Owning your own Oxygen Analyzer

[scubafanatic]

I like the flexibility of owning my own analyzer, often on a liveaboard (especially a bigger capacity one) you'll have 24 divers all preping for their next dive simultaneously, everyone waiting in line while a single analyzer gets passed around...or a diver misplaces the analyzer after they've analyzed THEIR tank and you're hunting around/asking around trying to find it, meanwhile the clock is ticking on getting ready for the next dive......and doing this routine 5 times a day on a multiday liveboard gets tedious.....so I REALLY like having my own unit reserved solely for me!

 

[Karibelle]

if you can use a soldering iron, razor knife, and a dremel tool ...

Twice now I've cut a slice off my thumb making SALSA. I'm not sure I'm qualified to use any of the items you mention.

kari

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Twice now I've cut a slice off my thumb making SALSA. I'm not sure I'm qualified to use any of the items you mention.

kari

Fast forward to 1:45 for making salsa.

"Life's hard enough as it is. You don't want to cry anymore..." (immortal words of Vince)

 

[Peter_C]

After a live aboard experience we had, I have become a believer in CO meters. Search out Dandy Don's posts for other serious experiences with CO in the tank. Now if you are on Wookie's boat it is no problem since he has CO meteres installed

I own a portable 02 analyzer, that I carry most of the time, unless the nitrox came from my garage. I wouldn't buy one for a once or twice a year trip, since they should have them available for you to use.

 

[TSandM]

If you dive at home and dive Nitrox all the time, having an analyzer becomes handy. Although the shop we get our fills from has an analyzer, sometimes they've just topped tanks off and the analysis is questionable, so we reanalyze at home. Sometimes you're bringing tanks for someone else to use, and I personally won't let anyone use a tank they haven't analyzed, so I bring mine along for them to do it with. And the fill station we used to use in MX didn't have analyzers at all.

But for almost all the boat and resort diving we've done, if they provide Nitrox, they provide an analyzer.

BTW, the El Cheapo is, I believe, precisely the same analyzer as the Expedition we own, except that you have to put it together yourself.

 

[BabyDuck]

Make your own O2 analyzer? Have you done this, and do you use it?

jason b did it for me. it's pink. we call it 'marci's pink box'. it's wonderful.

and a good idea for a dive club - have someone with electrical or other solder-y experience put a couple together to get the feel, then buy the kits & have a 'build day' with the experienced person supervising & everyone making an analyzer. lots of fun!

 

[Downing]

I bought one after reading some less than stellar experiences other divers were having on a different board. Same problems as mentioned here: too many people trying to share a single unit, a liveaboard trip where the only analyzer broke so no more nitrox, stuff like that.

I like having my own gear rather than relying on someone else. Still, I can't say that I've been in a situation yet where I had to have it (knock on wood).

 

[twistypencil]

BTW, the El Cheapo is, I believe, precisely the same analyzer as the Expedition we own, except that you have to put it together yourself.

Does it come with a case like the Expedition one does? There isn't much info on the web page. I can soldier and put things together that have instructions, but I wasn't wanting to end up with some hacky thing with exposed parts if I'm going to take it on a liveaboard.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

If I know that the nitrox is a blended mix then I ALWAYS check with my own analyzer. If it's a membrane / banked system, like at Buddy Dive in Bonaire, then I might do a spot check but then I just pretty much trust the house supplied analyzer and PSI verification gauge at the fill station.

 

[rhwestfall]

It comes with a case.