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Hello All,

I'm looking for some answers concerning filling O2 cleaned and labled nitrox 
tanks with plain old air. I have found that some shops have no problem doing 
it while others rant and rave about how dangerous it is. 

The best explanation i've got so far is that the air from a non-nitrox 
facility may not be as clean (filtered) as the air being pumped in on top of 
the pure O2 during a nitrox fill. This less pure air might contain oil or 
other contaminants which could combust when put in contact with pure o2 under 
pressure during my next nitrox fill.

My question is, would a repuatable dive shop provide air fills to its 
customers that would not also be pure enough to be placed in a O2 cleaned 
tank. And if a shop providing nitrox fills has air that much cleaner, why 
should I breath contaminated air from a non-nitrox facility?

And to go way out on a limb...... I've calculated that pure O2 (100%) at 600 
psi and air (21% O2) at 3000 psi have about the same parcel pressure O2. 
Wouldn't they both have the same explosive potential, and if so shouldn't all 
tanks be o2 cleaned??

Flame away.......

Kirk 

P.S. One of the dive shop owners told me that there have been two tank 
explosions in the last couple months because of contaminants. He couldn't tell 
me exactly where or when, just that it happened "in the mid-west". Anyone hear 
of these?

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