The Great 02 Cleaning Debate

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and just when you think it's all gone…. you feel the sticky between your fingers….again!

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[ktomlinson]

The shop threatened to remove the EAN wraps if you didn't get the tanks o2 cleaned, but were going to leave them on to VIP them? They can't do a proper VIP without taking all bands and stickers off of the tanks. If you do ask them some of the questions posed in this thread, I'd like to know why they think they can VIP tanks without removing the wraps.

[Sludge]

They can't do a proper VIP without taking all bands and stickers off of the tanks.

Actually, you can't do a "PSI visual" without removing all stickers. But there are no industry-accepted guidelines for visuals, so it depends on the person doing the visual.

[ktomlinson]

Actually, you can't do a "PSI visual" without removing all stickers. But there are no industry-accepted guidelines for visuals, so it depends on the person doing the visual.

That is true. I wasn't clear in my post, but I didn't mean to give the impression that I was speaking to a regulation. By proper I meant that I wouldn't feel like I'd given 100% if I didn't remove all stickers and accessories when I VIP a cylinder, and I certainly wouldn't want to pay for one that was done in bands and with stickers on. I'm not PSI trained, I took the course through SCIDI.

[JMB2262]

Why can't silicone be cleaned off?

It's not the Valves that are the problem, it is cleaning the darn threads on tanks that sucks!!

[jxh2297]

Actually, you can't do a "PSI visual" without removing all stickers. But there are no industry-accepted guidelines for visuals, so it depends on the person doing the visual.

This is correct. when I would do visuals for all the old aqua lung cylinders I would take all the aqua lung stickers off... older folks got mad that I had destroyed there antique lol

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[next gen]

Those 130's he was talking about were not the only cycinders to be lubed with silicone. The 100's I'm using also got the same treatment from the same people.

[ams511]

I find this thread informative and distressing at the same time. I have a regular TDI nitrox cert and know that unless you are partial blending that a tank does not need to be O2 clean (unless you suspect contamination). Why would a dive shop not know that? Also just because they don't have banked nitrox doesn't mean that the person you use does.

The shop that I used to go to for a vip would just slap another sticker on it and never remove the old ones. So I guess I never got a PSI inspection from them.

Also JXH I do not find it funny that you would remove the stickers from vintage tanks without telling the owners first. Some people spend a lot of time and effort restoring older tanks to new condition adding reproduction stickers and such, others have the original stickers which have been on their tanks for decades. If the other shops didn't remove them why would they think you would?

[kwinter]

I find this thread informative and distressing at the same time. I have a regular TDI nitrox cert and know that unless you are partial blending that a tank does not need to be O2 clean (unless you suspect contamination). Why would a dive shop not know that? Also just because they don't have banked nitrox doesn't mean that the person you use does.

The shop that I used to go to for a vip would just slap another sticker on it and never remove the old ones. So I guess I never got a PSI inspection from them.

Also JXH I do not find it funny that you would remove the stickers from vintage tanks without telling the owners first. Some people spend a lot of time and effort restoring older tanks to new condition adding reproduction stickers and such, others have the original stickers which have been on their tanks for decades. If the other shops didn't remove them why would they think you would?

I don't understand your confusion. If you tell a shop you want the tank O2 clean, they should clean it and put the appropriate VIP sticker on. If you don't want it O2 clean because you always use banked nitrox or do your own stick blending, then don't ask them to clean it. It shouldn't have anything to do with how the shop blends nitrox. But if you have them punch the sticker for 40% max and then expect them to partial pressure blend you a custom mix, you're a fool.

As for the stickers, your TDI (actually SDI) inspector cert also "requires" you to remove all stickers from the outside of a tank, just like PSI. How else can you check for surface pitting that could require a tank to be condemned? But in practice, I don't do it and I have never had a sticker removed by a shop, not even the old VIP stickers. Maybe they do things in a big way down in Texas, so I suggest you don't bring your tanks to jxh2297. As for restoring vintage tanks and applying reproduction stickers, I have never heard of anyone doing that for a tank that was actually going to be used. Why go through that restoration only to have the tank banged up and scratched? And if it is not going to be used, then it doesn't need a VIP.

[Sludge]

Why would a dive shop not know that?

Open water shops don't seem to know a whole lot about nitrox in general. I know of a shop that teaches that using 32% nitrox versus air keeps you warmer, gives you less narcosis, gives you energy, etc.

If the other shops didn't remove them why would they think you would?

Apparently you aren't aware of the indoctrination that goes on in a PSI class.