CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
I have not taken a gas blending course yet but I was reading this article and it confirmed my skepticism of O2 cleaning and O2 compatible air.
Oxygen Clean - Is a Myth • ADVANCED DIVER MAGAZINE • By Bart Bjorkman
Can there be any such thing as oxygen clean anything? Even if we get our deco bottles (that we use for 100%) cleaned for pure O2 and if we get our regulators that we use on them cleaned for pure O2, how long would they stay O2 cleaned realistically? Compressor is not owned by the end user and perhaps someone with dive shop blending experience may enlighten me on this but in the US, most dive shops are blending Grade E. Beyond Grade E the term "oxygen compatible air" tends to lose any agreed upon meaning or a regulated procedure to ensure that it really is OCA.
Lastly, does it matter? By that I mean that if we get our deco regs and oxygen bottles get ahem ..."O2 cleaned," should we really be concerned with contamination that may happen in between those VIP/O2 cleaning years because of "Grade E" air going in and out of those tanks and regs? How common are incidents related to deco tanks and deco regs not being O2 cleaned?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Oxygen Clean - Is a Myth • ADVANCED DIVER MAGAZINE • By Bart Bjorkman
Can there be any such thing as oxygen clean anything? Even if we get our deco bottles (that we use for 100%) cleaned for pure O2 and if we get our regulators that we use on them cleaned for pure O2, how long would they stay O2 cleaned realistically? Compressor is not owned by the end user and perhaps someone with dive shop blending experience may enlighten me on this but in the US, most dive shops are blending Grade E. Beyond Grade E the term "oxygen compatible air" tends to lose any agreed upon meaning or a regulated procedure to ensure that it really is OCA.
Lastly, does it matter? By that I mean that if we get our deco regs and oxygen bottles get ahem ..."O2 cleaned," should we really be concerned with contamination that may happen in between those VIP/O2 cleaning years because of "Grade E" air going in and out of those tanks and regs? How common are incidents related to deco tanks and deco regs not being O2 cleaned?
Thanks in advance for your input.