Oxygen analyzer

[DiverRtNY]

I know that by the book everyone should analyze their tanks and fill out the forms and label their tank prior to diving. Recently got certified after doing an online class and then completed the remaining portion at a dive shop on vacation. Now, from experience, I have been on resort diving where the boat picks you up at dock. You get on and people who are diving enriched air have their tanks ready to go. Perhaps I didn't happen to notice but I have yet to see anyone of these divers analyze their tanks. They strap on and off they go. I spoke to my friend I went diving with and he said that he has never "had" to analyze his tanks in the past (he's been EAN cert prior). I also don't think he is far from the norm.

Anyways, I analyzed all of my tanks at the shop prior to leaving and my friend did his also ( with my reminder of procedure). Go figure, one of our tanks was 98% oxygen! NO FREAKIN' WAY!!! What better way to instill the respect of the safety procedure that i was trained on then to potentially die if I didn't do this! The dive op is very professional and makes everyone do their own tanks and the formalities for diving EAN. The Blender was in awww and said it was impossible but clearly it wasn't. The others dialed in 32% right on. He was very apologetic but thinking of the possibilities really made me think of how many people take it for granted they are on the correct blend.
Scared the crap out of my friend because this is the first op that ever made him do it himself and just took the shops word for it.
This will be something I will be very diligent on for ever. Obviously!! But how many people actually check their tanks when loading directly onto a dive ops preloaded boat? How many people, when the dive op doesn't ensure you check, request an analyzer and an analyzer is actually on the boat? I'm definitely considering purchasing my own analyzer for such situations... Curious as to how other divers go about for their "life" insurance (analyzer) and ensure their own safety for lackadaisical dive ops
Dave

 

[TMHeimer]

On the rare occasions I've dived nitrox I always anaylzed tanks at whatever shop I was renting from. This is the first I've heard of tanks being pre-loaded onto a boat. Guess it happens now and then. For that matter, I've never analyzed air tanks--I guess one of those could be 98% O2 as well...

 

[DIY]

That's insane, you wouldn't even think they had that percent in the shop.

This is my next purchase, CO and O2 together.

https://www.divenavstore.com/product/912

 

[tursiops]

Buddy Dive in Bonaire preloads tanks on the boat. Then passes around an analyzer (or two) as the boat is heading to the dive site. I've never been at a resort or boat, anywhere in the world, that did not at least make an analyzer available, if not demand its use. Logging can be more casual, but analysis is not, in my experience.

 

[KenGordon]

I often give new divers a cylinder of 100% to analyse. I've never thought to pretend it was an accident and they might have died though.

 

[wspalding]

I have never dived a nitrox fill without analyzing it, and I'm not taking anyone's word for what the mix is. I've never analyzed a tank and had it come up different than what the shop recorded though.

 

[John A Lewis]

Your life, your safety--do you really want trust that to the idea that some nameless person analyzed better than you?

 

[Airburnr01]

I use an analyzer for my own peace of mind.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[HJeffreyM]

As many other posters have said, I've never dived a tank of EAN without first analyzing the mix. I even carry my own analyzer (Oxychek Expedition with low flow BC connector). I've been to several locations where the boat comes from somewhere else with the tanks already on board. But they always provide an analyzer. I then input the numbers to my primary AND backup computers which are set to scream at me when the ppo gets to 1.3. I would never dive a tank of Nitrox without analyzing the mix.

DIY - I think you are referring to CO (carbon MONoxide), not CO2 (carbon DIoxide). Big diff!

 

[BRT]

I can tell you that a lot of if not most nitrox divers don't analyze their tanks with some dive ops. We often are the only people on the boat who do.