VIP sticker/ID #'s

[Rred]

Just grabs a sticker...And then we all wonder why the insurers really do charge an arm and a leg just to answer the phone.

I think we just need to get Bic into the disposable tank business. Use 'em once and throw 'em away, which works pretty well with reinforced composite tanks anyway. That way Amazon can put them on "subscribe and save" and you'll just have nice clean safe new fresh tanks delivered to your front door every month.

If the dive industry can't figure these things out on their own...you just know the gummint is going to step in and get involved, sooner or later, and no one is going to be happy with that. I've actually spoken to folks at the DOT involving some of the special SCUBA tank rules, and unprompted, THEY said to me that they had to research the arcane rules and that ":maybe it was time those were all up for review".

The DOT actually said that given some public comment and requests, they might review and revise pretty much everything that has to do with SCUBA tanks. Coupla legislators get upset with a few more tank accidents....and that could happen.

 

[Cap335]

I think every tank I have sold we went back at the time of sale and grabbed a sticker put it on and filled it.
That doesn't mean that we didn't VIP the tank before we put it out for sale. It just means that we wanted the customer to get a full year out of the tank when they buy them.

 

[Boyette]

I think every tank I have sold we went back at the time of sale and grabbed a sticker put it on and filled it. That doesn't mean that we didn't VIP the tank before we put it out for sale. It just means that we wanted the customer to get a full year out of the tank when they buy them.

I hadn't thought of that. Makes sense if you're a ma-and-pa operation and can know for sure the tanks in the showroom floor were actually VIP'd by somebody. That becomes harder when the kid who works on the weekend just assumes if it's on the floor it musta been VIP'd.

I owned a gun shop for many years. The "It must be unloaded because it's in the showcase" didn't work for us. My employees had to clear every pistol they showed to a customer before handing it to them.

I'd still be concerned about a steel tank that's been sitting empty on the showroom floor for 6 months. The last steel I bought "came with a VIP". It was empty because I'd been in a week or so earlier and screwed the valve off and looked inside it. I'm sure it was properly VIP'd at some point because I know those guys and know what safety Nazis they are. But at least in this case the guy screwed the valve off and stuck his whip light inside and checked for flash rust before "slapping the sticker on".

I've been to one shop who won't fill an empty unless they VIP it first. I learnt that when I surfaced with 100 PSI or so left and decided to help them out by draining the remaining air out of my tank in the parking lot for them before bringing it in the shop for a nitrox fill. The guy refused to fill it so I had to wait until I got home and took it to my regular shop to fill it.

 

[3arl J0n35]

Question:

I don't know anything about visual inspections on tanks/how they are done and the stickers certifying the tanks have been inspected. I own a few tanks that have been VIP'd by different shops. I noticed some of the stickers on the tanks have a # on them (I'm assuming some kind of inspector # or something) and others don't at all. Should they all have an ID # on the VIP sticker? Are some places not actually certified to VIP and they are just slapping a custom sticker on the tank?

Beau

It's done both ways. I put my PSI # on my personal stickers because I'm an individual and not a shop. So if another shop wants to know who VIP'd the tank they have to have my PSI # to verify I'm PSI certified, or if the tank explodes the authorities investigating know who VIP'd it because it has my # on it.

If I'm VIPing for the shop, we enter the cylinder Serial # in a logbook along with the inspection sheet and date and all that stuff. The shops name/address/phone is on their sticker, and so it doesn't matter which employee inspects the tank because his name/signature is in the log book. If there's any question about the VIP, they look up the serial # in the logbook and know which employee VIP'd it.

I wouldn't be concerned over a number or no number. I guess no number is better because in reality, anybody can write my PSI number on a VIP sticker and I'd have to somehow prove I didn't VIP the tank that exploded that had my PSI # on it, but nobody can sign my name to the log book at the shop.

Having a PSI # on a sticker is false security. Guy shows up at the fill station with a fake sticker he wrote my PSI # on, FSO goes online and verifies Earl Jones is a PSI certified inspector. He feels comfortable filling the tank. But he has no way to know if I actually VIPed the tank or not. All he really knows is that some PSI certified guys # is on the sticker.