nitrox analyzing question

[HowardE]

i'm guessing that most people don't actually buy an analyzer, but rather they observe the guy at the dive shop analyze the tank? or let's say you're on vacation in the caribbean on an island for example.........maybe they've already loaded the tanks on the boat when you arrive at the dock or whatever.........then you would need your own analyzer on hand? right? let me know what most of you do ok? thanks,donna

I don't own my own analyzer. I have never needed it.

In the example given

or let's say you're on vacation in the caribbean on an island for example.........maybe they've already loaded the tanks on the boat when you arrive at the dock or whatever.........

I would make them get an analyzer, and I would want to see the results for myself. Otherwise, I would ask for air tanks.

Anyone who makes nitrox should have an analyzer, otherwise - don't get nitrox from them. Go somewhere else.

An O2 analyzer is easy to calibrate, and it's easy to tell if it's working properly... I do analyze my tanks all the time (at the shop, or at the boat) but I still have yet to come to a situation where I needed to have my own analyzer.


--- Some people say, "If you don't trust the shop or the analyzer..." if that is the case - go somewhere else, or dive air.

 

[PerroneFord]

"If you don't trust the shop or the analyzer..." if that is the case - go somewhere else, or dive air.

How do you know it's air?

 

[HowardE]

How do you know it's air?

I pray

 

[Lead_carrier]

How do you know it's air?

IMHO, if you can't trust a shop to know whether it is air or not then you'd definitely need to go to another shop. You can chase your tail all day by playing the how do you know, but, what if game.

 

[timle]

The girl behind the counter attaches the analyzer hose then cranks the zero-adjust until it says "32", then looks at me and says "32 percent". I tried explaining that the knob she was turning was for calibrating the analyzer against air or O2, and that she wasn't supposed to crank it while analyzing a tank.

Classic you should have reached over and turned the knob until it read 36 percent and said "Awesome. Now I have 36% EAN!"

 

[Web Monkey]

Classic you should have reached over and turned the knob until it read 36 percent and said "Awesome. Now I have 36% EAN!"

I have a standing rule about not ****ing off people who make or serve my food, fill my tanks or work on my regs

Terry

 

[PerroneFord]

IMHO, if you can't trust a shop to know whether it is air or not then you'd definitely need to go to another shop. You can chase your tail all day by playing the how do you know, but, what if game.

I don't get it.

We should trust the shop that an air tank is an air tank, but NOT trust the shop that a 32% tank is 32%? Where's the logic there? Even more insidious, is that a mislabled nitrox tank is likely to be dived by someone schooled in the warning signs for ox-tox. An air only diver, wouldn't know those signs.

At our shop, absolutely NOTHING is labled except for Argon and our Oxygen Safety Surface bottle. Every other double, single, or rebreather bottle MUST be analyzed or tagged before it leaves the shop. Period. We provide the stickers and the analyzer.

 

[HowardE]

... MUST be analyzed or tagged before it leaves the shop. Period. We provide the stickers and the analyzer.

Great. All shops should do this.

 

[Lead_carrier]

I don't get it.

We should trust the shop that an air tank is an air tank, but NOT trust the shop that a 32% tank is 32%? Where's the logic there? Even more insidious, is that a mislabled nitrox tank is likely to be dived by someone schooled in the warning signs for ox-tox. An air only diver, wouldn't know those signs.

At our shop, absolutely NOTHING is labled except for Argon and our Oxygen Safety Surface bottle. Every other double, single, or rebreather bottle MUST be analyzed or tagged before it leaves the shop. Period. We provide the stickers and the analyzer.

I didn't say not to analyze a MIX. I said plain air. Not homogonized or pasteurized, straight out of the compressor.

I can only serve up air, either unleaded or high test. No argon, helium, or anything else. I don't bank EANx so I must partial pressure blend. If a tank isn't marked or labeled in some manner to indicate something other than air may be inside, and not just an O2 cleaned sticker, like it or not that is my priviledge. My O2 tank won't even have the O2 whip attached, because I have it put away no one else has access to it so it can't accidentally be mixed. I will know that nothing else goes in that tank. Now if you bring in a tank and want it topped off with air, there is an excellent chance that it will be analyzed. If you bring your tanks in want air and then want to analyze them I'll be more than happy to accomodate you.

So far it has worked for me. I've only had a couple of guys get mad because I refused to blend in their tanks because they were unmarked. The next time they brought them in and just wanted air. They got mad that time because I started bleeding pressure. ( I read Oxygen Hacker too )

I guess since I don't have anything banked my customers just trust me to supply unleaded to them.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I just know what the capabilites are at the shops I frequent. So I'm just a bit more trusting that they put only the air whip to my tank.

Just a hypothetical question. You take a tank of air from your shop. You know it is air since you analyzed it before you took it out. Now you dive at say, Ginnie Springs, and decide to get a fill there. Since, unless they have changed they do deliver EANx, do you analyze as soon as you get your tank back?

 

[PerroneFord]

Just a hypothetical question. You take a tank of air from your shop. You know it is air since you analyzed it before you took it out. Now you dive at say, Ginnie Springs, and decide to get a fill there. Since, unless they have changed they do deliver EANx, do you analyze as soon as you get your tank back?

Ginnie, to my knowledge, has never offered EANx. Which is why we all go to CCE down the street. But regardless, I do not attach a regulator to a tank I have not analyzed. Period. I analyze the tank EVEN WHEN I FILL IT MYSELF.

As I said, the only instance I will not analyze a tank is when it is an argon bottle.