Kudos Halcyon and VA Scuba

[MrPersonallity]

Chris, Sorry if your friend got offended, the scooter is on display and open to look at, he was removing the battery from the unit, if you know x scooters the battery is o-ring sealed in the nose with a larged snap ring. If you try to get it out and dont know how you can damage the harness and o-ring seal. As far as the vip stickers go, we try to err in the way of safety especially in view of recent accidents due to tank explosion with high O2 content. The tanks got filled partial pressure as the 36 bank was low the O2 was introduced slow, the tanks were topped, cooled and then adjusted for an accurate and good pressure fill. If we had filled them fast the complaint would have been they cooled to 2800 psi. I dont think it was 2 hours but yes the fill station was backed up that day as we had tanks on the whip from that days class. Sorry for the delay. We have been making improvements to the station and increasing the size of the banks, it is never enough though,....
I am usually not that picky on the O2 stickers while introducing bank mix, we do get a little nervous when introducing O2 to a tank that wasnt cleaned at a facility that is insured.I could go on about the inside of some of the tanks we have seen with O2 clean stickers on em but wont bore you with that. We just dont want to blow up!

 

[cmalinowski]

Chris, Sorry if your friend got offended, the scooter is on display and open to look at, he was removing the battery from the unit, if you know x scooters the battery is o-ring sealed in the nose with a larged snap ring. If you try to get it out and dont know how you can damage the harness and o-ring seal. As far as the vip stickers go, we try to err in the way of safety especially in view of recent accidents due to tank explosion with high O2 content. The tanks got filled partial pressure as the 36 bank was low the O2 was introduced slow, the tanks were topped, cooled and then adjusted for an accurate and good pressure fill. If we had filled them fast the complaint would have been they cooled to 2800 psi. I dont think it was 2 hours but yes the fill station was backed up that day as we had tanks on the whip from that days class. Sorry for the delay. We have been making improvements to the station and increasing the size of the banks, it is never enough though,....
I am usually not that picky on the O2 stickers while introducing bank mix, we do get a little nervous when introducing O2 to a tank that wasnt cleaned at a facility that is insured.I could go on about the inside of some of the tanks we have seen with O2 clean stickers on em but wont bore you with that. We just dont want to blow up!

Thanks for the response. It's nice that you remember and good of you to post. Brings back my hope that I was right about the shop in the first place

As for that day, like I said it could just be that people were having a bad day. I know we were in a rush so that probably just added to frustration levels. I don't know x-scooters so I can't comment on them (the simplicity of the gavin beat out the light, easiness of the x for me). I would put a "please ask" sign on it though if you are worried about people messing with it. That should keep our greedy mitts off of it mostly

As for filling being slow, I understand. We have run into it a few times there though, so that may have added to my frustration... still beats the rest and since you are working on it, I'll be happy to keep trying.

As for the tanks, I'd like to try and figure out something. I don't want you or them to blow up. I trust my buddy who cleans and inspects them though. I actually trust him more than any of the shop people that I've met up to this point. I've had shops around there put manifolds on dangerously incorrect (NOT YOUR SHOP) among other things. The point there is that it sounds like you would accept their VIP sticker just fine, but not ours. So maybe we could meet sometime and discuss possibilities as I'd like to use your shop as much as I can. And I do understand and respect your right to not fill tanks that you haven't inspected... or for any reason for that matter.

We'll start anew and try again. And I'll keep my buddy's hands off your batteries

Chris

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I'm doing work up in DC lately. Is VA Scuba in Sterling?

No, but I wish they were! http://www.virginiascuba.com/ They are located in manassas (off of 66). At least they are open until 8:00 so you can just wait for traffic to die down a bit. That is what I'm going to do today to return the rental gear.

 

[edparris]

Well first and foremost let me apologize to the folks at VA Scuba. I’m the friend referenced in cmalinowski’s posts above and although his description of my statements is accurate I never intended for that opinion to end up in a public forum. There were intended to be between dive buddies along the lines of “Guess what the whacky LDS did to me today…” and not as a serious complaint.

With that said and since the cat’s already out of the bag I’d like to clarify a few things.

The X-Scooter: I wasn’t removing the battery I was looking at the trigger (to see how the shift on the fly differs from the Gavin). There was no disassembly involved. I wasn’t offended by the whole “Don’t touch my cave diving equipment” rant, it was funny. There is no way in hell I’d leave any of my personal life support equipment literally on the display floor. To each his own, I probably would have gone with something along the lines of, “Be careful with that; if you break it I’ll have made the easiest $4K sale of the day”. :no

The Tank Fills: OK I didn’t realize your banks were low and you needed to partial pressure blend with pure O2. I was doing my best to obey the sign that says something of the effect of “2x price if you want to help us fill your tanks; stay behind the yellow line”. When the guy said he had 36 banked and given that my tanks were almost completely empty I assumed that he was just going to put somewhere around 2200 psi of 36% in and top with air. (Don’t give me grief about the 2200 number it’s just a guess from memory.) The two hour fill was more of a pain for Chris who had to wait for me to bring the tanks; I was busy inspecting the X-Scooter .

The PSI Sticker Thing: I totally understand your concern about the quality of inspections. I'll even say that it is completely unfair that the guy/establishment filling the tank is taking all the risks that could have been reduced (not eliminated) by a solid technician. Your shop, your risk, your rules, ‘nuff said. You might want to reconsider your policy of accepting other shops visualization stickers though. I got interested in maintaining my own gear / tanks after some eye opening experiences with other LDSs (again not VA Scuba). It’s not about money; I’m not interested in taking negligent risks with my life any more than you are with your shop. For me this is just a short term problem as I’ll likely setup a small fill station before too long. That way the fill risks are taken by the inspector that looked at the tanks.

So anyway back to the Kudos for VA Scuba. Good shop guys; definitely one the better ones in the NOVA area. Good staff and a nice product line.

 

[wjknobles]

i just wanted to add in a quick bit about the halcyon power inflators. i had the inflate button of mine shear off of its threads after a dive this summer. i called them up, sent it to them, and had it fixed and back on my wing in less than a week. great customer service

 

[Womble]

Any idea why the inflator "shear[ed] off", Jamie? Were you diving (in the water) at the time or had you made it back to land/boat? I would think this would be a little distressing even if you were out of the water.

 

[MrPersonallity]

As far as the tank filling goes, I have seen very few people that have the proper equipment at home to Oxygen clean a tank properly. It involves a substantial investment in equipment and supplies. I am not suggesting that every one has a poss. pressure heppa filterd clean room as we do, just that I know of people that still think rolling a tank full of simple green around in thier back yard constitutes oxygen cleaning..
I think the mentality now is more on the lines of a liability issue. Businesses have liability insurance, most individuals do not. It is a sad thing that our actions are controlled to a degree by the littigation happy society we live in, but thats the way it is.
If a shop is not following the industry standards cleaning and inspecting tanks and one goes off , chances are that the neglegence will be brought out and they will be held responsible financially and possibly criminally in the courts. They have insurance to help compensate for damages and injuries etc... Any how, you know the drill.....we have to be carefull and I have a responsibillity to my staff to try and keep it safe. It is not so much the vip, but the cleaning process where I believe the danger is. Hydro inspection pretty much covers the brunt of "will the tank hold the pressure" question. No tank , even brand new , will hold the pressure generated by a O2 fire in side it...
As far as my life support equipment being on display... I sell dive gear and service for a living.. I attempt to put on display equipment that myself and my staff use. That is the only "X" we have now. There are 2 ccr's on the floor also, both we use. Yes I inspect and test my equipment before I get in the water.. And yes signs that say "please ask" is a good idea. We will continue to have what we dive on display so that others may see equipment that is not on display at most dive shops. We plan on bringing in other scooters soon, so stay tuned.
Again Sorry about the confusion, we are trying very hard to be "different" and remain safe.
And when we are always open to input from our customers, so Thanks again.