Systematic use of oxygen analyzers by advanced divers ? [Poll].

[lv2dive]

Keep in mind, the distribution of answers in this poll isn’t going to come anywhere near what the distribution would be if you surveyed a similar/representative sample of “regular divers”:

The people who don’t test “every time” are much less likely to respond to the poll - why invite the inevitable proselytizing?

Even if the poll were (is?) anonymous, a similar issue would exist.. ScubaBoard members are going to be more likely to test their gas in general than your average diver. Simply by signing up for the board, members have demonstrated a higher-than-average level of interest in SCUBA and related practices. Knowledge is power, and exposure to the optimal practice (testing their hashtags percentage) will reinforce the messaging from their original Nitrox class that may have otherwise been forgotten/ignored.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Wookie]

I test every time, because I'm that important.

 

[Caveeagle]

Where i get my fills will not fill without seeing yoir card and are filled on different sides of the room and full tanks are stored on different sides of the room and they will not fill without an o2 clean. I have 2 tanks labled for breathung air. 2 tanks labled nitrox 2 twin sets labled trimix.

So, what if a customer rents an "air" tank and then fills with a high EAN mix at another shop or boat? Do they test/drain all returned tanks? Are they testing the filled "air" tanks"

This is the weakness in the labeling system that is impossible to enforce 100% of the time. Overconfidence in a certain shops process, can lead you to be complacent.

Now, fortunately you are probably not in danger most of the time. Even if you accidentally get a ~31% fill and stay in recreational dive limits. ...but are you sure? What if some traveling diver rents a tank and blends up a 50% deco bottle in his hotel room? Will your shop catch that when the tank comes back still having 2600psi of 50% in it?

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

I would say most likely if you are blending your own gas you probably own your own tanks.

 

[Caveeagle]

I would say most likely if you are blending your own gas you probably own your own tanks.

Perhaps it's just an odd condition of the cave diving community, but I see a lot of traveling divers who rent tanks. And yes, I have seen people running a portable Haskell in the back of a pickup truck.

Is this normal? No... I am just pointing out that the days when you can just assume an unlabeled tank contains 21% are long gone. And just for perspective.. just last week, I loaned a pair of LP steel tanks to a traveling "tech" diver who was in town for a couple days. He returned them to me half full of 30/30. He did let me know this, so for me... that was just fine. I use a divesoft analyzer for all my tanks, so no risk the added he would have gone unnoticed anyway,

...but I freely admit, our situations are not typical.

 

[EireDiver606]

Always analyse. Even if you *think* it’s air, or *know* what’s in your tank. It’s so quick and easy and saves your life.

 

[EireDiver606]

Every time for nitrox, not so much for air.

You should Analyse. I don’t know it’s air unless it’s air.

 

[lowviz]

...//... Reading about nitrox compared to air made me curious about the variations of the gas mixtures from one filling to the next.

I would be curious to know what percentage of advanced divers routinely verify themselves the oxygen percentage of their cylinders before diving ? ...

I would expect a large difference in your poll between those divers who only rent cylinders and those who own cylinders outright. If you own, it usually won't be long before you buy a transfer whip and an analyzer.

 

[Roger Hobden]

Keep in mind, the distribution of answers in this poll isn’t going to come anywhere near what the distribution would be if you surveyed a similar/representative sample of “regular divers”:

Well, I could always try to ask PADI to send me the contact information of a sample of 100,000 randomly selected divers from their database, but somehow I have the intuition that this information will probably not be readily accessible to me..

 

[jlcnuke]

I figure there's probably about the same chance that I'm going to get a bad air fill (CO or have someone accidentally fill it with nitrox without noticing) as there is that my dive computer is suddenly going to malfunction and tell me I'm at 100 ft when I'm actually at 150' (or one of a thousand other things that could go wrong regarding any given dive). Either error could be quite dangerous, but at some point you have to assume things work properly or you'll never be able to go enjoy a dive. I'm a recreational diver and I'm going to go have fun diving.