Recent trip - Should I complain or not ?

[Dave Crampton]

Hi,

You have every right to complain. You should, though, read any small print associated with the holiday/charter company as they may have a disclaimer regarding personal equipment. They may try and lay blame with each others insurance.  At the least you should be entitled to the cost of servicing your reg. Do you know anybody (chemist/ry student) who could identify what this powder is, is there any left? (I'm no Chemist but white powder, and possibly Aluminium corrotion, strick me as no coincidence? I know Alu, is not supposed to corrod byt??? If your able to point out what they may be doing wrong (in contaminating the air supply) they may be more willing to help or provide compensation.

At the very outside chance they tell you where to get off, you could remind them your part of a large group of british/international divers (give them the website) and remind them how bad customer relations can severily harm their future business.

Dave C
Good luck.

[Conor]

Thanks guys, I am scribing a letter at the moment, introducing myself as part of the Yorkshire Divers group (afterall the Oonas UK rep even came alng to see Mark on the first night).

I am not going to ask for anything specific, just lay it all out and see what the response is.

dcrapmt- I'm a lapsed chemist myself, unfortunately haven't been in a lab in years. but if anyone can suggest a fine white hygroscopic powder that could come to be in a cylinder then please let me know, samples available on request.

Cheers

Conor

[ainsley]

Now I may be well off track here but if steel and aluminium corrode next to one another they produce a white powder.

I know this cos I have an old landrover.  

Rob

[Conor]

Ainsley, you have touched on what may be the most likely source. That a previous user had sucked all the air out letting moisture into the cylinder and the powder was some oxidation product. Or some moisture had entered through the compressor of course.


............................................
On the subject of Ali corrosion, look at the following
From a purely thermodynamical point of view aluminium is active. However, in oxygen containing
environment (air, water), aluminium is rapidly covered with a dense oxide layer [1]. The oxide layer
is essentially inert, and prevents corrosion. The thickness of the layer may vary as a function of
temperature, environment and alloy elements. Oxide films formed in air at room temperature are 2-3
nm thick on pure aluminium. Heating to 425°C may give films up to 20 nm [2]. If the oxide film is
damaged, e.g. by a scratch, new oxide will immediately form on the bare metal [3].

So, yes it does corrode, but no, not very much.

[Conor]

Letter is on its way

I don't think it would be appropriate to post the letter here until it is resolved, but if anyone wants to know what I said then let me know and I'll PM a copy.

[Conor]

Oonas have been in touch with the owner and the response is that they lent the cylinders to another boat and they came back in a a bad state, they have now bought new cylinders to replace them.

They had dificulty finding anyone to clean the regs but eventually did find someone who invoiced them $6 for the work, so they believed it had been done.

Oonas has asked the owner to cover the cost of servicing.