Local dive shop tanks out of vis AND hydro. Is this common?

[PeskyMonkey]

Hey guys!

So me and my wife went to our LDS to rent a set of steel 100s for some diving in our quarry this weekend. When I went to pick them up, they were 4 years out of vis, and 3 years out of hydro. When I mentioned that I would not like to dive them I got a very... condescending look back from them. They told me the only danger is during the fill, and that since they are already filled I wouldn't have a problem. I told them I understood, but I would prefer to do things the correct way (we are tech divers, and not very fond of bending rules because they "technically" have no risk).

They told me they stopped putting vis inspection stickers on the cylinders because people rent tanks, steal them, and then put them on their own tanks.

They told me they didn't do the hydro because the steel 100s rarely get rented out and "most people don't actually hydro their tanks".

Was I being a stuck up A-hole? I was being talked to as if I was being overly cautious, but it seemed very black and white to me.

P.S. We ended up diving single tanks that were in hydro/vis, and are now looking to just purchase our own set of doubles.

 

[PEDiver]

Find a new LDS. That is not common practice at all. If they are too lazy to hydro and vis their tanks, it makes you wonder what other areas of the business they are neglecting. I wouldn't even get gas fills from a shop like that let alone rent tanks or other equipment.

 

[UofMI_Divegeek]

Hopefully, using cylinders out of hydro should not be common .... in the US, Federal law requires that all compressed gas cylinders in commerce have hydrostatic testing every five years. The exception is so-called "star service" which refers to standing cylinders in a compressed gas storage bank which have a ten year hydrostatic test life.

While Federal law excludes privately owned cylinders, most dive shops (for everyone's safety) won't fill a cylinder that is out of hydrostatic test date.

Aluminum tanks subject to zone boundary cracking also require an eddy current test every 5 years. (but I do my Aluminum cylinders every year). Eddy current testing is really not necessary for steel cylinders.

Dan's Alert Diver magazine has a nice summary of cylinder regulations at

Inspecting and Testing Scuba Cylinders

An annual visual inspection and a five-year hydrostatic test are required for cylinders. How are these standards mandated and enforced?

dan.org

I consider the idea of not placing a cylinder inspection sticker on a tank to be absurd.

I agree with the previous post ... I would not utilize the services of a dive shop that does not follow standards 'cause I would wonder what other protocols are being ignored.

Lastly, I would suggest doing a cylinder inspection on a tank returned from hydro. I once had a steel tank returned with 2 cups of water remaining in the cylinder. (Last time I used that hydro service.)

 

[Pedro Burrito]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved from Basic​

---

 

[broncobowsher]

If the dive shop has issues with people stealing VIS stickers off rented tanks, there are bigger issues going on with that shop. VIS stickers don't just peel off and go back on. They come off all wrinkly at best and torn up most of the time. Peeling off the old VIS sticker is usually the worst part of doing a VIS. And it isn't like they are unobtanium, plenty of online sticker shops exist that can make them for you for pretty cheap, maybe a buck a piece in smaller volumes.

I don't know all that is going on with that shop, but there are enough signs to say that I would be cutting ties with them, if I had any.

 

[PeskyMonkey]

Thanks for the advice guys! I agree, I need to stop using this shop. The issue is they are SO CLOSE to me (under 10 minute drive) and everything else is at least 40 minutes AND a toll bridge away. But I suppose that's the price I must pay for a quality shop.

 

[PR_SMITH]

Any shop that fails to do hydro's and viz inspections is not one I would trust to maintain a scuba compressor.
Instant boycott for me.

 

[sea_ledford]

Technically they aren't wrong about the hydro. If it was expired 3 years ago, but filled 3.5 years ago, it should still be good to go. You just couldn't get it filled again. But that also means it's been sitting there for 3+years, unused (or they are outright lying to you). Agree with others on the corner cutting issues. Find a new shop.

 

[tursiops]

OP, as a Public Service, you ought to name the shop.

 

[UofMI_Divegeek]

With respect to long term storage of scuba tanks (Why I store my cylinders with ~ 50 psig during winter layoffs)

If there is moisture in the cylinder (which increases rusting speed and consumes oxygen), there could be a problem with decreased O2 concentration.

One of the original (pre-DAN) Rhode Island Annual Fatality Reports described a death that occurred because nearly all the O2 in a cylinder had been consumed in the rusting process ... the diver had entered the water with a tank that was mostly nitrogen.

So, if it were my tank, I would check %O2 before using. The probability of a hypoxic breathing gas is very small, but not zero.

Incidentally, the same report demonstrated (actual experiment) that pressing the purge button at low tank pressures in a pool could move water into the tank (the water would move via capillary action against tank pressure throughout the regulator to enter the tank).