PADI 5-Star Water World sued for selling toxic scuba tank air

[mempilot]

While carbon monoxide is odorless, it is very detectable when it is your only source. It sounds like he may have continued his dive too long after discovering the ill effects, which is weird, considering he was in a pool.

 

[cool_hardware52]

PADI used to instruct divers to crack open the tank slightly and smell the air. I do it SOP now but I guess this is no longer in practice (or in vogue)? The practice also assumes one's nose is sensitive enough to pick up carbon monoxide (exhaust gases).

Maybe a blood hound could smell CO, but no human. Carbon Monoxide is "nearly odorless"

One might be able to smell other products of (incomplete) combustion, i.e. soot, oil, unburnt hydrocarbons, and these are typically present when an engine in poor tune is operating, but using your nose to detect CO won't work.


Tobin

 

[barc802]

Water World contained 380 times more carbon monoxide than standard air, 100 times more hydrocarbon gases and six times more carbon dioxide, along with a high concentration of methane.

Methane gas smells! Ever been around a cow pasture?

Still I was taught by PADI to smell taste the air befor diving. I take a few breaths during setup but can't say I sniff the air. I would think that if it had "a high concentration of methane" that you would smell it. You don't have to blow a big fart for others to smell it.

The suit is very weird.

 

[Kriterian]

A point was made on the wreckmaniac board that if one person got a bad air, there would have been a bunch with bad air.

Hmm, that is a good point.

They were just in the news a few months back when their Dive shop manager died during a technical dive too. I don't remember the details but I'm pretty sure her air was tested along with everyone else on the charter.

I haven't shopped there in a long time since I only work in Durham and don't leave there. The thing that would probably keep from going back is not the chance of getting bad air, or even an alleged "rep" about the shop but that callous remark from the owner. That was just out of line and shouldn't have been said at all.

 

[jonnythan]

Methane is odorless. Cow poop smells, but not cause of the methane. Natural gas smells too.. but that's because they add a chemical to it specifically so that you can smell it. Otherwise your house could be filling up with methane and you'd never know til it blew up.

 

[barc802]

Methane is odorless. Cow poop smells, but not cause of the methane. Natural gas smells too.. but that's because they add a chemical to it specifically so that you can smell it. Otherwise your house could be filling up with methane and you'd never know til it blew up.

My Bad, :11: Your right I just looked it up.

Learn or relearn something every day!

 

[RIDIVER501]

The suit says that Hanselman, a certified diver, was preparing for an open-ocean dive with friends and associates in the summer of 2002. As part of the preparations, he had his scuba tank filled at Water World and undertook a practice dive in a swimming pool, according to the suit.

Can't tell from this report if the bad air was already in the guys tank.
No one drains and fill a regular air tank unless it is being VIPed or Hydro'd.

I would be interested to find out what other evidence there is of the BAD air coming from this operation.

 

[H2Andy]

I would be interested to find out what other evidence there is of the BAD air coming from this operation.

well... other than the admission from the owner?

"The air we sold Mr. Hanselman was extremely malodorous," said Katzenmeyer. "It
should have been smelled before he made a dive. We always tell people to smell their
air before using it. Experienced divers always do that. If John [Hanselman] had
smelled his air, he wouldn't have had a problem."

 

[RIDIVER501]

well... other than the admission from the owner?

"The air we sold Mr. Hanselman was extremely malodorous," said Katzenmeyer. "It
should have been smelled before he made a dive. We always tell people to smell their
air before using it. Experienced divers always do that. If John [Hanselman] had
smelled his air, he wouldn't have had a problem."

doesn't mean his shop put the odor in there.
I am assuming Mr K. was making this statement as an after the fact observation.
so how many other tanks that this operation filled came back with this odor?
did they find it in their banks?
Did the air tested from their system come back with results similar to what was found in the victims tank?
where had the tank been filled prior to this incident?

not enough info.

 

[sharpenu]

This seems odd. The CO, CO2 and methane are all ororless. The hydrocarbons involved are not named, so I can't tell you about those. I tried to look up info on the case, but searches of that paper and the internet produced nothing.