Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: filling SCUBA tanks with shop compressors (was Pressure air drive)

["Herve" <caribsub@coqui.net>]

Yes it is right, actually there are other requirements for refilling tanks
such as air quality around the compressor, if there is a source of
contaminated gas like a vehicle exhaust, a factory that releases by products
in the atmosphere, then it goes right inside the tank as well. you dont know
it and you have the surprise once at depth.
Air quality is something that must be controled and known at all time.,
requirements and regulations are to prevent crazies from hurting anybody and
courts to trial those crazies who did not care and did it anyways, and i
dont wish anybody to experience slow suffocation at depth, but things happen
with professionals so imagine with a rookie
And when i read on this forum that somebody is looking for a less than $20
CO2 sensor the only response he should get by anybody for help is "where to
find the less expensive CO2 sensor that meets air system for human breathing
requirements"
I renounced to try and understand why people would put their life at risk
for $50
Herve
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Buchner" <buchner@wcta.net>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 12:51 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: filling SCUBA tanks with shop compressors (was
Pressure air drive)


> How awful.
>
> Wow. This is definitely one of those things that's valuable to have out
> in the open, due to the largish number of people who read this list who
> are of a hacker mentality and always want to find a cheap, crude,
> homemade way to do things. (me! ;-)) Am I understanding right -- that
> the high heat as the air is going through the compressor causes the
> combustion resulting in CO *then*, and that the suffocation (or
> poisoning, or whatever the correct term is) was caused *later*, when
> somebody breathed the stored CO out of that tank?
>
> That's scary, and another one of those things I never, ever would have
> thought of on my own, just sitting around scheming and dreaming.
>
> Herve wrote:
> >> It is prohibited to refill breathing air tanks from industrial
> >> compressor,
> >> or air shop compressors. Scuba HP compressors are designed to fill up
> >> cylinders with high pressure with no moisture or contaminated gas.
> >> When you compress air, temp goes up and oil or grease residuts, if
> >> any, but
> >> present in industrial comp can burn and produce CO, which is odorless.
> >> Moisture in tanks creates oxydations inside, even in a aluminium tank
> >> and
> >> weakens the walls.
> >> In 1981 during my first scuba dive in the NAVY, 2 experienced divers
> >> on
> >> another task died because of that. It was a n old compressor, and
> >> somebody
> >> reversed a set of filters, which produced CO due to the high
> >> temperature.
> >> They both lost conscience and drawned and never forgot that. So a good
> >> advise....  use dedicated compressors to refill tanks and other life
> >> support
> >> air sytems, and leave shop air compressors for air tools.
>
>
> David
> buchner@wcta.net
> Osage, MN, USA
> http://customer.wcta.net/buchner
>
>
>