Breathing Air & O2 clean Tank Stickers

[Jules]

<font color='#736AFF'>Can I ressurect this topic please because I am hopelessly confused.
I bought my tank brand new in october 2001. It has lots of numbers and writing on it but the only thing that looks like date is 2001 so I assume that's the date of manufacture.
Can someone tell me or point me to a site that has the full low down on how I can know when my tank needs testing? and what I need to do?
Thanks

Jules

[abucksdiver]

<font color='#000080'>Julia,
First of all, the date you bought the tank is almost irrelevant... it was the date that it was manufactured (or last tested) that is important.

Near the top of the tank should be stamped a whole lot of stuff... Cylinder Volume, Working Pressure, Empty weight, Serial Number, Date of Manufacture etc. etc.

I believe the the &quot;older&quot; cylinders had the date in the format 10.01 (for October 2001). Cylinders manufactered/tested under the new regime should have the date in the format 2001.10

Any cylinder that has been manufactured since Sept 2002 needs to have a visual inspection 2.5 years after manufacture, with a hydraulic test 2.5 years after that...

Cylinders manufactured before Sept 2002 that are still in test require testing under the old requirements ie. Visual every 2 years, Hydraulic 2 years later. Once an older cylinder has been tested since Sept 2002, it then falls under the New requirements, with 2.5 year intervals.

With me so far? Good, because now I get lost in the regulations... depending upon where you go and who you speak to, the next issue is that of markings/stickers. I do not know the correct answers here, as I have had too many people tell me different things. Some say that if youhave black/white quarterings on your cylinder, you do not need a sticker. Others say it is compulsary. Some say you must have all the test info stamped on your cylinder, others say that you can have it written on a label... I really do not know, and have, quite frankly, given up until such a time as somebody has an issue with what I have (a cylinder, recently tested, with the test info stamped on it, with B/W quarters, and a &quot;Breathing Air&quot; sticker)

Hope that this might just of helped, rather than added to the confusion...

abucksdiver

[abucksdiver]

<font color='#000080'>TDave,
Surely that cylinder should be tested in Sept 2005, as it falls under teh new test scema, being tested/manufactured since Sept 2002....


abucksdiver

[Dr Stevil]

<font color='#0000FF'>Here you go...

you'll need powerpoint to read it, your test date should have a month as well as a year. If you're not sure that you understand it all, your LDS should be able to explain to to you especially as you probably bought it from them in the first place

Chee-az
steve

[bubs]

Hi all

Can anyone help me in claryfying the new rules for tested tanks and their certificates/ stickers.

I have 2 secondhand aluminium cyclinders that were hydrostatically tested in april.
The dive centre that tested them did not put a sticker on (showing when they would next needed tested) but did do the usual stamp.

My LDS refuses to fill these tanks without doing a visual test on them- although the hydro stamp is clearly marked.

Although i did have the certificates i m not entirley sure where they are!

So what can i do, do i have to get the tanks retested again? someone has mentioned to my that aluminium tanks have different rules.

Anyway i m fairly clueless, so any help would be appriciated.
Cheers bubs

[Kate R]

New Standards

BS EN 1968 and 1802

In March 2002, European standards for cylinder testing were changed.  The familiar old BS 5430 part 1 (steel cylinders) &amp; part 3 (aluminium) were withdrawn and replaced by new standards - BS EN 1968:2002 for Steel Gas Containers, and BS EN 1802:2002 for Aluminium Gas Containers.

If you're really keen, you can buy the standards documents via the BFPSA web site here, but they're £80-90 each.
IDEST (the Inspectorate for Diving Equipment Servicing and Testing, see below) advised their approved test houses to implement the new standards by 31st August 2002. These came into force on 1st September 2002.

EN 1089

In addition, a new standard was introduced - EN 1089 Gas Cylinder Identification.  This sets new standards for stamp marking, precautionary labels and colour coding.

Impact

Unfortunately, some aspects of the new standards are not completely clear.  Many divers are confused by conflicting views and advice from dive centres.  Some centres will fill their cylinders, others won't.  Here's what's going on.

The Changes

Test Periods

The hydraulic test period has been changed from 4 to 5 years.  This has been done mainly to bring it into line with standards for testing other industrial compressed gas cylinders.  Similarly visual inspection periods have changed from 2 years to 2½ years after a hydraulic test.
The new standard doesn't extend the test expiry for cylinders with a current test-due date.  In other words, cylinders tested before the new standards came into force, and with either no test-due sticker (see below) or a 2-year sticker, will still need their next test at the expiry date of the old 2-year interval test/inspection.
Don't forget that as before, the hydraulic test period is not affected by the date of the visual inspection.  For example, say you don't use your cylinder for a year or so then have it visually inspected 3½ years after it's hydraulic test.  The cylinder will only then be in test for a further 18 months.  This is because  you will need another hydraulic test five years after the last, regardless of the visual inspection date.

More Stringent Testing

So cylinders need testing less frequently, therefore that will save divers a bit of money right?  Fat chance.  The down side of the new standards is that there is a specific requirement to clean all but the very lightest of corrosion.  This means that you will be charged for shot blasting more often. (The cynical side of me says that this will be a licence for test stations to print money.  Given that: a] there is no independent proof of how much corrosion there was; and b] shot blasting is it's a nice little earner for testing stations, I'd be pretty surprised if you can avoid paying for a shot blast ever again...).
In addition, criteria for failing cylinders are now more strict.  The new standard accepts less damage, set (the degree to which the cylinder permanently stretches during a hydraulic test) and corrosion on a cylinder before it's scrapped.

Test Date Stamps and Stickers

The test or inspection date stamp punched into the cylinder will from now on show the year followed by the month (as opposed to month then year as now).  To avoid confusion, the new test stamps use a four figure year, so a stamp issued in February 2003 will read something like &quot;2003 02&quot; rather than an old one issued in March 2002 which would read &quot;03 02&quot;.

As well as stamping the cylinder with the test date, many dive shops have for a long time been adding the punch-out stickers to make it easy to see when the cylinder is next due for test.  The new standard now makes this mandatory.

Contents Labels

According to the new standard EN 1089 part 2, Cylinders must now also bear stickers showing their intended contents, e.g. Breathing Air, Nitrox or Trimix.  This includes a standard green warning diamond, so It's not going to be enough for you to just stencil &quot;Breathing Air&quot; on your current cylinders.
Don't forget that this doesn't guarantee what the cylinder actually contains.  Trimix cylinder may still be filled with ordinary air of course.  It is therefore remains vital that you know precisely what the cylinder actually contains (witness and test fills as before).   This begs the question as to whether the new labels have any real value, but we're stuck with them (no pun intended) anyway.

Colour Coding

This is the biggest area of confusion on the new standard.  The regulations also state that the cylinders must be correctly colour coded for &amp;#8216;divers at work&amp;#8217; (i.e. professional divers or paid instructors, not recreational divers).  This means that anyone earning an income from diving should only use cylinders that have the black and white quadrants painted on the cylinder's shoulder.
All new diving cylinders will come with this coding anyway, but many older cylinders won't have it.  In theory, this shouldn't affect recreational divers.  We can still legitimately dive with plain painted cylinders of any colour.  However, some dive shops are apparently interpreting 'divers at work' to include those people filling or transporting cylinders.  As a result, they are refusing to fill non colour coded cylinders.  
Even the authorities appear unable to agree on this.  The HSE clearly state that the recreational
diver does not need to follow the colour coding standards.  The HSE also state that the dive shop is a professional and operating as a &amp;#8216;diver at work&amp;#8217;.  This leads to situations such as where Stoney Cove and Elwin Harper will fill cylinders that are not colour coded but others in the region will not.  If you have an older cylinder, you may therefore have to shop around to find a filling station interpreting this more sensibly.  The safe-bet alternative is to have old cylinders repainted.
In CPA's case, Reading BSAC should not have a problem here.  Although they charge for fills, the money is for the club funds, not for individual gain.  This means there is no sense in which they are divers at work and can therefore quite legally fill non colour coded cylinders.

Test Certificate

Centres and shops should now ensure that the paper test certificates issued with a tested cylinder bear the name of the cylinder's owner, not just whoever dropped it off for testing.  Presumably this means that for club cylinders this should be the name of the dive club - that being 'the name of the cylinder's owner'; but really it's up to the centre or shop to decide that.

Air Fills

The new standards make recommendations.  This is important because it is not in itself illegal for a dive shop to fill a cylinder which does not have, say, a contents label conforming to EN 1089 Pt 2.  However, if anything at all were to go wrong as a result of the cylinder having not in fact been safe or the contents mis-identified, then they may well be legally liable for failing in their &quot;duty of care&quot; to ensure that only safe cylinders are filled.  The fact that they didn't follow the HSE recommendations may then make them liable for prosecution, depending on the details of the incident.  
It is therefore up to the filler to decide whether a cylinder is safe to fill or not.  If they are not completely satisfied this is the case they have every right to refuse to fill the cylinder.

Things That Haven't Changed

Luxfer Aluminium Cylinders

Some years ago, questions were raised about the safety of some of the older aluminium cylinders in circulation and how rapidly they could deteriorate between test.  Luxfer Scuba's policy for testing all older &quot;B&quot; alloy aluminium cylinders still stands at 2 years between retests.   The testing period for these cylinders should not be extended to the 2½ years of the new standards.

Enriched Oxygen Cylinders

You will find that shops and filling stations probably still demand that inspections and cleaning for Nitrox cylinders remain at 12month intervals.

Mini Cylinders

Cylinders of 0.5 litres or less are NOT covered by the new standards.  These will still be tested to the old standards (BS 5430 part 6) with the test intervals of 2 and 4 years.

[Dominic]

What it all boils down to: Dive shops are just as confused as we are and will insist on whatever standard they want to. You won't win by arguing your case, so if they play up, go elsewhere

There's a LOT to be said for a club having its own compressor. Can't remember the last time I got a shop fill..

[chrisch]

If the hydro test is a correct IDEST test then the dive shop should fill them. &nbsp;There are non-IDEST testings and the dive shop may choose not to trust them - I haven't seen one of these for some years.
All cylinders must have a breathing air/nitrox/trimix sticker and if needed a visual inspection sticker to show oxygen cleaning. &nbsp;Air cylinders do not need an O2 sticker and I presume this is what yours are?

Alu tanks need a seperate test to verify they are not cracked - this should have been done as part of the normal test procedure and will have been if they are IDEST stamped. &nbsp;This could be where your shop is wrong, or where you have not got the correct test. &nbsp;There is no need to take a certificate with a tank to get it filled....

There does seem to be some confusion out there but any half-decent shop should know all this stuff inside out and have told you all you need to know - go figure..

Chris

[Juz]

<font color='#32CD32'>Hi, could someone remind me, are the o2 stickers stamped with the test date or the expiry date.

2 different fill sites are telling a buddy of mine 2 different things.

Cheers
Juz

[Twinset & Wing]

stamped with expiry date