WetBoy101
Contributor
Maybe this should be posted in the newbee (or Dork) section! What makes a tank suitable for Nitrox or not?
Nitrox Tank
- Thread starter WetBoy101
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Depends on how you plan on filling the tank. If the fill station has pre-mixed Nitrox with 40% or less oxygen then there is nothing you need to do to the tank to prepare it.
If the fill station uses partial pressure blending, they will put 100% oxygen in the cylinder than top it up with air until the oxygen percentage drops to the required amount. Because the cylinder and tank valve will be exposed to 100% oxygen, they must be 'oxygen clean'. This means they are much cleaner than a typical tank.
If the fill station uses partial pressure blending, they will put 100% oxygen in the cylinder than top it up with air until the oxygen percentage drops to the required amount. Because the cylinder and tank valve will be exposed to 100% oxygen, they must be 'oxygen clean'. This means they are much cleaner than a typical tank.
OP
WetBoy101
Contributor
Sorry, I don't really understand the part about when blending. What do you mean "Oxygen Clean" Why does exposing the tank to 100% Oxygen differ from normal gas? How is it cleaned? I have 2 new tanks, would something still have to be done differently to "clean" them?? Thanks!!
ajduplessis
Contributor
No, for recreational Nitrox you should not be worried about O2 cleaning tanks. They will be fine. Your LSD/dive operator will know what to do.
pnw_diver
Contributor
This is, IMHO, only true if the fill station is NOT using partial pressure fills. If they are, the first thing they do (after draining the tank) is to partially fill it with 100% O2. You (and they) really want an O2-clean tank for that.
It may be standard practice in a lot of places to use banked nitrox, that's not so much the case in my neck of the woods. Here, partial pressure fills seem to be the rule rather than the exception.
krawlings
Contributor
I would recamend that you take a NITROX class . This wil help you under stand and answer some of your quesions . Good luk Be safeMaybe this should be posted in the newbee (or Dork) section! What makes a tank suitable for Nitrox or not?
I
idocsteve
Guest
This is not true.
As the oxygen concentration in the fill mix increases, there is a great chance of combustion. Contaminents in the tank bind with the oxygen to make this more likely.
Off the top of my head I cant recall how they actually clean the tank but whatever they do, once the tank is certified 02 clean, it's labeled as a Nitrox tank with a sticker and even if it's filled with air, the fill has to be done with filtration, so that the air is also at the same high quality of clean 02.
New tanks are already clean as far as I know.
ajduplessis
Contributor
So what you are saying is that all recreational nitrox tanks must be O2 clean?
- This means that no shop will give you a nitrox fill unless they have cleaned the tanks themselves, as they will be foolish to trust any other.
- It also means that if you don't have O2 clean regs you are also in deep pooh.
- It also means that once you have used normal air (unfiltered), all the equipment you use then is no longer O2 clean and thus not usable for Nitrox.
I think the diving industy is about to "blow" up!!!
- This means that no shop will give you a nitrox fill unless they have cleaned the tanks themselves, as they will be foolish to trust any other.
- It also means that if you don't have O2 clean regs you are also in deep pooh.
- It also means that once you have used normal air (unfiltered), all the equipment you use then is no longer O2 clean and thus not usable for Nitrox.
I think the diving industy is about to "blow" up!!!
halocline
Contributor
Good one!
Unfortunately, LDS knowledge of O2 protocols and how they relate to Nitrox is a free-for-all....anything goes depending on the shop.
I
idocsteve
Guest
Really? The dive shop won't give you a fill unless they cleaned the tank themselves even if it's got a sticker on it? According to your logic, then a shop tech won't fill a tank that has not been visually inspected or hydro'd by them because they would be foolish to trust any other. Maybe he shouldn't be intimate with his significant other unless she provides proof of a recent STD panel because she could be lying. Maybe the dive shop owner won't eat food he hasn't prepared himself because who knows what could be in there? Maybe when he gets his car back from the shop he's going to put it up on a jack to make sure the work was done properly?
Regs do not have to be 02 cleaned when used with recreational diving Nitrox mixes. Tanks DO need to be 02 clean when used with recreational diving Nitrox mixes.
If you use normal unfiltered air in your tank it will be need to be cleaned again prior to be filled with Nitrox (depending on whether it's banked or blended of course).
Somebody needs to go back through Nitrox class again and hint, it's not me!
:cool2:
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