Nitrox Ready-PST Tank

[Hoosier]

To all PST tank divers,

Finally, I got PST tank today. It looks great and I am already excited so much.

I got the brand new tanks by mail-order (killer deal). Wait, Any LDS didn’t have PST tanks, even didn’t have a plan to get it in stock.

However, I got a question about “Nitrox ready?” The tanks were shipped with the valve mounted and a slight air in the tank. I am told that PST ships out their tanks in the “Nitrox ready condition.” http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=31535&highlight=nitrox+ready

When PST ships out the tanks, they put the Nitrox in the tank?


Mine indicate 175 psi and 25 psi each, but I am not sure what kind of air it is. I should have had the oxygen analyzer. It is on my wish list yet.


What if I put Nitrox (32%) air into the tank?

Thanks in advance,

 

[mweitz]

No, they are nitrox ready for premixes of up to 40% Nitrox. If you want to Partial Pressure fill your tanks (put pure O2 in then fill with air) you will need to have them O2 cleaned (they change the O-rings on the valve, clean it and use an oxygen compatible lubricant. They also clean the cylinder itself with Simple Green.

The shop that shipped them to you put a little bit of air in them so you wouldn't get hassled when you get your fills. If you bring in an empty tank to your LDS, a lot of time they will insist on doing a Visual Inspection, which costs about 20 bucks.

Mark

 

[D_O_H]

No, they are nitrox ready for premixes of up to 40% Nitrox. If you want to Partial Pressure fill your tanks (put pure O2 in then fill with air) you will need to have them O2 cleaned (they change the O-rings on the valve, clean it and use an oxygen compatible lubricant. They also clean the cylinder itself with Simple Green.

The shop that shipped them to you put a little bit of air in them so you wouldn't get hassled when you get your fills. If you bring in an empty tank to your LDS, a lot of time they will insist on doing a Visual Inspection, which costs about 20 bucks.

Mark

What he said. I just went through this a few weeks ago with my new PST tank and this is dead on.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

To all PST tank divers,

Finally, I got PST tank today. It looks great and I am already excited so much.

I got the brand new tanks by mail-order (killer deal). Wait, Any LDS didn’t have PST tanks, even didn’t have a plan to get it in stock.

However, I got a question about “Nitrox ready?” The tanks were shipped with the valve mounted and a slight air in the tank. I am told that PST ships out their tanks in the “Nitrox ready condition.” http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=31535&highlight=nitrox+ready

When PST ships out the tanks, they put the Nitrox in the tank?


Mine indicate 175 psi and 25 psi each, but I am not sure what kind of air it is. I should have had the oxygen analyzer. It is on my wish list yet.


What if I put Nitrox (32%) air into the tank?

Thanks in advance,

No worries,

Assuming that you will take the tank(s) to a shop to be filled the shop will take care of everything necessary to ensure that the tanks are filled to whatever blend you requested, they may empty the tanks and fill from scratch. They may simply not worry about the small amount of air in the tanks at present and fill as if they were empty. Or, They may analyze the contents of the tank and use that as a starting place from which they will determine what to do to end up with the mix you requested.

You can easily determine by yourself wether the tank is clean to "Oxygen Service" standards. Look at the VIP label and see if it indicates that the tank is suitable for 100% oxygen. Some VIP lables have a punch out to indicate that the tank is ready for oxygen. Other VIP lables either do or do not state that the tank is ready. If the VIP label either does not specifically state, or does not have the appropriate punch out removed then your tank should not be filled by partial pressure blending. If however the label does indicate that the tank is OK then you are good to go.

In any event you should be fine getting the tank filled from a "Bank" of premixed nitrox. If you get the tank filled with premix your tank will not see concentrations of oxygen that are considered high enough to worry about. If your tank is clean enough for "Oxygen Service" you need to make sure that every time you get the tank filled you make sure that any gas put in the tank is "hyperfiltered". You want to keep them clean.

If you are not certain about this and the place you get fills does partial pressure blending, just take the tank(s) in and ask them. They will not fill the tank by partial pressure blending if the tank is not ready since they are the ones being placed at risk. You may also find that they want to keep the tank overnight to ensure a good fill. I have found that when I leave the tank overnight I get a fill that is not only accurate in NITROX percentage but also the correct pressure (not a short fill).

I hope this helps,

Mark Vlahos

 

[Hoosier]

Thank you so much guys. It was a totally newbie question because it is the first time to buy the brand new tank..... Yahoo!!.

Unfortunately, the tank doesn't come with "Nitorx tag" so that I wasn't sure if it is a nitrox ready or not. I also verified that the air in the tank is from PST, not from the shop. So, it turns out be groundless apprehension.