POLL, Nitrox tank use and analyze

[Rainer]

Nor do any of the PADI/SSI/TDI/NACD divers I know. Nor did I when I was a PADI/NAUI diver. The ONLY people I see with them locally (which is a super small minority) are those who go to one of the few shops that require them. They're a real rarity. Everyone already labels their nitrox with tape. Some of us do the same for all gases.

 

[Mossman]

The legal duty of care (for life) is not to steal other people's stuff and stick it in your mouth.

That doesn't count for candy, right?

Say we were at a buffet. There's food for everyone lined up on some tables. Now I set up my table next to the buffet tables and set out my bowl of poisoned candy. I don't have any big poison skull & crossbones flag indicating such, just a little piece of masking tape that gives the half-life and chemical composition of the poison in question. If a hungry buffeteer comes along and grabs a piece of my candy and sticks it in his mouth, keels over and dies as a result, don't you think I might have some legal responsibility for the death?

 

[Rainer]

If the candy has my initials (and other writing) all over it, you shouldn't take it. Get your own candy.

A better approach would be to educate all divers that there are dangerous gases out there. ASSUMING you know what's in a cylinder without verifying it is like letting your kids eat the candy they get from strangers on Halloween (or at the local buffet): you might be safe, but it probably isn't as smart as sticking to what you can verify.

 

[D_B]

Relying on every diver exhibiting common sense is a recipe for disaster IMHO. That's why a foolproof marking system was introducted.

All divers are trained what Nitrox means - and that they shouldn't use it unless qualified.

so much for foolproof

 

[DevonDiver]

If the candy has my initials (and other writing) all over it, you shouldn't take it. Get your own candy.

Are you so naive to think there aren't people out there who'd take your candy, initials or not?

What when its not your candy? i.e. you're not using your own tanks.. on vacation?

A better approach would be to educate all divers that there are dangerous gases out there.

..is what happens currently. Those divers are also taught that these gases are used in specifically colored tanks (stickers/bands).

I posted the PADI knowledge review that illustrates that teaching. Not quite sure why you are having difficulty grasping that fact.

ASSUMING you know what's in a cylinder without verifying it is like letting your kids eat the candy they get from strangers on Halloween (or at the local buffet): you might be safe, but it probably isn't as smart as sticking to what you can verify.

Ok... so... I often work off a dive boat here in the Philippines. All the customers are on vacation. None bring their own tanks. That dive boat has an air compressor. It has a stack of AL80 tanks, all bare. All only ever used with air.

The dive boat captain is Filipino. The cost of an analyser represents the money that he'd feed his family on for half a month.

You're saying that this dive boat should buy an analyser for the 'requirement' of customers to check each tank before use?

As I've said already, basing your perceptions only on what you know from diving in the USA is a very limited outlook. You are aware that the USA isn't "the world"?

 

[Tigerman]

I always analyze my tanks unless I've observed the filling of air into it myself.
I've seen 1% off once or twice on the nitrox, never more, but knowing for sure is cheap insurance for the half a minute spent testing it..

 

[miketsp]

Just to throw another spanner into the works. I've seen US tourist divers labeling their MOD in feet here in a metric country where everyone else on the boat has tanks with MOD labelled in meters.

 

[D_B]

Would that be a problem for your own tank?
... or is this a tank to be used by others

Their gages are likly to be in Feet and PSI too

 

[ThomasScherrer]

>You're saying that this dive boat should buy an analyser
>for the 'requirement' of customers to check each tank before use?

offcourse NOT !
in your specific example they have no nitrox capable filling station, just a normal air compressor,
so in THAT case all tanks are safe to use as AIR..
-------------
feet and meters.. you can label your MOD in micrometers if you want,
it is YOUR tank, your name, and your % O2 label on the tank too,
I prefer to just write the % and nothing more, since I use a computer on ALL dives no matter what,
so my MOD is handeled by my computer, I did verify its calculations match my book of nitrox visdom,
if my computer brakes down, I dont dive, or dive ultra conservative after tables

 

[tstocum]

On the few occasions where I've actually used nitrox, I didn't personally analyze the mix, but I did observe the fills, the calibration of the analyzer and the analysis of the tanks performed by the LDS. Since I watched the entire process from start to finish, I didn't feel it necessary to reanalyze the mix myself.