I should buy better quality bags.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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