Tank inspection sticker: expires first or last day of month?

[krick]

This is probably a dumb question but the inspection sticker on a scuba tank has a month and year on it.

If I have a tank that is marked with the month "July", does that mean that the sticker is good until the end of July or does it mean that the sticker is expired as of the first day of July?


EDIT:

Nevermind. A little more aggressive googling provided the answer...

http://www.fillexpress.com/library/fillfaq.shtml

"the practice in the SCUBA industry is that the valid period expires on the first day of the month shown"

 

[J75]

deleted.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

"the practice in the SCUBA industry is that the valid period expires on the first day of the month shown"

I don't know what practice the rest of the SCUBA industry is using but the shops that I use say its the end of that month. My tanks are punched May 05, I plan on having the VIP done near the end of the month, too much going on this week to be tankless.

 

[krick]

I don't know what practice the rest of the SCUBA industry is using but the shops that I use say its the end of that month. My tanks are punched May 05, I plan on having the VIP done near the end of the month, too much going on this week to be tankless.

Hmm... here's the rest of the paragraph from the site I linked above:

"Fill Express will not fill any cylinder after the last day of the month in which the visual inspection or hydrostatic test expired."


So I guess they're contradicting themselves somewhat.

 

[cummings66]

The standard for the rest of the world in aviation and other certs is the thing expires the last day of the month.

People take advantage of this during annuals, can be compared to tank vis or hydro's to gain one more month. Here's how. Take your tank in at the end of the month and make sure that they do it on the first, then you didn't miss any diving and the new date is 1 month later. Do it again and you gain another month.

This is commonly done with medicals and annuals. Food for thought.

 

[J75]

Matthew,

That's a great idea! Never would have thought of that.

 

[oxyhacker]

This is another of those questions that has no firm anwer, since a sticker expires whenever whoever is filling the tank says it does. That is to say, since there is no law governing visuals, there is no "official" answer and everyone is free to their own interpretation - but if the guy who has his hands on the filling whip disagrees with yours, you are out of luck.

That said, while most precedent (car inspections, hydros, etc) seems to favor the last day, the PSI people I have discussed this with (and I've discussed it with several since it is a question we are frequently asked) insist it ends on the first day.

This seems illogical to me. Common sense says you ought to be able to take your tanks in for inspection on the same day each year and get a full year out of the inspection without having to play games with the timing. But if the sticker is taken to expire on the first day, you will not - each year you will loose a month, so you will actually be getting only 11 months. Good for inspectors, perhaps, since it creates an 8% increase in business, but bad for the tank owner.

PSI's interpretation seems to be based on a terror that, by adoit manipulation of when they bring in the tank for inspection, a few people might be able to make a sticker last 13 months (and we know who you are). They seem to figure that it's better to deprive the majority of getting a full year out of their stickers, than allow a few people to squeeze an extra month. Which seems unfair and illogical to me.

 

[fishfood]

PSI sayes it ends the first of the month... just try to tell that to a customer... what a pain