Gas analysis and team diving...

[TSandM]

Peter and I often do an assembly line gauging/analyzing thing at the shop. Sometimes one of us picks up the tanks, sometimes the other. I consider a label from him equivalent to a label from me.

In MX, we do the same thing -- and I'm okay with any member of our diving group being the person with the analyzer in hand, just as they are okay with me doing it.

I do check analysis tapes on tanks before I pick them up to use them. I looked at this one -- it said precisely what I expected it to say. The person who analyzed it originally is a good friend and formerly frequent teammate. The only thing that was wrong with this tank is I didn't know WHEN it was analyzed (and I should have gauged it, as well).

We analyze air tanks, when they're filled at a Nitrox/trimix station. I have analyzed air tanks away from home, if they came from a place that makes Nitrox.

 

[InTheDrink]

I don't know about trimix but analysing Nitrox is hardly challenging or time consuming. I can't see any reason why you wouldn't analyse your own gas. I always analyse my own, period, plus check for CO a lot of the time.

Human error is common. Analyse your own gas. Die cos it's your own fault

J

 

[mikemill]

Haven't ran into the situation but I imagine that if I was doing a dive on Nitrox that was well away from MOD or NDL I'd accept the analysis of someone I knew.

 

[PfcAJ]

Peter and I often do an assembly line gauging/analyzing thing at the shop. Sometimes one of us picks up the tanks, sometimes the other. I consider a label from him equivalent to a label from me.

In MX, we do the same thing -- and I'm okay with any member of our diving group being the person with the analyzer in hand, just as they are okay with me doing it.

I do check analysis tapes on tanks before I pick them up to use them. I looked at this one -- it said precisely what I expected it to say. The person who analyzed it originally is a good friend and formerly frequent teammate. The only thing that was wrong with this tank is I didn't know WHEN it was analyzed (and I should have gauged it, as well).

We analyze air tanks, when they're filled at a Nitrox/trimix station. I have analyzed air tanks away from home, if they came from a place that makes Nitrox.

Well, if you don't know when it was analyzed, what happened to that tank between then and now?

A more sensible way to go about this is to analyze your gas when you pick it up, and again the day you dive it (or night before, not weeks and weeks before).

 

[TSandM]

PfcAJ, those are good points. There were a lot of things about that day that were not well done. My friend Gray Bryan put it best: Avoid situations where you are running late, and you won't be tempted to cut corners, and you won't forget things because you are hurrying.

Can we find smoking Fundies student to pillory now, please?

 

[PfcAJ]

Lol, I'm not tryin to bust your chops here. Everything turned out fine, and we're all learning from what happened.

At least you have the guts to actually post what you've done wrong on an open forum so others can benefit. That takes a lot.

 

[DaleC]

PfcAJ, those are good points. There were a lot of things about that day that were not well done. My friend Gray Bryan put it best: Avoid situations where you are running late, and you won't be tempted to cut corners, and you won't forget things because you are hurrying.

Can we find smoking Fundies student to pillory now, please?

I try to arrive early for dives just to avoid that problem. Probably the worst thing I can do is start to feel that I have to rush.

 

[japan-diver]

I trust other members of the team to analyze tanks- I would not be diving with you if I thought you could not operate a analyzer. Many times I will start on the doubles with trimix while another member will do the stages of O2 and Nitrox blends. We don't trust the tank monkeys or others and all tanks are analyzed on the day of the dive or night before when being loaded because we also mix alot of different stuff with air tops etc...

 

[waterpirate]

I trust no-one period. When I first started down the road to more,deeper,better diving. I saw nitrox training as a good first class. Five minutes after I completed that class I bought my own annyliser. Knowing what gas is in any given tank is a must.
I now cook my own gas and same thing. I allways re-anylise on dive day to verify. I am often asked to help out and fill for a casual aquaitance. I fill the tank and anylise for my own benifit, then take the tape off prior to giving it to anyone. That makes the individual diver responsible for anylising their gas with their anyliser.
Eric

 

[Peter Guy]

Re reanalyzing on the same day -- if the tanks have been under your possession and control from the time they were filled/analyzed by you, do you still re-analyze on the day of use? If so, Why? What do you think might have happened? OR is it just out of an abundance of caution to re-confirm what you first put on the tape?

In my (our) case, our tanks are filled at a shop, we pick them up, analyze/tape and then take them home where they sit outside behind our house. It is certainly possible that someone could come through the gate, to the house, to the tanks and mess with them -- but so is it possible to get hit by lightning.

Do circumstances, perhaps, dictate the procedures?