Nitrox Tank Marking

[Brian Gronberg]

Apologies if this has been asked already, but I didn't see it when searching.

I just purchased two new Faber Steel 100 tanks from a local dive shop. They are filling them with Nitrox for me and when I asked if they had the standard Nitrox label bands, they said that they don't recommend them because of saltwater getting between the label and the tank potentially causing issues and ultimately decreasing the life of the tank.

This goes against everything we are taught in the PADI Nitrox course. Is this a valid point? I'm thinking that it shouldn't be an issue and the band should be applied for safety.

TIA!

 

[flyboy08]

Seems like an odd response. How else would one know these tanks had Nitrox in them?

 

[RainPilot]

Nobody here bothers with the nitrox bands. At VIP time they have to come off for corrosion check, it's annoying.

In my case, all my tanks are O2 clean and the VIP sticker is marked accordingly. Some folks swap to a green valve handle, which does not have to be changed.

The requirement is for the tank to be marked as nitrox or O2 clean, there are a couple ways of doing that. Ask the shop how they differentiate between air and O2 tanks.

Please note, I have nothing against the NITROX bands but they just aren't widespread here and I find them to be net-negative in value in my case.

 

[Compressor]

Agree with RainPilot as well. I actually removed my EANx stickers off my tank and fortunately saw no corrosion. Dive shop owner who in my opinion was very knowledgeable told me the number one cause of tanks failing was corrosion under the stickers.

The VIP sticker will indicate if the tank is oxygen cleaned or not. Having said that, it is common practice to have stickers. So you can use your own judgement. You can buy the nitrox stickers and put them on if you want. They come in diff sizes as well so they don't have to be huge.

 

[rongoodman]

There needs to be some indication of what's in the tank if it's anything other than air, but no reason at all to plaster one of those Nitrox bumper stickers on it. What if you decide to fill it with trimix in the future? I had a set to with a local shop a few years back when they peeled off some custom name stickers I had on a set of doubles, slapped on a pair of PADI bands, and then had the nerve to try to charge me for them.

(The owner had every right to tell me that the bands were a shop requirement when I dropped off the tanks, in which case I could have just ordered an air fill or put them back in the car, but he didn't.)

 

[ChuckP]

I see the top by the valve painted different colors, a 3" ring around the valve - blue for air and green for nitrox

 

[seeker242]

How else would one know these tanks had Nitrox in them?

The nitrox sticker you placed on it when you analyzed the tank, listing the %, date, etc..

 

[tbone1004]

The nitrox sticker you placed on it when you analyzed the tank, listing the %, date, etc..

ding ding, Nitrox stickers are convenient for dive shops that keep separate inventory of rental nitrox and non-nitrox tanks, particularly when they PP blend *though one could argue the money they spent on the stickers and O2 cleaning would offset the cost of a blend stick in about 6 months, but whatever, what do we know about mixing gas....* anyway, you don't need nitrox bands. They're dumb. Just keep the VIP sticker on there which tells you if it's O2 clean or not, and then each and every fill you get, there should be a piece of tape on the top of the tank with the analysis. Fill pressure, date, gas content, MOD, initials of analyzer. The nitrox tanks don't tell you anything and there certainly isn't any safety benefit to them.

 

[hhmoore]

Interesting...I was left with the impression that the nitrox stickers (bands) were required.

 

[Bubbles McGee]

Interesting...I was left with the impression that the nitrox stickers (bands) were required.

I thought the same. Does everyone reanalyze to confirm the blend percentage on rentals?