O2 Cleaning = VIP Test?

[tombiowami]

I have 2 alum 80s, the only sticker on them is my O2 cleaned month/yr from last October. They had the big green nitrox stickers on but I took them off. (the last shop I got a fill at begged me to put the stickers on, for 9$ they would sell them to me, I said I did not want them, they then came out as I was about to drive away and they gave me 2 for free) Hydro is fine, in date.

There is no VIP sticker on them. I have had them filled at several shops and no one has said anything. I cannot remember if they had the VIP sticker on them and it fell off or what. I bought them new last October and had them O2 cleaned at the same time. Since then I found a local shop that does nitrox fills with premix so the O2 cleaning is not such a big deal.

Does O2 cleaning suffice for VIP? Would I need to


Tommy

 

[Uncle Pug]

1. no... O2 service sticker doesn't suffice for VIP.
2. yes... you need nitrox stickers to inform potential users that the tanks could possibly contain something other than air. Since the tanks are the ubiquitous AL80s this is all the more important.

Our double steel 104s have no stickers... only our own duct tape label stating mix, psi, date, ect... but then no one is going to grab them by mistake...

 

[Wendy]

I think you should leave the wrap around nitrox stickers off the tanks. The duct tape sticker (or whatever you use) to mark your mix and MOD should be good enough to mark your tanks. I know that the nitrox stickers are supposed to keep others (like those not nitrox cert, etc) from using your tanks by mistake, but I promise that no one is going to set up their gear on my tanks and make it to the water without me stopping them.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Wendy
I think you should leave the wrap around nitrox stickers off the tanks. The duct tape sticker (or whatever you use) to mark your mix and MOD should be good enough to mark your tanks. I know that the nitrox stickers are supposed to keep others (like those not nitrox cert, etc) from using your tnaks by mistake, but I promise that no one is going to set up their gear on my tanks and make it to the water without me stopping them.

Well Wendy that is you and your tanks (and me and my tanks) but what about him and his tanks...

What is the rational for leaving the nitrox wrap off.

 

[Wendy]

I don't put stickers (other than the VIP sticker and gas analyze) for the same reason I don't have boots on my tanks. Tanks can 'rot' under those stickers and you won't know until you peel them off. Besides every tank I see with those stickers on them look awful cuz the stickers rip off in sections and ware over time.

 

[roakey]

Not to mention that for a proper inspection you have to remove all the stickers on the cylinders, so that's $18/year for the bumper stickers + the inspection cost.

Of course, I'd be willing to put money on the shop NOT removing the Nitrox bumper stickers during an inspection.

Roak

Ps. The PSI stickers are both a VCI sticker AND an O2 clean sticker so in fact, depending on the sticker, it may be a VCI as well.

If you're going to start pumping air or pre-blend, I'd remove the O2 clean sticker, or if it's a combo sticker see if your LDS would replace it with an air VCI sticker with the orginal dates punched out.

 

[tombiowami]

Thanks for the replies. I went back and read the sticker (wonder of wonders) and it is a combo VIP and 02 cleaned. I would not tell a partial press. fill shop that it was o2 clean now, or tell them where I got it filled and let them judge. (the shops know each other around here)

There is another question though, how clean does air have to be before it would not dirty an o2 clean tank?

Does o2 cleaning have to be done every year?

(I know I can ask my LDS owners, just tossing it out here now)

Is there a real danger of the tank having problems underneath the sticker? I was thinking of putting the stickers on as now this is my closest shop and not having to deal with o2 cleaning would be nice. We have a couple quarries nearby that I go to a lot and I don't need nitrox.

I was going to put the stickers on just to make them happy, as they seemed very concerned that they did not have stickers. I did not say much as I was kind of stunned, I had never heard of that. If I go back they will of course pressure me to put the stickers on.

I would definitely laugh at anyone who took the sticker off to VIP it and then made me pay for another sticker.

Tommy

 

[SubMariner]

PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE say this was a troll!

Tommy, at the very least, it worries me that you are uniformed about exactly what is involved in properly diving & maintaining Enriched Air tanks.

I went back and read the sticker (wonder of wonders) and it is a combo VIP and 02 cleaned. I would not tell a partial press. fill shop that it was o2 clean now, or tell them where I got it filled and let them judge. (the shops know each other around here)

Then exactly what WOULD you do? This seems a little irresponsible to me; you are exposing any people who are filling the tanks using the partial pressure fill method to danger!

Just because you think one particular shop is using premix, that doesn't mean EVERY place you will EVER get an EANx fill will be doing it this way. THAT'S why keeping EANx tanks O2 clean is important.

"We have a couple quarries nearby that I go to a lot and I don't need nitrox. "

Then I suggest you take the stickers off one of your tanks and use it only for air fills and keep the rest as dedicated Nitrox tanks.

I was going to put the stickers on just to make them happy, as they seemed very concerned that they did not have stickers.

Ok. That's it... hang up your fins. If you don't know WHY this kind of thing is important, then you shouldn't be diving.

Sorry, to come on so strong but this is important stuff you should have learned before you were certified to dive Nitrox. For you to be asking these kinds of questions NOW is very scarey.

~SubMariner~

 

[tombiowami]

To alleviate your fears, hopefully, I would never take a tank in and claim it was o2 clean, when it was not. I have the 2 tanks, and the one shop I was using used PP so needed the o2 cleaned tanks. Now a shop moved nearby that does premix for the same price, so I do not need the o2 clean tank for them.

It seems to me that even getting a premix nitrox one could ruin the technical o2 clean designation, as we do not know exactly where all the products came from.

I still do not see a good reason to have stickers saying nitrox. If I go to helium next year do I then need a trimix sticker? And then switch them back and forth, and pay 4$ per tank per change?

I think the shop owners fear was being on a boat where someone might grab my tank and dive where they should not be, and then him being libel. Overall, to me this seems to me to be the main issue, am I not keeping close enough eye on my gear to stop someone from grabbing it? The trip I am planning is me and three other person on a boat, with the same mix.

I can understand the issue with me not reading the o2 clean/VIP sticker. I was not around my tanks at the time I posted.

Over on the techdiver news list there is a similar thread going on, and quite a few different opinions of o2 testing/stickers, etc.

The last piece is that I am taking a DIR Fund class, where a nitrox sticker would probably get taken off anyway, it seems there is a good bit of disagreement between the agencies. The guy teaching is one of 2 who have several world records in cave diving, and he does not see the need for nitrox stickers.

Tommy

 

[Uncle Pug]

'rot' ~ Rot!

look awful ~ well maybe you've got a point... (looking good was never a consideration for me)... if looks are important then there you go...

Cost too much to change at VIP ~ might want to consider a cheaper hobby...

Using trimix in your AL80 ~ yeah right...

Common Wendy/Roaky... the guy's got two AL80s... thinkaboutit...
Do you put stickers on your AL40 deco bottles???
Do they rot, do they look bad, is it too expensive???
Who cares... it is proper so we label them.

Tommy... label your stinkin' tanks! You go to double them up and start using mix then you can pull the lables and use duct tape.