The Secrecy Of The Fill Station {[Random Thoughts]}

[@diversdown2116]

as a diver i like to see a fill station if the it looks like it is not taken care of i wont let them fill my tanks.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @diversdown2116, we agree. If the fill station is not kept clean, then that is a good indicator that the dive center doesn't really care about their safety, or the safety of their customers.

[@mahnkemachine3281]

We go to the fill station at our LDS all the time. The only time I stay away is when they are blending Trimix. Not because of any real danger with the physical nature of it, but more along the lines of not wanting to become a distraction, causing them to put the wrong amount of a gas in because they were paying attention to me and not what they were doing. As far as the whole “we should be in the shop spending money,” well I guess that depends on the customer. New customers, sure. New divers, sure. Not that we’ve been diving a long time, but started frequenting our LDS right after getting our OW very at another shop. The other shop, I won’t go in to here, but let’s just say we didn’t have the best experience there. Our current LDS took us from our OW cert right up through OC normoxic Trimix. Which took us down the rebreather path we just started on in May. We call our LDS owner the local crack dealer! “You want to one of those? Here! Try mine, and see if you like it!” I couldn’t tell you how many times that has led to a sale!

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Sounds like you found the perfect fit for you in that shop @mahnkemachine3281. We do the same here. Our customers routinely try items out before they buy them.

[@robertnedoszytko8707]

One shop I used, I was a regular customer for fills, the owner actually taught me how to fill my own tanks with his filling station, so he was able to entertain costumers.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @robertnedoszytko8707, sounds like the shop owner really wanted to educate his customers.

[@drewmcvicker1445]

This is very interesting to see how bottles are filled! I’ve never seen this before.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @drewmcvicker1445, glad you liked the video. Fill cylinders is a relatively easy process but can be very dangerous if done improperly.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

For technical diving I want to see / do the fill(s). For air or nitrox I don't care. As a kid, my best friend's dad was an engineer who became a doctor, and went diving every weekend, on his own 50' boat docked out back of his house. He had a fill station in his garage capable of air and nitrox (just a few K cylinders of oxygen). I didn't know anything about diving back then, so I don't remember the specifics of the stuff he did, but I'm pretty sure he used to overfill all his tanks. One thing I do remember is that for aluminum tanks he kept track of how many times they were cycled, as he was more worried about that than simple age - especially since he was over pressuring them.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @PsRohrbaugh, we have several divers in our area that have their own compressor system. They usually just use us for the visual inspections and the hydro test.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@LakeHickoryScuba y'all seem like a good shop. You're about 4 hours away from my cabin in Georgia, so who knows maybe I'll stop by sometime. Main house is in Florida though! Appreciate the reply and I went ahead and subscribed.

[@Raybrienza]

Good video Bryan!!! I liked you talking through the filling and your random thoughts. I am a Gas blending instructor, PSI/PCI inspector.... I agree with your thoughts on allowing customer to see the process

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @Raybrienza, we just renewed out PSI/PCI certifications last month. Mark came by the shop as he only lives about an hour from us. We are going to be making more videos like this in the future. I have always tried to keep my personal thoughts out of our videos, but our viewers have been asking me more and more about them.

[@jeffjohnsisland5551]

Shop I frequent has fill station in show room. A bit of a generalization to say "...shops wont allow you at the fill station." I can only recall one shop where you werent supposed to to see the fill station. Shop was on Hawai's big island. I did peek in the fill station and quickly realized I didnt want to dive that shops air.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @jeffjohnsisland5551, I have unfortunately been in some dive centers where after I witnessed their inability to keep their fill station clean, it made me never want to go their again as well, especially for fills.

[@eldiablo7862]

My local shop used to have the fill station right in the center of the shop. Tanks should not explode, the worst that happens on a properly designed and assembled fill station is a blown burst disk.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @eldiablo7862, there are several shop I visit quite regularly, and they too have their fill stations in the main area. They have never had any issues.

[@chrisphilhower6029]

My shop Fills the tank while its in a Waterbath

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @chrisphilhower6029, unfortunately there are still some shops that choose to do that. From a safety standpoint, it can cause even more issues. Now that being said, the only time this can be beneficial is if the water bath remains a constant temperature. Most shops that still use the water bath do not regulate the water temperature, thus, nullifying the entire process.

[@chrisphilhower6029]

@@LakeHickoryScuba My shop isn't super busy. It's mainly a Ski shop

[@Michael_Livingstone]

Interesting! You should do a video where you take your biggest neoprene drysuit and fill it with as much air as possible to see how big they can get. 😅

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello @Michael_Livingstone, cool little fun fact. Every time we certify a new Drysuit Diver, once they are out of the water, we close off their exhaust valve and inflate their Drysuit to the point they can't move. Then we take their picture before releasing the air from their suit. Our students always enjoy this as a final congratulations on earning their Drysuit Certifications.

[@Michael_Livingstone]

@@LakeHickoryScuba Looking forward to you posting this sometime.

[@huntforagefish4730]

I think the MASSIVE liability issues would be the #1 reason. Unless you hate being insurable and and staying in business. Every other reason is moot.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

You make a great point @huntforagefish4730. Thankfully, there is not much of a liability issue when the actual filling process is not taking place.