![]() When making travel plans, check the reputation of dive shops online and with their respective agencies. It should not feel any more threatening than asking to see a restaurant’s health-department certificate. If there is hesitation about either, consider carefully what is said. And feel free to ask to see the compressor. Most stores will have their current air-test report posted. What should you do? Build a relationship with your local dive shop and ask about its compressor maintenance and air-testing schedule. And because scuba is an international industry, even dive operators in remote destinations adhere to U.S. Daily maintenance checks as well as retesting air quality after any compressor service are typical. If we are to look honestly at reducing risk, we should consider first our attitude about safe-diving practices and the way in which market forces are driving Open Water courses into shorter and shorter schedules.Īlthough unregulated by any government agency, quarterly air- quality testing is accepted as a minimum standard. Industry standards make carbonmonoxide contamination virtually unheard of - most scuba fatalities result from drowning. ![]() Unless there is a particular reason for suspicion, divers don’t need to worry about CO in their tank any more than you would worry about the cleanliness of the kitchen in your favorite restaurant. But checking each tank for CO would be like whipping out a microscope at a restaurant to inspect your food. Nitrox divers check each tank to verify the percentage of oxygen, because having the wrong mix can be deadly. Yet few of us live in constant fear of these hazards. Like nitratesin our drinking water, salmonella in our lettuce, and out-of-control drunken drivers, CO can kill unexpectedly. Oil mists may also cause a significant fire hazard.ĭust is hazardous to both our lungs as well as to fine regulator parts.Unless you have reason for suspicion, CO in your tank should be no more concern than the cleanliness of a restaurant kitchen.Ĭarbon-monoxide contamination in scuba is a serious subject. The retained oil particles can cause inflammation. It also enhances corrosion and rust of the cylinders, thus interacting with filtration elements reducing filtration efficiency and generating chemical odours causing nausea and respiratory irritation.Īs for oil, especially the smaller particles create health concerns as they will not be removed by the bodys' clearance mechanisms, as happens to the larger particles. It also leads to minor perceptive changes, discomfort, dizziness or stupor and in extreme cases it may cause unconsciousness and even death.Įxcessive moisture can make regulators freeze or fail to open. Relatively rare but reported toxic substances: for example vapours from cleaning products and halogenated solvents, emissions from motor vehicles, suphur and nitrogen-based products and fumesĬarbon dioxide (CO2) in excessive quantities increases the rate of breathing and in deeper diving causes respiratory risk.Those found in certain geographic locations: volatile hydrocarbons and organic compounds, such as methane (CH4).Those most commonly found in compressed gas like Carbon Monoxide (CO): Carbon dioxide (CO2), moisture (H2O), condensed oil, particles and odour.There are three levels of contaminants that could contaminate your breathing gas: However, there are other forms of contaminations, which we would like to bring to your attention. ![]() This might be the reason why the symptoms of poisoning may become worse during or after ascent.ĬO poisoning is potentially the most dangerous contamination of breathing gas. But during the ascent, when the partial oxygen pressure is reduced, and the amount of dissolved oxygen also reduces, this can lead to hypoxia. During the dive, the decreased oxygen transportation (through the haemoglobin) is also partially compensated by the amount of dissolved oxygen in the blood plasma. When descending the haemoglobin can get overloaded with CO, impairing its ability to bind with oxygen, but the increased oxygen partial pressure may also result in enough oxygen in the blood keeping cells oxygenated. In diving, the partial pressure of CO will increase with depth and even a low concentration of CO contamination which at normal atmospheric pressure and after a prolonged exposure time would have no toxic effect will become dangerous with increasing depth. ![]() A long exposure to relatively low concentrations can therefore result in serious CO intoxication. The severity of CO poisoning depends on its concentration in the breathing gas and the exposure time. This reduces the Oxygen carrying capacity and can eventually lead to hypoxia and even death. It is absorbed 200 times more by haemoglobin than oxygen is. Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless and tasteless gas, usually produced by the incomplete combustion of carbon containing compounds.
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