Replacement Hydro Sticker

[guruboy]

I'm sure Bob would get his @ss sued along with the shop, hydro facility, tank manufacturer, and anyone else remotely involved.

 

[kelemvor]

Isn't guruboy's point that if he puts his own VIP sticker on and the shop fills it, then, it's really on the shop? Because what the shop SHOULD do is examine the sticker to verify that it says the cylinder was VIP'd based on some industry standard. Whether is was signed by a TDI certified Inspector, or a IANTD certified inspector, or whatever. If the sticker just says "inspected by Bob" with no claims regarding the cylinder meeting any specific set of standards, then the shop should not fill it. But if they do, then the liability is on them, right?

There isn't an industry standard. There's a standard that two agencies put upon their members. Apparently none of the other agencies do that, yet every shop you go into will sell you a vip. What's the difference in between OP doing his own and joe diveshop doing it for you? $10. That's about it.

Those of you who are claiming to truly be concerned about safety and VIP's providing that safety should be doing their own vip before every fill. My LDS showed me how to do it with the intent that I would occasionally check the tanks in between regular vip's. It was part of the self reliance principle he was trying to instill in cave students.

Besides, OP never said he was going to change the VIP date. He said he wanted to remove the advertisement some slimy shop put onto his tank.

Since nobody else bothered to answer him, here you go. $7 including shipping from this link: Amazon.com : Scuba Tank Visual Inspection Sticker VIP : Diving Tank Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Here's one that is VIP+Oxygen or Nitrox clean all in one: http://www.amazon.com/Inspection-Certification-Sticker-Inspector-Accredited/dp/B0051IGQTU

 

[guruboy]

All the VIP stickers I've ever seen include a logo (ad) on it with the dive shop who did the VIP. Ideally it is small though, and not a giant one.

Might seem like I've been giving boulderjohn a hard time, but I certainly don't encourage people slapping VIP stickers on tanks without knowing what they are doing. If someone does the research and takes the time to do a proper inspection, I don't see why their VIP sticker is any less valid than one from someone certified by PSI/TDI/whatever.

I've seen the way some shops do a VIP and I trust my own over theirs any day.

 

[guruboy]

Since nobody else bothered to answer him, here you go. $7 including shipping from this link: Amazon.com : Scuba Tank Visual Inspection Sticker VIP : Diving Tank Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Here's one that is VIP+Oxygen or Nitrox clean all in one: http://www.amazon.com/Inspection-Certification-Sticker-Inspector-Accredited/dp/B0051IGQTU

One thing I would caution the OP about is if he changes the sticker to the ones you linked, he might not be able to get a fill.

 

[kelemvor]

One thing I would caution the OP about is if he changes the sticker to the ones you linked, he might not be able to get a fill.

Does that really happen? The shop I use is tiny, the owner has no other employees (save her husband). I doubt anyone out of my area has heard of it. That said, I've never had another shop even ask me about the stickers when getting an out of town fill.

 

[guruboy]

If he takes it back to the shop he bought it from, maybe.

 

[redacted]

One critical issue is what will the gas provider accept. I know of some shops that will accept a generic sticker as long as the dates work, and others that require a shop specific sticker in the belief they are protected by that shops insurance. That is, they would reject both Bob's and John's stickers.

 

[stuartv]

There isn't an industry standard. There's a standard that two agencies put upon their members.

I think (just THINK, mind you) that the VIP stickers from both of the shops I frequent have a PSAI logo on their stickers and maybe other verbiage to attest that the cylinder has been inspected according to the PSAI standard.

PSAI Visual Inspection Technician Manual

It's just semantics and no need to argue, but *I* would call that AN industry standard. Maybe not THE industry standard, but anyway... There are standards (e.g. PSAI) out there. I would expect that a shop fill tech who is doing their job would not fill a cylinder unless the VIP sticker attested to meeting one of these recognized standards. If the sticker just said "inspected by Bob", or was one of those that you linked from Amazon, i would expect a shop to decline to fill it.

And, more importantly, If they filled it (without a sticker that attested to any standard at all, and did not identify a shop that did the inspection) and there were an accident, I would not expect the person who put the sticker on the cylinder to incur any liability (though that says nothing about whether they would be named in a lawsuit).

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The sticker only says that it was inspected. At the time of the inspection it passed. After that it's meaningless. I see stickers all the time with no shop name because for a really small shop having stickers printed with your name can be more expensive than buying pre made without.
Or if someone had extra cash and wanted to have them printed up there is nothing to prevent them from saying Bill's Diving on them and who is really going to call and see if that's an actual shop?
PSAI has a visual class huh? Good! Maybe divert some of the BS PSI/PCI puts out about them being the only one recognized.
A sticker says inspected to PSI/PCI standards. Big deal. Anyone who has the manual and follows their procedure can truthfully say it was done to those guidelines without ever having taken the class.

 

[Scared Silly]

FWIW Visual Inspections are covered in CGA C6 for steel cylinders and C6.1 for aluminum cylinders. That is the basis for the scuba industry stand.