Join DiveBuddy.com

Meet new scuba divers, maintain a virtual dive log, participate in our forum, share underwater photos, research dive sites and more. Members login here.

#6242
Nitrox banding on scuba tanks required by some shops Dot only req oxygen vip
ScubaCrab - 1/09/2014 6:12 PM
Category: Equipment
Replies: 13

Nitrox banding on scuba tanks required by some shops. DOT only requires oxygen clean Vip. How many shops require the big bumper stickers to fill your tanks with nitrox. I have been getting nitrox fills for years and never had a bumper sticker for nitrox all over Florida. Running into more shops wanting to req these bumper stickers on your tanks. I refuse to have them put on my tanks and do my buisiness elswhere! Just wondering how the rest of you feel as for this is not required by Government agencies?
#20384
LatitudeAdjustment - 1/09/2014 7:25 PM
I had been using a hang on tank neck tag but as my tanks have been cleaned they’ve come back with bumper stickers without me asking for them :(

What I really wanted to put on was one of these,

#593
DiverMikeB - 1/09/2014 8:30 PM
I have never had a problem. My tanks are not banded, they only have a VIP sticker with the O2 Clean marking. I am with you I do not want to put the band on mine either. I fill at the local shop here in Marietta GA. Diver Supply and ScubaTech in destin florida. never had an issue.
#1600
Subscribed
lerpy - 1/10/2014 8:16 AM
I just spent a couple of hours scrapping all the nitrox wraps on my tanks for inspection, do not want them back on there.
#6242
Subscribed
ScubaCrab - 1/11/2014 12:32 AM
The dive shops that insist on bumper stickers nitrox banding claim it is for divers safety. I am all for dive safety and will dive with any diver diving within there training and experience. But if divers are so poorly trained they do not check the tank they are breathing from they should not dive. There is a training problem! All my tanks are din. Anyone able to use a din connection should have more knowledge than the average diver. My tanks allso have my name address and phone # and are labeled with contents and MOD. Additional rules and bumper stickers does not make poorly trained divers safer!
Improve training. Bumper stickers are a feel good bandaid to avoid responsibility and does not fix ignorace and poor training!
#7367
Subscribed
UWnewbee - 1/11/2014 6:51 AM
Situation.. 4 divers with rented tanks! all which are All unmarked...3 of the divers are nitrox cert.. all are yoke.. the 1 untrained diver grabs the wrong tank.. whos at fault now? Your comparison to anyone with a din should have more knowledge statement is a poor comparison. if thats the case we can compare a Diesel pick up vs a gas pickup truck,, if you own a diesel you Should know that the filler tube on the pump is thicker so that you cant put diesel fuel in the gas trucks gas tank,,, but! you can put gas in the diesel trucks tank! the end result will not be a good 1,, just remember, it isnt a perfect world and theres always room for error. so im pretty sure that those nitrox stickers are worthy for some. These so called band aids arent a user manual,, they are for visual awareness, same as in any industrial shop. the big fire extinguisher sticker on the wall doesnt tell you how to use it, it simply shows you where it is located!
#174
Subscribed
WB2GLP - 1/11/2014 7:03 PM
Oxygen clean stickers and annual visual stickers are not required by the DOT. These practices were brought about by the scuba industry itself. Most shops embrace these practices because it makes the sport a little safer and it keeps the shop employees employed while at the same time confusing the crap out of everyone. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for safety, but too many shops have too few people that know what’s fact or fiction.

The DOT requires hydrostatic recertification of scuba cylinders every 5 years which includes a visual inspection at the time of hydro. Other than a current RIN stamping around the neck, nothing else is required by the DOT. Oxygen cleaning is required if a cylinder is being used for oxygen, but no stickers are required by the DOT.

Sticker requirements change from shop to shop as do fill policies. Some shops refuse to fill aluminum tanks older than 1990 while others will as long as (if required) a VE stamp follows the RIN stamp. The DOT only dictates whether a cylinder can or can’t be placed into service. It does not require a shop to fill any and all tanks that meet the DOT standards.

I agree with SeleneOneill that the Nitrox wraps avoid confusion when dealing with a fleet of rental tanks.

I pull all stickers when I do visuals. Stickers can easily hide dents and corrosion. Besides, a decade’s worth of visual stickers will confuse the crap out of anyone. That 1985 NASDS VIP sticker is cool, but it should have been scraped off in 86.

I posted a few pics of things I’ve caught wrong with cylinders that came in for service or fills. Good for a laugh or two.
#20384
LatitudeAdjustment - 1/12/2014 7:10 AM
I had two of my blue AL80’s with their NITROX bumper stickers in the back of the car to drop off for fills after work. Someone thought I had modified my Mazda :)

I had to explain nitrox to a diver is not the same as to a street racer.
#1600
Subscribed
lerpy - 1/12/2014 5:59 PM
Let’s be truthful Ray your name comes up in the street racing circles, you know the quarter mile.
#5471
Subscribed
DiveBuddyChgo - 1/16/2014 3:45 AM
Dive shops can require whatever they want. They don’t even have to accept VIP stickers from anyone else except thier own. Scuba tanks are not so special. Hydro stamp is the only requirement to be legal in the USA.
#2635
Subscribed
John_giu - 1/21/2014 5:51 PM
As long as the tanks are oxygen clean with valid vip and and hydro all the shops I know slap a piece of duct tape with the mix on the tank and have you sign the log. "enjoy killing yourself, just don’t sue us"
#470
Subscribed
planodiver - 6/04/2014 7:32 PM
This is a great topic. The law vs. tradition vs. shop policies is a bit of a pain. In the DFW area, I am unaware of anyone who does anything but partial pressure fills. The problem I have seen locally is that some shops will not fill a tank prepped by another shop no matter what stickers and labels you have on it. Frankly for most of the diving around here its just too much of a hassle.