Use your CO analyzers

[stevep4444]

Whatever it takes to deliver clean air is what they have to do. If the DMs have to test every tank, it takes 30 seconds per tank - I wish they would, and could if the Ops supplied the analyzers, which are quite cheap spread over hundreds of tanks. From your post, it is evident that you don't care. Why do you object to those of us who do care?

The biggest station, Meridiano, can produce clean air and has Anaolox monitors. If not one complains, nothing changes, but they can do better than they did for tanks supplied in this case.

One might wonder why DM's wouldn't test at least their own tank if there was a reasonable risk. These are guys and girls diving almost everyday as a means to provide for their families. Seems to me that you are taking a far bigger risk by either diving if you are a regular smoker or diving if you are over weight or out of shape. Just my opinion and due to a lack of any solid proof by anyone on either side of this issue I will assume that the sky is not falling. Don't smoke, eat well,stay hydrated and get in shape ........ overwhelming odds are that you will live happier and longer than if you buy a CO tank tester.

 

[Mossman]

One might wonder why DM's wouldn't test at least their own tank if there was a reasonable risk. These are guys and girls diving almost everyday as a means to provide for their families. Seems to me that you are taking a far bigger risk by either diving if you are a regular smoker or diving if you are over weight or out of shape. Just my opinion and due to a lack of any solid proof by anyone on either side of this issue I will assume that the sky is not falling. Don't smoke, eat well,stay hydrated and get in shape ........ overwhelming odds are that you will live happier and longer than if you buy a CO tank tester.

Shhh. Don't confuse them with statistics. They'll call you a troll.

Of course one reason DD may be so concerned about his CO levels is because he is a smoker. With the high CO content already in his lungs, maybe an additional 3 ppm would be the death knell? Me, I prefer to be fat. Lots more vascularized tissue means more blood means I can absorb more CO than skinny people. And I stay warmer, so it's a win-win.

 

[theduckguru]

Sure, no problem.  After all, there are so many gas suppliers on Cozumel that the dive ops can just tell one to take a hike and move on to the next one, right?  And if the DM has to spend an extra half-hour to hour or more each day getting the tanks just right, who cares about the DM?  After all, they're all over paid and it's not like any of them care about getting up an hour earlier to deal with CO because the damn roosters probably already woke them up early, right?

All this hassle is worth it because of all the known deaths from CO poisoning in Cozumel, right?  OK, now I understand.

The way I see it, a dive charter has some basic duties:  1. To provide safe  air in their tanks they supply,  2. Provide a safe seaworthy craft.  3. Provide safety equipment and 4. Provide a trained/competent crew that enhances the safety of the passager/diver.

The main duty of the captain is to safely operate the vessel and make certain the vessel is safe.  The main duty of the DM  is to enhance dive safety, which includes making sure divers tanks are filled with safe air.   

 

[dlofting]

I'm really having trouble understanding the argument here....or more specifically why there is an argument.

If you want to test your tanks for CO, go ahead (with the dive ops' permission). If the reading is higher than your personal "cutoff" level then don't use the tank. If you end up in a discussion with the dive op over who owes who what, so be it.

If you want to continue to trust that the dive op is providing "safe" gas, go ahead and do that.

If you want to start a campaign to get CO testers banned in a given area, go ahead.

As for me, I intend to buy a CO tester and use it.....any ramifications of that are between me and the dive op(s).

 

[flots am]

In "some" cases, sure. Not in most. Even DAN still recommends the "sniff test", though it does say that "A more accurate solution to analyzing is the use of a portable sensor."
​Alert Diver | When Gas Goes Bad

If it smells bad, it's bad. Not smelling bad doesn't mean it's good.

Think of it like food. If your hamburger smells like old fish, it's bad. However just because it doesn't smell bad doesn't mean that the cook doesn't have both a contagious disease and an aversion to hand-washing.

flots.

 

[Mossman]

The way I see it, a dive charter has some basic duties: 1. To provide safe air in their tanks they supply, 2. Provide a safe seaworthy craft. 3. Provide safety equipment and 4. Provide a trained/competent crew that enhances the safety of the passager/diver.

The main duty of the captain is to safely operate the vessel and make certain the vessel is safe. The main duty of the DM is to enhance dive safety, which includes making sure divers tanks are filled with safe air.

The way I see it, #1 has been continually satisfied for many, many years given that there are no proven diver deaths from CO poisoning on Cozumel.

As for #2, #3, and #4, what exactly do all of you CO analyzing types do about all those potential risks? Do you swim under the boat to check the hull before boarding to make sure there are no breaches, or do you just make sure that the engine has adequate gas and oil? Do you make sure that the emergency O2 is full? Do you verify the credentials of the DM and captain? Check the life jackets? Check the radio? After all, the one thing in Cozumel that usually isn't in the dive op's control is the tank fill.

After all, unlike CO poisoning, there actually have been incidents in Cozumel involve boats sinking, broken radios, and bad DMs and captains.

 

[theduckguru]

If #1 has been continually satified, why did DAN donate 10 analyzers for installation in Coz? DAN obviously believed this location needed their assistance.

 

[swamp diver]

A few of those ten analyzers apparently went over to the PDC-Tulum corridor where there was a double CO fatality in 2004. A Canadian tech diver and US military physician both died in different cave systems but had filled up at the same compressor on that day.
Alert Diver | DAN Donates Ten Gas Analyzers in Cozumel

Mossman it is pretty evident that you are more interested in using your fine wordsmith skills to obfuscate the real issue here which is CO contamination in compressed air does happen sporadically at many of the popular tropical dive destinations and has lead to confirmed CO fatalities (Tulum, Roatan, Maldives, Cabo San Lucas, Egypt, etc.). If a double fatality can happen across the channel in Tulum it can also occur on the island of Cozumel when compressors are installed improperly, maintenance is neglected, or a car backs up to the intake. If you want to believe the risk is zero then great dive on, but those of us schooled in the science of risk and probabilities know that while the risk of CO poisoning is small it is not zero and given that the health consequences of CO poisoning underwater are very high it is very rational to screen one's breathing air for this odorless contaminant prior to diving.

The accredited laboratories in the USA which receive compressed air samples from dive compressors around the globe still report a CO contamination rate of 3% to this day (see below). That 3 percent failure rate is a hard and irrefutable fact which is the best indication we have as to the frequency of CO poisoning across the industry based on thousands of samples sent in per year. Meridiano 87 sends in quarterly samples to Lawrence Factor in Florida whose lab director is quoted in the article.

If you don't want to analyze for a potentially lethal odorless contaminant known to impair the cardio-respiratory system then that is your prerogative, but for the divers who would like to take a more pro-active approach to their personal health and safety I suggest you direct your penchant for arguing elsewhere.

 

[Mossman]

Bah humbug.

Alright, if you're gonna ask so nicely and stroke my ego in the process, I may just back down after all. The rest of the uppity posters here could sure learn some manners from you.

 

[ggunn]

Just so that I am clear, I take no position on CO analyzers. I do, however, take issue with claims of confirmed deaths from CO poisoning on Cozumel (where there are none) and assertions that CO poisoning incidents have occurred which have been attributed to other things (where there is no evidence of that) as reasons for them. If you decide to analyze your tanks because of verifiable statistics, or because of simple prudence, or even from general paranoia, I have no problem with it. I probably won't go to the trouble because I think the risk is low for me to encounter a poisoned air tank. Likewise, I don't take a parachute on airplanes.