Do You Analyze Your Gas for CO?

[kwinter]

MA - Please point to anything I have ever posted in this thread or any other EVER that contradicted the necessity of analyzing the contents of breathing gas. Maybe you meant to argue with someone else. I'm the guy that recently analyzed an O2 tank that I filled myself and got a reading of 8 ppm due to a faulty booster. While that may be perfectly acceptable to some, I dumped the contents and cleaned the tank. I analyze every single tank for O2, He and CO. And I never suggested that anyone do otherwise. But to suggest that the partial pressure of a gas in a pressurized tank is the same as it is at ambient pressure is just plain wrong.

[MichaelAngelo]

MA - Please point to anything I have ever posted in this thread or any other EVER that contradicted the necessity of analyzing the contents of breathing gas. Maybe you meant to argue with someone else. I'm the guy that recently analyzed an O2 tank that I filled myself and got a reading of 8 ppm due to a faulty booster. While that may be perfectly acceptable to some, I dumped the contents and cleaned the tank. I analyze every single tank for O2, He and CO. And I never suggested that anyone do otherwise. But to suggest that the partial pressure of a gas in a pressurized tank is the same as it is at ambient pressure is just plain wrong.

t

And the wheels go Turing round and round. You made a scenario with assumptions of the content of a scuba tank I merely pointed out that like the cat in the box you can't know what's in that or any tank without opening it and looking in. It seems to that you created a sceniaro in which you started with the answer you wanted then plugged in numbers to to prove the answer you wanted so you can feel smarter. The whole PPO in the closed tank post as well whether you dump your home feel station is irrelavant to the question do you analyze for Co or how much Co is acceptable. Again my point is you don't know what's in the tank without opening it and analyzing it. As to what's not acceptable for me it's 3PPM because why would anyone pay good money for bad life support. And weren't you done discussing this?

[kwinter]

I also thought I was done discussing this. But maybe I just have a hard time letting go of moronic statements. Your answer to everything seems to be "analyze your tanks."

Q: What time is it? A: Analyze your tanks.
Q: Is there going cave beyond this restriction? A: Analyze your tanks.
Q: Where are the bathrooms? A: Analyze your tanks.

In a discussion of what level of CO is acceptable, there is no reason to reply with "analyze your tanks." The diving world is replete with scenarios based on assumptions of the content of a scuba tank. That is how we discuss issues and test our knowledge. They are called examples. Are you equally disturbed by a training agency that gives a test to students asking "what would the pO2 be if diver is breathing 32% nitrox at 30 meters depth?" I guess you're answer would be "the diver should not assume it is nitrox 32% without analyzing the contents of the tank."

It was a discussion of what level of CO is acceptable. It was not about analyzing the contents to find out what level existed. And you made an incorrect statement about the partial pressure of a gas inside a tank that I corrected. The partial pressure is not the same as the fraction of the gas. And no amount of analyzing the tank will alter that.

Now I'm done.

[MichaelAngelo]

I also thought I was done discussing this. But maybe I just have a hard time letting go of moronic statements. Your answer to everything seems to be "analyze your tanks."

Q: What time is it? A: Analyze your tanks.
Q: Is there going cave beyond this restriction? A: Analyze your tanks.
Q: Where are the bathrooms? A: Analyze your tanks.

In a discussion of what level of CO is acceptable, there is no reason to reply with "analyze your tanks." The diving world is replete with scenarios based on assumptions of the content of a scuba tank. That is how we discuss issues and test our knowledge. They are called examples. Are you equally disturbed by a training agency that gives a test to students asking "what would the pO2 be if diver is breathing 32% nitrox at 30 meters depth?" I guess you're answer would be "the diver should not assume it is nitrox 32% without analyzing the contents of the tank."

In was a discussion of what level of CO is acceptable. It was not about analyzing the contents to find out what level existed. And you made an incorrect statement about the partial pressure of a gas inside a tank that I corrected. The partial pressure is not the same as the fraction of the gas. And no amount of analyzing the tank will alter that.

Now I'm done.

I don't why I talk about analyzing you fills in a thread titled " do you analyze your fills for Co". Totally off topic. As per what's an acceptable of Co why is any level of Co in any tank acceptable? Why would we as a community say there's an acceptable level of poison in our life support? Do you go into an Italian resturant and accept rat poison on your pasta as along as it's within acceptable levels. How do you know you reach the acceptable level without analyzing your tanks? I don't know anyway to know for sure that your mix is correct except by analyzing it. I don't know of any case of a diver living long enough to be put into a chamber. And I looked. Call DAN and ask them how many cases of Co poisoning happen in the USA then ask about Europe then ask how many around the world, the answer is the same. We don't know. The symptoms your likely to encounter while diving are the same as the flu. By the time you are diagnosed (and don't bet on the DM diagnosing you ) it's too late. The only reason a chamber ride on O2 is used as treatment is because that's the only know treatment of Co poisoning in the house hold. Oh and Co is the leading cause of death from poison in the US. Even with that the only known way of preventing a Co household accident is with a Co detector. So yes the answer preventing an Co accident in diving accident is to analyze the tank. Any math done without first analyzing is just mental masterbation. Enen if your doing the math to plan an dive on 32 or 18/40 or for that matter air you still need to analyze the gas to make sure it's correct. Crazy talk I know. As per your correcting of my asserting the 21% being the same as .21ata at sea level, I was using the scuba industry standard of opening the tank and analyzing the contains. If you can suck a human into that tank (maybe to look for the cat) and have live there and maybe give him am analyzer then yes that's a useable number till then it's an irrelevant point to this discussion on analyzing your tanks for co.

[MichaelAngelo]

Oh did I mention analyze you tanks each time every time?

[FW]

OK you two, let's not get personal here. It appears you are on the same page, just stay civil

[Mark Vlahos]

Mildly entertaining discussion, however...

I will continue to analyze each and every tank I breathe.
I will continue to draw the line at 3.
2 or less and I will consider the maximum planned depth and duration of dive.
3 or more and I will refuse the tank and not dive it regardless of planned depth or duration of dive.
My lungs, my blood, my brain, my life. Why should I add any risk by setting my threshold any higher?

Mark Vlahos

[MichaelAngelo]

Mildly entertaining discussion, however...

I will continue to analyze each and every tank I breathe.
I will continue to draw the line at 3.
2 or less and I will consider the maximum planned depth and duration of dive.
3 or more and I will refuse the tank and not dive it regardless of planned depth or duration of dive.
My lungs, my blood, my brain, my life. Why should I add any risk by setting my threshold any higher?

Mark Vlahos

That's all I ask. Well that and help with finding my cat

[RN]

I keep hearing that the station is good, the shop too good, oh I know the guy but that doesn’t matter you don’t know till you analyze each tank every dive. I will keep talking about, I will keep handing my analyzers to divers at dive sites to use, I don’t care how much I repeat myself. It's just too important. Artists are like that

I bank gas and change my compressor filters regularly. I get my gas tested quarterly. My station is good and I do know the guy... I still analyze every single tank including every tank my students and dive buddies are using if they don't have a CO analyzer and have already analyzed their own tanks.

[MK7]

I would like to point out that CO is carbon monoxide. Co is cobalt.

Just sayin'.