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>On Fri, 16 Dec 1994, Rod Farb wrote: > >> >> From: rodfarb@CE*.NE* (Rod Farb) > >> >> >Mike Pallone writes: >> >> >You cannot use 100% O2 with standard scuba equipment. > >> >> NONSENSE: I have done this routinely for twelve years with Sherwood, U.S. >> >> Divers, Dacor & Poseidon regulators out of the box. >> > >> >Yes, you and 100 other people started doing this twelve years ago. >> >Unfortuneately, those 100 other people are no longer with us and dead >> >men tell no tails. Congratulations on your luck. Just because you >> >haven't paid the price for doing something widely considered to be >> >dangerous, doesn't mean that it is safe. Now wisen up and get your >> >regulators (and tanks?) O2 cleaned. >> > >> >Philip Weissman >> > >> I know dozens of people who have been using 100% oxygen in regulators out of >> the box for years and I don't know a single individual who has ever had a >> problem. Try it, you may learn something different from that which you have >> been repeating as gospel. Ciao! > >I have found that I can save enormous amounts of money on regulator >rebuilds by using O-Rings I buy at the auto parts store, diaphragms I cut >myself from an old inner tube, and axle grease instead of silicone. :-) I don't do it to save money. I get normal regulator maintenance service annually on the oxygen regulators. The dive store uses regulator manufacturer's parts for the maintenance. To my knowledge reputable dive stores do not buy o-rings from auto parts store. They use o-rings from the same company that makes o-rings for auto parts store, the military and the space industry. I know that a standard non-scuba auto tire patch with patch a rebreather diaphram (counterlung). Several of us actually believe that a single diver could actually make a counterlung out of readily available materials made for other purposes. No reputable dive store that I am familiar with uses axle grease instead of silicone. >Rod, there have been fires. They aren't frequent, but there have been >fires. Lots of us have only heard about these fires, because most folks >who work with O2 don't screw around with not O2 cleaning their tanks and >regs, using the wrong O-Rings, or the wrong lube. Except, of course, for >dozens of folks you dive with you dive with and hundreds of others around >the world who do the same thing. As opposed to the millions of folks who >have been using O2 for welding, medical purposes, as aviation breathing >gas, and perhaps the (guesstimate) thousands who have been recently >certified in technical diving and use O2 in diving with clean equipment. > Give me twelve documented cases of scuba regulator meltdown because of oxygen and grease. >Someone commented on 'greasy O2 regs' on welding bottles. Yep, but the >grease is on the outside. On the inside, those pups are O2 clean, and >made with the right hard parts, the right soft parts, and the right >diaphragms. Think about using one of those as a first stage connected to >an ordinary second stage for an emergency O2 rig - high pressure O2 in >the cleaner area, low pressure O2 in the dirty second stage where it is >safer. It works, I've seen one in use. > >But it is all a matter of relative safety: Rarely, the wrong materials >will combust in the presense of high pressure O2, especially when heated >by sudden gas inrush. Then again, rarely, bottles will explode upon being >filled with air, and kill people doing so. We go through enormous expense >inspecting bottles to lower the chance of such explosions. But I'm sure >that if we didn't have our tanks VIP'd, after 20 years of bottle usage, >most everyone could stand up and say, "I've used Faber, Pressed Steel, >Kidde, Luxfer and Catalina bottles for 20 years, never had a VIP, and >never had a bottle blow up. Have you?" Fills might be more expensive, >though: Perhaps there would be higher insurance premiums for dive stores >because of the chance of explosion. > >In any case, one might ask oneself, "The compressed gas industry spends >lots of money using the right parts for O2, keeping things O2 clean, >using different threads so that you can't hook things up backwards, and >so forth. These people are in business. Do you think they'd spend a >dime that they didn't have to spend?" The compressed gas industry is heavily regulated by OSHA. These businesses have to spend the money to meet the OSHA standards. We all know that it is good to have the gas industry regulated so that diving companies don't use axle grease instaed of silicone, o-rings from the auto parts store and employee-made diaphrams from old inner tubes. Further we know that OSHA regulations most often do not go far enough, that everyone should do more than the OHSA regulations require because they are so good and wholesome. > >How many incidents does it take to establish danger, anyway? One? >Probably too few? Explosion every time you switched on the O2? Surely, >that is dangerous. Not usually? Well, now we are somewhere on the >risk-benefit curve. Like the joke about the woman who would accept a >millon dollars to have sex, but wouldn't take $200 because she wasn't a >member of the 'oldest profession', "We've established what you are, now we >are just haggling over price." I repeat, Give me twelve documentable cases of scuba regulator meltdown because of oxygen and grease. > >I think that there is risk is established, because the compressed gas >industry wouldn't waste money over a non-risk. Now we are just haggling >over how much of a risk that there is. Reread the OSHA answer. The compressed gas industry is not spending money because they perceive a great risk; implementation of OSHA requirements costs the industry money. > >Nick Simicich - njs@sc*.ga*.ne* - njs@bc*.vn*.ib*.co* > > >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@opal.com'. >Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@opal.com'. > >
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