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>I thought the idea of marking cylinders was to prevent contamination and
>confusion.
>
>Without accepted, recognizable identification, cylinders could
>inadvertently be
>filled with "dirty" gas. Or worse, a less than scrupulous diver could do
>it on
>purpose for his own convenience. Then when he goes back to the nitrox
>facility
>. . .
>
>What about the facility that rents nitrox cylinders? How do they keep their
>rented out cylinders from being incorrectly refilled elsewhere? Then when
>the
>next diver rents it, what does he get?
>
>The labels also let everyone, not just the physical posessor identify the
>nature, if not the specific contents. There is a chain of posession here and
>cylinders do change hands. Tape does fall off.. If I never *thought* a
>cylinder would leave my control, I could put Argon, CO2, Helium, in it.
A story.
In British Columbia, last year.
We took nitrox up in our tanks, we had them filled here at our favorite
shop with 32 and 36 percent.
We were diving off a boat being run by a Captain who runs a lodge that
pumps nitrox and teaches nitrox classes, and we assumed he knew what the
hell he was doing.
With us on the boat were other divers, some of whom were untrained in
nitrox, and some very experianced nitrox divers who were not diving nitrox.
Our tanks were unmarked, except for our names and the mix written in
black grease pencil on the tanks.
One of the untrained divers asked the Captain which tanks he should use,
he was renting tanks for the day.
The lodge's tanks were all clearly marked with nitrox stickers. They all
contained air.
The captain waved his hand at the rear of the boat and said
"All my tanks have air in them."
The diver went back to the back of the boat, looked around, saw 12 tanks
with nitrox stickers, (all with air in them) and our four tanks with no
stickers, filled with nitrox.
He took 36% to 120 feet on the wreck of the Chaudiere.
There was lots of shouting and arm waving when we all realized what had
happened, and then lots of flaming when I posted the story to rec.scuba.
The whole incident served to set in stone my views on tank stickers, and
that is that they are meaningless. My newest philosophy on diving, be it
tech, wreck, nitrox, or recreational, is one of absolute personal
responsibility.
I am responsible for the gas I breathe, and no one else.
There is no way to make me (or anyone else) responsible for the gas you breathe.
I will not mark my tanks, it creates more problems than it solves.
If you use my tanks, you might die.
---------
"huh?"
-Jammer, 1992
---------
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