Mandatory stickers

[iztok]

What are the mandatory stickers one has to have on a tank. More specifically if I want my tank O2 cleaned, do I have to put anything else other than VIP + O2 clean sticker on it? Do I have to have Nitrox sticker on it?

One of My LDS says one has to have Nitrox sticker if I want them to clean tank for O2 service.

I prefer as little stickers as possible.

 

[mikemill]

I have only the vis+O2 clean sticker on mine and then the piece of tape with the mix information. Nothing else. The shops I've been to haven't had a problem filling my tanks with nitrox. But your shop might just be adding asinine rules.

 

[redacted]

I think the answer is you have to have whatever stickers your shop requires if you want them to fill your tank. If you don't like their sticker requirements, find another shop.

It will probably be hard to find a shop that does not require a vis sticker. You may have better luck with the nitrox band.

 

[halocline]

It kind of depends what you mean by "mandatory". Legally, you need no stickers, just a current hydro stamp. The LDS has no legal authority to require you to put any stickers, including a VIP, on your tank. OTOH, they own the compressor and can refuse to fill any tank they want to refuse, for whatever reason they choose.

There are commonly accepted industry standards that we all know about, like the annual inspection. There are also all kinds of de facto "rules" that dive shops seem to adopt in some consultation with interstellar entities, like the plus rating can only be given to tanks in the first 5 years of it's life, AL tanks older than 20 years cannot be filled, and tanks must be "nitrox" cleaned as opposed to O2 clean for partial pressure filling. You can try to argue with them, but they own the compressor.

 

[muddiver]

I've never heard of Nitrox clean. Please explain that one to me.

There is oxygen clean, which is required for partial pressure fills for Nitrox because the oxygen usually goes in first, and there is plain old scuba visual inspection clean.

The industry standard for a cylinder to contain anything other than air (i.e. 21% O2 mix) is that the cylinder should be marked in a conspicuious manner that it contains something other than air. That is for the safety of the general bonehead diving public, one of who might grab your cylinder and try to breath off of it. The industry standard for that has become a green and yellow Nitrox tank wrap.

Now you can get smaller warning stickers from www.airspeadpress.com that state things like "this tank may contain mixtures other than air" or my favorite is "This is not your tank" may contain.....

Also, without some sort of "O2 cleaned" sticker a shop will more than likely question is the cylinder was cleaned because it is their employee that is at risk whin doing a partial pressure fill, not you. So good luck with that fight.

A little aside is that cylinders used for breathing air under the CGA standards are suppost to be yellow. The yellow and green tank wraps and stickers came about when the use of EAN became more popular in diving because it is a combonation of the green that designates oxygen and yellow that designates breathing air. Is't all loosely based on the NOAA standards.

 

[adm3745]

I guess only the Viz sticker should be required. My O2 bottle has large Oxygen 20 stickers on the side so that nothing but pure O2 ever goes into that tank. With Nitrox, I just have a little tab of tape by the neck that tells me the mix in it. I don't see the point in having Nitrox bands. It has no valuable information on it.

 

[redacted]

I guess only the Viz sticker should be required. My O2 bottle has large Oxygen 20 stickers on the side so that nothing but pure O2 ever goes into that tank. With Nitrox, I just have a little tab of tape by the neck that tells me the mix in it. I don't see the point in having Nitrox bands. It has no valuable information on it.

No valuable info for you. It does tell the dive shop that you have paid your $15 surcharge for the privilege of being able to have nitrox in your tank. And, if they can smile nicely, they may be able to get you to pay that surcharge to them next year when they remove that sticker during a vis.

 

[rstofer]

I guess only the Viz sticker should be required. My O2 bottle has large Oxygen 20 stickers on the side so that nothing but pure O2 ever goes into that tank. With Nitrox, I just have a little tab of tape by the neck that tells me the mix in it. I don't see the point in having Nitrox bands. It has no valuable information on it.

It warns someone other than you that the tank may contain something other than air. More important, there are fill stations that don't have O2 compatible air and the band tells them to NOT fill your tank. They may not notice the O2 Clean part of the VIP sticker.

A shop without O2 compatible air may have you remove the Nitrox label before they fill your tank. I don't know what they do when the VIP and O2 Clean are all part of the same sticker. Good reason to keep them separate, I suppose. That way you can remove the O2 Clean sticker and leave the VIP.

Sometimes even incompatible air is better than not diving.

Richard

 

[adm3745]

No valuable info for you. It does tell the dive shop that you have paid your $15 surcharge for the privilege of being able to have nitrox in your tank. And, if they can smile nicely, they may be able to get you to pay that surcharge to them next year when they remove that sticker during a vis.

touche

I guess the O2 clean standpoint kinda holds. I don't buy that breathing gas other than air thing though. Any tank should be analyzed and marked for its exact contents. A Nitrox sticker says I can have anything from %21 to %100 Oxygen. Not very usefull. When I first started diving and I saw them, I thought it was a way to show off that your breathing some exotic gas. MOD stickers would be the best way to go, but I would imagine alot of people, including myself, dive optimized mixes so I never just have %32 always in a tank.

 

[tc]

:sblogo: stickers are mandatory for members, pretty sure I read that in the Terms of Service.