Showing your card...

[GQMedic]

They are supposed to ask to see your card and it has become a dangerous trend that many shops fail to do so. I am however pleased to say that today, I stopped at a shop I've never been to for a fill, and I was asked for my c-card. Of all places, it just happened to be Sport Chalet, Riverside. I am pleased to see that someone cared enough to do their job properly and ask.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I didn't have to show a card when I bought my compressor or my gas blending equipment.

I'll bet you could buy a dive shop without a card. LOL

 

[Drew Sailbum]

On advice of local council, we require divers to present a c-card when they check in upon arrival on island. Divers must show a c-card and complete a liability waiver every time they return to the island.

Without a c-card, we must verify certification from the agency. PADI's records are available online. We contact other agencies via fax.

No exceptions. Our shop manager's brother showed up without his NAUI c-card. He had to endure a resort course with me and stick with an instructor in the shallows so he could dive at all.

 

[Dryglove]

So what if someone brought a tank in to be filled for paint ball use. Do you know for sure that tank will be used for paint ball use. Kinda bypasses the whole c-card process since paint ball users dont require a c-card. I am starting to see a few scuba/paint ball stores and always see people going to scuba stores to get tanks filled for paintball use.

 

[GratefulDiver]

One of my LDS's has this on their web site.

********************

We will fill tanks if:

You are a certified diver or a paintballer (requires signed release)

- Your hydro date is current

- Your visual is current

- Your cylinder has all current legal stamp markings

- It has sufficient pressure in it to read on a pressure gauge. If there is no pressure we are required to complete a visual inspection.

-Nitrox tanks will be filled for Nitrox Certified Divers only. The diver is responsible for verifying O2 percentage and logging it in our logbook.

*****************

Bob

 

[NAM001]

as best as i have been able to find on the subject. everything mentioned including filing tanks for air suspension systems are not regulated by law. (even nitrox is federally deregulated and left to the states) the only regulations are as mentioned organizational (padi ect.) and primarily it is insurance libility/coverage issue. if you dont card or get a waiver you (lds)dont get coverage. personally i think that the scuba valves should be unique to scuba and not usable for paint ball ect. then the lds would know by the valve what the tank is to be used for. then you card for k valves and not for paint ball or suspension valves. other than on a boat i have never been carded. i suppose walking into a shop with nothing on but a wet suit and emtpy tanks does speed up the process. i have looked my cert card up on padi and got the info from it. however i looked my ymca card up and could not get it. havnt tried it for my naui card.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I haven't been carded in years. However, when I go to a new shop, chances are very good that I'm bringing in my doubles with one reg disconnected and the rest of the unit intact.

At my LDS, we check if we don't know you or if we didn't do your training. If you don't have a card, and you claim that it is from PADI, we will check online.

We have had a couple of regulars try to get deco mixes without cards. Accordingly, we check everyone for high O2 mixes (greater than 40%). This policy is rigidly enforced. Violate it and the shop owner will have a little chat with you.

 

[Rick Inman]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
There's no law in most places that says you need a card to buy air. If a shop is affiliated with a retail organization like a PADI shop or an IANTD shop or whatever then they have to follow the agency standards which say you can only sell air only to certified divers. If a shop is just a shop then there aren't any standards and there aren't any laws so all the person needs is a few bucks.

I think the whole card thing is silly.

Besides, you could print out a card on your computer or boorrow some one elses. How di I know. Not all cards even have pictures. I know people who have cards that are 30 years old or more. They don't look anything like the picture on the card anyway.
The whole thing is stupid.

So right you are, sir! They know me at all the local shops, but sometimes I'll send someone else to get my tanks filled and no one has EVER been carded. Why should they be? I'll be doing the diving.

 

[Beach Bum k10]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
There's no law in most places that says you need a card to buy air. If a shop is affiliated with a retail organization like a PADI shop or an IANTD shop or whatever then they have to follow the agency standards which say you can only sell air only to certified divers. If a shop is just a shop then there aren't any standards and there aren't any laws so all the person needs is a few bucks.

I think the whole card thing is silly.

Besides, you could print out a card on your computer or boorrow some one elses. How di I know. Not all cards even have pictures. I know people who have cards that are 30 years old or more. They don't look anything like the picture on the card anyway.
The whole thing is stupid.

Mike is right on the money. Ther is no law that say a dive shop MUST check for c-card to fill the tank. The dive shop is not wrong for not checking C-card. However, for safety sake, many dive shops "volunteer" to check c-card.

 

[MikeFerrara]

KWS once bubbled...
personally i think that the scuba valves should be unique to scuba and not usable for paint ball ect. then the lds would know by the valve what the tank is to be used for. then you card for k valves and not for paint ball or suspension valves.

The paint ball tanks do use a different fitting. Some paint ballers buy scuba tanks to use as a bank and fill the paintball gun tank from it. The have their own foll whip that connects to the scuba tank on one end and the paintball tank on the other.

We used to just ask paintballers to mark their tanks as being for paint ball only. Even that though was technically a breach of the agency/insurance requirements to sell air onlt to certified divers.

I still think the whole thing is silly. You can buy equipment without a card and it's at least as easy for a non-dive-certified person to find a way to get a tank of air as an under age peron to get a sixpack.

After several years in the dive industry I am of the opinion that the so-called self regulation of the dive industry is in the interest of protecting sales more than for the protection of divers. Liability and insurance of course are concerns also.

Refusing to sell some one air seems a fix for a problem that doesn't exist.