Unknown Tourist dead, Dive Master ill - Ambergris Caye, Belize

[rmorgan]

Here is a link to the obituary for Robert Hughes, clearly a good man and a seasoned diver. His family recommends donations to the DAN Endowment--good on them.

 

[connoryk]

Did they test the gas in the cylinders, after the fact? What were the results? Was it normoxic? Composition? O2, CO, CO2, ...

I try to carry a cheap handheld carbon monoxide meter/alarm with me for travel to places with questionable compressor protocols. Test it near smoke. (Plenty of smokers abroad..) Then spot check your tanks. We should probably be checking the O2% as well, even for 'air' (but we don't...)

CO2 is also dangerous at high levels, and WAY more abundant in most diesel exhausts than CO. Easily sucked into compressor intakes near land or marine generator exhausts. I suspect a lot of people complaining of "bad air headaches" could be getting CO2 overloads, whether from compressed exhaust and/or overexertion. I've seen this happen for air that tests "0" for carbon monoxide.

Can you please describe how you recommend testing a tank? Would you deploy a hose if some sort or simply hold the device up to the pressure valve/oring area and slowly release air?

Edit: Found my answer on another link.

 

[justinthedeeps]

When an accident like this occurs, the diving cylinders used by the victims should be preserved and tested by a professional to ascertain the complete composition of the gases inside of them, using calibrated gas analyzers including (at least) oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide levels.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

When an accident like this occurs, the diving cylinders used by the victims should be preserved and tested by a professional to ascertain the complete composition of the gases inside of them, using calibrated gas analyzers including (at least) oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide levels.

Hmmmmm ... "Should" you say ....

Did ??? If other evidence was disappearing ...

 

[DandyDon]

When an accident like this occurs, the diving cylinders used by the victims should be preserved and tested by a professional to ascertain the complete composition of the gases inside of them, using calibrated gas analyzers including (at least) oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide levels.

I don't know where you are other than "Earth" but this is Belize. That'd be a lot to hope for there.

 

[justinthedeeps]

I'm just answering the question... but if someone is asking how to analyze a tank at all in the first place, indeed we have a/the problem.

 

[Pearlman]

The Palm looks great but expensive and the sensor is $215 every two or three years. These things should be standard at every dive op.

I can understand people who do trimix and their own gas-mixing spending their money on one. But clearly the devices are cost-prohibitive for newbie vacation and recreational divers that make the bulk of business for dive shops at vacation hotspots (as also out of their safety awareness for most people typically). Isn’t it possible for PADI/SSI and other organisations to make such devices mandatory for dive shops if they want an affiliation with them? Guidelines to equip every boat with a CO Monitor regardless of where they obtain their gas-fill with regular calibration certificates submitted every two years as required?

Making it mandatory globally as an industry norm will also ensure product demand and make it feasible for manufacturers to maintain their production lines for profit.

 

[LFMarm]

I can understand people who do trimix and their own gas-mixing spending their money on one. But clearly the devices are cost-prohibitive for newbie vacation and recreational divers that make the bulk of business for dive shops at vacation hotspots (as also out of their safety awareness for most people typically).

I like the push for standards but would not say that 100$ for a CO analyzer is cost prohibitive. It looks to me me as a reasonably cheap health insurance. I think most divers (both rec and tech) do not do this because they don’t know the dangers not because of cost.

 

[DandyDon]

Isn’t it possible for PADI/SSI and other organisations to make such devices mandatory for dive shops if they want an affiliation with them?

Padi used to "require" annual testing & reports for dive op compressors, but it wasn't enforced. It was rather meaningless as the op could easily test on a slow day and avoid testing on a busy day when the compressor might be overheated and burning its own lubricant oil. Padi dropped it.

I like the push for standards but would not say that 100$ for a CO analyzer is cost prohibitive. It looks to me me as a reasonably cheap health insurance. I think most divers (both rec and tech) do not do this because they don’t know the dangers not because of cost.

The most accurate testers like the Palm are expensive to buy and keep calibrated, but there are indeed cheaper units that will work well enough to keep one from being injured - just not hold up in a court. But you're right about awareness. I think my OW class told me to smell and taste the tank air, but CO is tasteless and odorless.

 

[Angelo Farina]

When I wa working at Club Vaxanze resorts, and being a freshly graduated engineer and a firefighter, I was given the (additional) task of ensuring proper operation and safety of the Bauer compressors.
I tested a couple of bottles every day, using a Drager glass tubes analyzer.
A cheap, very simple and reliable device, hand-pump operated, and with the proper tubes you can test air for dozens of different contaminants.
This in years 1985 to 1989!
Here the Drager Tubes:

Draeger.Web WWW - Draeger Master

www.draeger.com