Etiquette if the shop doesn't fill the tank completely

[Richard Dayan]

Just buy your own compressor

 

[SlugLife]

Hahaha I didn't really consider this when I always hear "only trained can fill the tank". I haven't gotten to Nitrox yet. I thought it was because he was going to cause him or his equipment damage or injury. It's their liability, maybe they think they can shift on the customer if you're forced to check it yourself. It's hilarious/scary he's eyeballing it and says "lemme know how close I got". But at least you did the root cause analysis for them, so I'm sure it won't happen again

Checking the gas-mix yourself vs checking PSI of air are almost distinct topics, especially from a diver-safety perspective. A short-fill might mean you have to end a dive early or can't dive. An inaccurate mix easily results in a life-and-death situation.

In the US, being around the fill-station is an OSHA (work hazard regulation agency) issue related to pressurized gasses, and workplaces can be fined for using staff which lack appropriate training or even customers being too close to the fill equipment. They go over some of that in the PSI/PCI class for inspecting scuba (and similar) cylinders, although they didn't talk a lot about fill stations or OSHA.

In terms of forcing a customer to check the percentages, (and I'm not a lawyer), that would seem to open a dive-shop to liability (lawsuits) and potentially responsible for someone's death (manslaughter). The reason divers are strongly encouraged to check the mix themselves, is from the perspective of REDUNDANCY. The logic being "it's the dive-shops responsibility to give me an accurate mix, and even if it's the dive-shop's fault or liability, I don't want to end up DEAD because some dive-shop employee is incompetent."

But at least you did the root cause analysis for them, so I'm sure it won't happen again

My read of this story, and root-cause-analysis is this dive shop has dangerously incompetent employees.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That seems rediculous. I am very curious about what they are running. I have sticks on some compressors, a nuvair membrane unit, and a home made concentrator membrane system. None of them are huge or require much power.

 

[Tracy]

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Wow, two 25ish cfm compressors and not sure what size nitrox compressor/membrane. That is some huge volume. Are they filling 200-500 tanks per day?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

They have a lot of classes, they own a local dive boat, and they are a block from the beach. They are also the only shop within 13 miles with banked nitrox. I usually bring eight tanks (4 100s and 4 130s) and pick them up after lunch.

 

[Still Kicking]

They have a lot of classes, they own a local dive boat, and they are a block from the beach. They are also the only shop within 13 miles with banked nitrox. I usually bring eight tanks (4 100s and 4 130s) and pick them up after lunch.

And the owners are trust fund kids (nice guys) who don't have to worry so much about ROI.

 

[DogDiver]

Guess I got it really easy at Amigos in North Florida. Pump your own gas 24/7 banked 32%, air and O2. Self serve. Love it.

 

[BoltSnap]

Guess I got it really easy at Amigos in North Florida. Pump your own gas 24/7 banked 32%, air and O2. Self serve. Love it.

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They don't worry about uneducated/untrained/careless divers making mistakes and causing damage?

 

[DogDiver]

They don't worry about uneducated/untrained/careless divers making mistakes and causing damage?

Nope. Typically only experienced cave divers frequent this establishment. Hence Cave Fills.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Thinking this over, I must say that's just an extraordinary amount to spend on a compressor system, whether it's set up for continuous or partial pressure blending. By itself it will essentially never pay them back in fill charges. As part of the overall business plan, it will still take a Long Time. I have to wonder what, exactly, they got for their $150K.

California labor rates for licensed insured contractors, and city permits probably was a pretty Hefty chunk of that.