Who Needs Beer When You Can Just Have Some Bad Air?

[Cacia]

Not to make a big deal out of it---they are on it and fixing the problem, but it was my first real experience feeling sick as opposed to just a bad taste.

Notes that might help you recongnize it

Dry, dry parched throat first five minutes...so dry I almost gagged

felt a little seasick, thought it was the current making me whoozy

Thought to myself "wow, my respiratory rate seems a little fast" (again thought it was current)

Several people puked after the dive. (they all thought they were seasick)...timeline wrong

Somebody very experienced whispered in my ear "we had some bad air"

 

[daniel f aleman]

"Not to make a big deal out of it"

Please do.

 

[Mike Veitch]

beer tastes better....

 

[Cacia]

"Not to make a big deal out of it"

Please do.

They are on it

emptied hundreds of tanks, changed the filters

I'll know next time, I think

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Interesting post Catherine - it's good to learn what to look out for.

Did it smell or taste any different to normal air, and how did they confirm it was a bad fill?

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[almitywife]

ive only had a bad fill once, where setting up, turned on the air and went to check the reg and it tasted like sucking dirty, marinated woolly socks with a bit of fermented fertilizer for added flavour.... and smelt!

no way could i have dived with it

im shuddering here just thinking about how bad it was :l:

 

[Cacia]

Interesting post Catherine - it's good to learn what to look out for.

Did it smell or taste any different to normal air, and how did they confirm it was a bad fill?

Cheers,
Rohan.

I've had "bad air" before that just tasted sort of unpleasant.

I've never had CO or anything really bad...

We think this was the compressor needed the filter changed. The Station claims that when the humidity changes very fast, they need to change the filters faster and it was an oversite by them. They were totoally accountable, but I am not privy to any testing that was done.

I was on the boat as a free friendby. Most people were not sick and so there was no big investigation.

The thing that really stuck out in my mind, but did NOT occur to me at depth, was the dry parched sensation like some people describe they get dry (I don't) but it was as soon as I descended down the line...so maybe 5 minutes in to the dive. It was so dry (or irritated?) that my epiglottis felt "sticky shut" like I needed to gag. I always blame my own physiology first when diving. I began thinking that I was breathing hard against the current and needed "to work out more"...funny the direction your mind takes. ... Because I know people that do the opposite "its always food poisoning, bad air, etc" Something external to them...I like getting aware of my own thought patterns, because next time I'll do a more broad system check, if you know what I mean.

 

[00scuba]

I would have thought the same Catherine. That is something that I do not think about very often, glad you shared this.

Hope you are feeling better...

 

[Cacia]

Oh..no taste that I noticed

my throat just tightened up.

maybe you can't taste when your mouth is "dry"

marinated woolly socks

he he

I think I remember that substances need to be in solution to be tasted.....

 

[mislav]

I've had a very similar experience recently. It was just as you've described it - dryness in the mouth, using more air than usual, also nausea. Puked right after the dive.

Hadn't occurred to me it was bad air at first, I was also thinking I was sea sick. But, later on that day, analyzing what happened I realized it must have been bad air. Made me miss one dive and I was ok by the evening. I've then heard of others on that dive claiming to have had bad air as well.

Bad air was reported again by others on the next day, including my buddy. Luckily, I've only gotten a bad air tank once. With tanks being refilled at three locations no one wanted to take responsibility. :shakehead