Not Having an Analyzer

Almost daily, I’m party to one or more conversations that go something like this:

“Is my Nitrox bottle ready?”

“Here it is — but before you take off with it, you need to analyze its contents, label it with the correct FO2 and MOD, and record that data in the fill station log.”

“Yeah, sure. Can I borrow your analyzer?”

“No.”

(Expressing surprise) “But I don’t have one.”

“What kind of a class are you taking?” (It’s generally at least a Nitrox Diver course or, more often than not, some level of tech diver training.) “And you don’t own your own analyzer? Okay, go get your instructor’s analyzer.”

(Student returns a minute later) “He doesn’t have one…” (Or the battery’s dead, or he left it home, etc.)

No, I’m not making this stuff up. It really happens. Far too often.

Okay, it’s one thing when the casual recreational diver who only uses Nitrox once a year on his annual dive vacation doesn’t own a personal analyzer (although he or she really should). But a technical diver? Or a tech diving instructor?

This is sufficiently stupid as to deserve no further comment.

Not calibrating the analyzer (or doing so incorrectly) »

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