Cylinder markings and testing in France?

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How often do you need to have a diving breathing gas cylinder hydrostatically tested and approved, in France?
- in Finland it is every 10 years
- in Sweden it is every 5 years
- in France I do not know

How should an air cylinder and a nitrox cylinder be marked in France?
Is black sectors/black ring enough?

I'm thinking of traveling in France and around the Alps with some diving gear with me.

Thanks
 
All EU countries require a hydro every ten years by law. France is like most places and industry driven with 5 year hydros. HOWEVER they have an odd visual system. The visual is done annually and if it is out then the diver needs a hydro. The French visual can be done by a "competent person" (often an instructor) and shops etc. do annual visuals, visiting divers' will not have this system and so the shop will require a recent hydro. I always make sure we take something with a hydrostatic of 2 years or less, although several of our local shops will often just fill without looking. A lot of places don't look beyond the stamp date and don't know why it says "V". Strictly though it should have a hydro of not more than 24 months vintage.

Tanks for Nitrox need "Nitrox" written on them. That's all. Don't try to get air in a tank with Nitrox on it, most shops will not fill EAN21 :) Tank colour is meaningless as in more or less every other EU country. For the UK the tank will need an "O2 clean" sticker. This is not needed in France as the tank is dedicated for Nitrox. Many shops blend without using the partial pressure systems so never put pure O2 in.

There is some confusion about M26 thread for Nitrox but I have never come across any shops in France that want it.
 
Thanks a lot!
 
There is a new(ish) set of EU norms for this as well. Until the member country ratifies the norm then it is still only a suggestion but will be used as guiding in court in cases where there is a gap in local laws. Such could be the case, for example, with tank marking depending on where you live.

So if your local authority doesn't have a guideline for it then take a look at the norms for guidance.

R..
 
5/10 Finland/Sweden ?!
That's gotta be from date they where bought, or ?

Here in Norway it's after 4 years when new, then every two years.
 
Scuba and BA cylinders in the EU fall within the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) and require hydrostatic testing every five years. In addition, Scuba cylinders need to be visually inspected at the midway point between hydrostatic tests. See EN 1802:2002 and EN 1968:2002

The PED requires the testing to be carried out by a "competent" person. My understanding is that in France scuba clubs can decide for themselves who is "competent" and do cylinder testing and inspecting in-house if they have the equipment to do so.

Only cylinders that fall within the scope of the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive (TPED) have a ten year test period. They must be tested by an "approved" person. Cylinders covered by TPED are typically industrial gas cylinders and will normally be identifiable by a "Pi" symbol stamped on the neck.
 
5/10 Finland/Sweden ?!
That's gotta be from date they where bought, or ?

Here in Norway it's after 4 years when new, then every two years.

Actually... it is after 3 years when new, then every two years.
However... this only apply if the tank is to be used as an underwater breathing apparatus. If used on land, the requirement is every 5 years.
 
Actually... it is after 3 years when new, then every two years.
However... this only apply if the tank is to be used as an underwater breathing apparatus. If used on land, the requirement is every 5 years.
My bad, you are very much correct [emoji108]
 
DIRECTIVE 2010/35/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (...)
on transportable pressure equipment

Article 2 Definiotions (1) (b):
Transportable pressure equipment shall be understood as

(...) excluding aerosols (UN No 1950), open cryogenic receptacles, gas cylin-

ders for breathing apparatus, fire extinguishers (...)

Hence, scuba cylinders are excluded from TPED and they are only covered by the pressure equipment directive (PED). The transportable pressure vessel directive is more about cases where there is a higher risk involved. The Pi-stamp is hence not required, and no, eventhough oxygen is oxidizing decompression oxygen cylinders need not be transported as hazardous material (so says the finnish transport safety agency).

The TPED is here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010L0035&from=FI

The PED is here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31997L0023&from=en

I haven't been able to locate the document yet where a 5 year hydrostatic testing interval is required.

The Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Frontpage - Tukes) requires hydrostatic testing of scuba cylinders every 10 years:
Diving equipment - Tukes
and as they supervise the named bodies of PED Article 12 (commercial inspection agencies) they have the last say. There is no requirement of visual inspection.

---------- Post added December 21st, 2014 at 06:39 PM ----------

5/10 Finland/Sweden ?!
That's gotta be from date they where bought, or ?

Here in Norway it's after 4 years when new, then every two years.

The number of years is counted from the previous approval stamp, first or not.

The period was five years in Finland, then some new EU regulation came (harmonization of legislations), and suddenly it was 10 years, and everyone was like WTF.

The EN standards are beyond a pretty steep paywall.
 
Last edited:
I have read recently that some clarifications with new restrictions have been published for Diving cylinders in France. As far as I have understood: 1 year visual inspection and then 2 years for pressure tests. However there are exceptions if the people are dully accrediated to extend that period to 5 years. There are of course discussions as to determine who is dully accredited :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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