Overfill at Castaway Scuba

[UCFKnightDiver]

Now this is what I call a class act! I'd get my fills from you anytime if I lived down there. (15 bucks an hour and help with moving expenses after May and you could have a new YMCA instructor on staff). Finally another shop that insists divers be responsible for themselves! Just because it's not nitrox does it mean you just pick up the tank and run. I'd like to take a trip down some time just to meet you. And kudo's for giving a guy a chance to learn something. Don't be too hard on him. Not everyone would even try to help him out like JJW did. A few more weeks and you'll have one hell of a fill guy if he's learning from all this.

hmm run maybe i misinterpreted your statement but I always check the fill when I rent or get a tank filled...

 

[OneBrightGator]

Couple things...

1. They do not hydro your tank through your valve. Duh.

2. Overfilling an AL tank is farm animal stupid. AL tanks are consumable pieces of kit, just like wetsuits, fin straps, etc. except they can kill you.

3. The higher the pressure the higher the cost to get it there. Deal with it.

 

[littlejohn]

nope im pretty certain I read correctly both times

You may have read then right, except reading the tank in the shop with a room temp of 75* will give you a different reading then reading them Sunday morn with the temp a nice cool 63*

Just think how much pressure your second tank will read this summer after sitting in the trunk while you are diving on the first tank of the day

Besides with your SAC rate you only need a 40cf Pony

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

i didnt think about that... and as to the 2nd part lol I dont know if its that good but its good to have a buddy with extra air

 

[Jim Lapenta]

hmm run maybe i misinterpreted your statement but I always check the fill when I rent or get a tank filled...

This was a generic statement not directed at anyone in particular. I can't count the number of times people come in to get their tanks and don't bother to even ask if they are filled or to what pressure. They just assume it's full.

 

[bubbleblowindude]

Doesn't Castaway have a "mailbox" for singles? Also, given the extremely low incidents of tanks blowing up, I would have no problem standing by tanks as they filled. Fortunately, unlike Divers Direct, they can fill tanks out side of their mailbox. Divers Direct couldn't fit my buddy's HP120s or LP120s in their mailbox, and refused to fill them. That's why I'm never going back to Diver's Direct. Castaway is closer, has good prices (*cough*needtosellgasbycubicfoot*cough*), is more personable (owner answered my email promptly and responds on the boards here too, that's awesome!) and will fill your tanks no matter what.....even if they overfill

Castaway does NOT have a DIN pressure guage, atleast they didn't when I was there last week, trying to get my doubles filled. I didn't have my regs with me so I hooked them back up to the banks and opened the valves to see what they were sitting at, I don't understand everything about tank filling but that seems to my brain likeit would work, right? Open both sides, if needle doesn't move then the bank I'm filling from and my bottles are both at the pressure on the guage, right?

For what it's worth, I always like to watch and make sure my tanks are filled right. With doubled MP aluminum 100s, I want a fill to 3500 hot or more.

The guy there couldn't have filled my doubles to 6600, not even if he tried. He's not going to kill anyone, but I really really really think it's somewhat important for dive shops to properly train employees before leaving them alone. The only other alternative is to say "you'll have to leave the tanks overnight" and that is not the best in my opinion. The primary reason I go to dive shops is for air, that is what they need most to be able to provide.

Fortunately, it seems like Castaway is going to resolve this issue and train their employees. I respect them more for it! I also am glad that the owner came on the boards and gave an objective response to what amounts to several criticisms: three divers in the last week or so have said they have had some funky experiences at Castaway.

Will I go there for air? No. Not unless I have to. Why? Because I pay $10 to top my doubles off from 2500 to 3300. That seems unfair to me. That's about 50 cubic feet of air, or slightly over half of an aluminum 80 drained to maybe 500 psi? I don't feel like calculating the exact pressure. But still, I pay double. So I won't go to Castaway unless I really need air, unless they are willing to find some more, in my opinion, equitable way to sell me air. I know we just had a huge debate over whether it's fair for a shop to charge what they do, instead of by the cubic foot, and I'm not saying Castaway is a bad shop, but if I can wait until I'm in Gainesville for a weekend, I can save about $6 by getting nitrox by the cubic foot at Cave East. For what it's worth, CEE had one employee who wasn't a diver at all. He didn't know how to fill tanks either, and I ended up doing most of the fill there too. No place is perfect.

So Castaway, what you need is a DIN pressure guage, possibly convert another whip to DIN (only one is DIN, right?), start selling gas to doubles divers by the cubic foot (at the very least, it would be nice if you could say "if it's under half full, then $5/tank, if it's over half full, $3/tank" but charging by the cubic foot would be better) and try to train your employees better before leaving them all by themselves

Also, I wouldn't mind if they could find some way to work more hand in hand with the dive club on campus. I don't know exactly if they, as I'm not a member, but it doesn't seem like they are hand in hand. They are the closest shop and I'm sure that they could each scratch each other's backs somehow if they aren't already! For example, maybe you could offer air by the cubic foot to dive club members? *hint hint* I'm looking for some reason to join the dive club...(they don't offer much to cave divers, and I'm not really intersted in ocean dives at $60/day..)

Thank you Castaway!!!

It's not enough that the dive shop spends $10,000 to $20,000 on a compressor THEN hires and trains employees to safely do air fills, AND maintains filters, oil changes, liability insurance for the dive center and the cost of electricity to run the compressor....but then clowns like you squabble about a $5 air fill! Air fills haven't gone up in price for 20 years. If this is the "only" thing you need from a dive shop, you represent a loss to the shop and I can not imagine any shop mourning the loss of a "customer" like you. Quit being CHEAP! Give our sport the credit and legitimacy it deserves and spend a buck or two at your dive shop! Do you take this attitude into the cave with you?? WOW!

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

you dont feel a little cheated when u pay 5 dollars for 1000 psi of gas just to top off

 

[JahJahwarrior]

It's not enough that the dive shop spends $10,000 to $20,000 on a compressor THEN hires and trains employees to safely do air fills, AND maintains filters, oil changes, liability insurance for the dive center and the cost of electricity to run the compressor....but then clowns like you squabble about a $5 air fill! Air fills haven't gone up in price for 20 years. If this is the "only" thing you need from a dive shop, you represent a loss to the shop and I can not imagine any shop mourning the loss of a "customer" like you. Quit being CHEAP! Give our sport the credit and legitimacy it deserves and spend a buck or two at your dive shop! Do you take this attitude into the cave with you?? WOW!

I only squabble because other shops give me air cheaper, and products in their store are cheaper, and they are always willing to teach me or explain anything to me while I'm getting tanks filled.

I only mind the cost because I'm paying $10 because I used 30 cubic feet of air while a person can bring in an empty 80 and pay $5 for 75 cubic feet of air. That pains me. Solution: skip buying air. So the shop could have easily gotten $5 from me but instead they get nothing for the time being. And later they'll get $10 from me. They could have gotten $15 but because they have per-fill pricing, they only get $10. They lost $5 in revenue.

For what it's worth, I've spent almost a grand at CEE in the last few months and anticipate handing $700 to Rich Courtney for cave training this summer. I'm not cheap, I'm frugal. Oh, and that's not including the $250 in air.

I don't appreciate being attacked because I feel that shops can do a better job of supplying things and supplying them cheaply. It's an extra $1.50 for air here and I want to know what causes that price difference, considering gasoline for my car is $.25/gallon cheaper here.




I think that if the tank was at 80 when filled and cooled to 60, and the pressure was 3900 when filled, it would be 3790ish when cooled. If the tank was filled at 90* and cooled to 60, it would be 3720ish. Now, it's been a while since I've used gas laws so I could be wrong. That's still a high pressure.

 

[fldiver1]

That last statement opens a whole new can of worms!! Why should college students get a break??? That is one thing that pisses me off a bit, college students thinking they deserve a cheaper price than I get or anyone else gets just because they are still in college. I have already grad. from college. I have 3 kids. I have an expensive wife. I have 2 truck payments. I have a mortgage. I have a boat payment. I work 60hrs a week for my money!! Why cant I GET A BREAK ON THE PRICE??? If you are going to say you should get a break because you are in school and cant make alot of money in your spare time to pay for SCUBA then maybe you shouldnt be diving right now. If you are having to scrape and save to buy air, you are probably diving with substandard equipment then too. You probably cant afford to maintain it properly. In that case you shouldnt be in the water. Just my opinion, I guess I could be wrong(although I doubt it).

Wait a minute, what am I griping about?? I DO GET SLIGHT DISCOUNT ON AIR!! Oh yeah, that's because I ACTUALLY USE THE SHOP FOR ALOT MORE THAN JUST AIR!! Actually I dont mind paying a bit more for air because of the service I get from Castaway. They help me with ANYTING I need. Air, rebuilds, hydros, equipment purchase. You treat a small shop well, do business with them and they normally in turn will treat you well too.

Not directed you JJW, more to rox@ucf for the last post he made.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

lol i was just joking as i thought would be apparent with the lol and smilie facei posted but i guess not i edited my post to portray what i really thought, which is what i had said at first anyways