ams511:
I agree with the original poster that there is collusion in the dive industry over VIP's. I recently moved to Miami only to find most local dive shops will not fill an aluminium tank over 15 years old, even if the tank has a current hydro and VIP. To add insult to injury they would gladly charge me to hydro it and VIP it but not fill it. This was discussed in another post and the people were nice enough to refer me to a shop that would fill it if they VIP'd the tank. However if they will only fill tanks that they themselves VIP'd and do not trust other shops, then why should I trust them either? If the standards for VIP's are so bad that one shop does not trust another's shop tech, then something is terribly wrong. Why should the consumer pay for it if the work is questionable? Then as other posters point out it is better to do it yourself, at least you know it is done correctly.
Dive shops need to learn that the diving public is not stupid, we are are naive when we first start out but most of us learn fast. BTW, when I purchased the tank new in 1991 the dive shop charged me to VIP the tank, granted it was only $5-$10 back then but they did nothing to the tank but slap a sticker on it.
I don't think its an issue of collusion between dive shops, it is really more of a different practice from shop to shop. The annual inspection process was put into the scuba industry many years ago, and most shops, certification agencies, and equipment manufacturers see no reason to change it. Many shops feel uncomfortable filling cylinders inspected by other shops for a variety of reasons.....competition, fear that the other shop is "doing it wrong", or whatever other reason they might devise. I personally have no problem filling cylinders witha competitors inspection sticker. Remember, as a consumer, you must judge a shop's business practices and judge for yourself if you want to spend your money there.
The annual inspection for scuba cylinders is a good practice. While I am sure that you do everything possible to keep your cylinders clean and fresh, not everyone does this. I could spend an hour typing all of the things I have seen in cylinder visual inspections. Of course, the most serious ones are the instances where compressor troubles injects oils and contaminants into the cylinder. I don't think this is on purpose.....and it can happen with ANY compressor. Of course, some compressors are simply not maintained properly, due to negligence or simply ignorance.
I promise you that at my shop, we follow a very well defined, prescribed inspection process for cylinder inspection. We aren't trying to pull anything over anyones eyes, we are simply trying to make sure that the cylinders you breathe are clean and ready for good service. We spend about 15 minutes in an inspection and our price of $10 is fair. If the cylinder is 6361 alloy, we add the Visual Plus inspection at no charge. The liability issues are serious, but they are the least of the problems. We just want the clean air we pump to go into a clean cylinder, without odors and without contaminants. Thanks for your contribution to this thread.
Another Note About the Liability Issue: As you all know, you can't prove a negative. Just two years ago, there was a dive shop in the Carolinas that was sued due to an injury as a result of a contaminant in a scuba cylinder. Unable to prove they didn't cause the problem, they were forced to make a sizable out-of-court settlement. The owner was as certain as certain can be that the contaminant didn't come from his system, but he was the last store to fill the cylinder, so he had to pay. Things like this make shops VERY wary of changing a system of inspection that offers at least a good chance of finding problems once a year.
Phil Ellis
