Edmonds, WA Underwater park

[divemaster5734]

I had my first, and hopefully last, experience with bad air last month at Edmonds Park. My son was concerned when I couldnt stop the dry heaves, and called 911. After they took me away to Stevens Hospital. it was discovered that my mask was missing. It is a black " gauge reader". I have been hoping an honest spirit would have turned it into the dive shop down the street, but to no avail.
Wondering if any readers here might have found it?
ya ya, I know, it's a shot in the dark, but MOST divers are honest people, maybe someone did just find it...
After I surfaced, I dumped my weights somewhere between the vertigo, nausea, and surface swim, but I know my mask was in hand when I reached the shore.

 

[Sasquatch]

Very glad to hear you're OK, (assuming you're OK). Will keep eyes open for your mask as I'm there very often. I'm curious as to the bad air. Did you get it locally? I get my tanks filled locally, too.

Once again, glad it wasn't worse.

 

[divemaster5734]

I am embarrassed to admit, my tank was overdue for a yearly, but was still full, so before I took it in, I decieded to get the best use of the air....
After pulling the main, we descovered a large amount of rust, along with hairline fractures in the neck threads.
I personally cut the tank in half with a sawzall.

 

[Blackfish]

So the rust / oxidation occuring in the tank lowered the O2 percentage enough that you became sick. Nausea and vertigo are typical sypmtoms of hypoxia. Glad you survived that incident.

As all should know, improper tank filling technique can have a lot to do with the amount of rust and oxidation that occurs inside a tank. It is possible---even likely---that the rust/oxidation in your tank occured when the tank was filled and not during the course of a year of inactivity.

When dive shops fill tanks quickly the tank heats up---if there is a little rust or some organic material in your tank, this will oxidize much more quickly when it is hot. A rule of thumb is that chemical reaction rates double for every increase in temperature of 10 degrees celcius. This heating and oxidation consumes the oxygen in the tank and you've got a problem when you breath it. If asked to guess, I would bet that your air didn't go bad over a year, but was bad from the get go. It would not be the first time.

Many of the LDS in the Seattle area are bad about filling tanks quickly and giving you "hot" fills (e.g., 3500 PSI in an Al80). They give you a hot fill, rather than a good fill, so that you have 3000 PSI when the tank cools down. This drives me nuts, but if your tank is very clean in the inside, you can get away with it (i.e., nothing to oxidize). If you get some rust going, or somehow get some organic material in your tank, then you've got a problem. Possibly a big one.

James

 

[gcbryan]

Does this mean that you hadn't been diving in a year? Is it possible that you just got sick from the long surface swim, overheating, not diving in a while?

 

[divemaster5734]

It was not a fatigue issue. I roller blade, mountain bike, and work free weights, and stay in moderate shape. I snorkeled out, and was fine, I was only negative for a few minutes before I got extremely nauseous, so I just sat still for a few, after it didn't get better, I decided to call it, when I started to surface, I realized I had vertigo from hell. I made sure to do a slow ascent, as I was getting nervous by then. Once I got my bearings, I started to reverse swim for shore, but kept my reg in as I knew something was wrong. Very quickly it became apparent I was in serious trouble when I lost my lunch. I don't remember a lot after that, just kept telling myself not to panic, and I was praying a bit too. I was about 100 yards out, I just remember pulling my lead sometime after I had switched to my snorkel because my reg was pretty gross.
Afterwards, you could just open the main and smell the nasty air stink.
It was just going to be a nice, easy, Sunday dive, and I've been diving so long, I just got complacent with my equipment. It is funny though, when you look at my gear bag, I have back ups for my back ups. My save a dive kit is pretty decent, no extra hoses, but everything else.
Believe me, I did learn my lesson, I can accept the loosing the weights, but like I said, I KNOW that mask was in my hand when I walked on the beach, because I always look at it in my hand after I take off my fins when I exit the water.