Posted by Jim Hoffmann on January 31, 2001 at 12:42:31:
In Reply to: The + Rating Myth And Some Facts, For A Change posted by Eins on January 29, 2001 at 10:33:21:
I talked to two different Hydro companies about this issue and both had different stories(
I posted one of them, and now I find out it was WRONG). I guess what it comes down to,
is that until I see something in writing from the DOT, I’m not going to over fill a steel (cylinder)tank( 10%) unless it has the + after the current Hydro (that's the way it is).
What’s funny about this is, that it all comes back to the dive stores, to self-regulate. Did
you know that you don’t have to have a Hydro, VIP, or an eddy wave test on your tank (cylinder)
(they are dive industry standards,but not the law, I think that the Hydro is a law now ,but
it was not for many years). Did you know that you don’t have to have a certification card
to fill your tank(cylinder) or buy life-support equipment (it’s a dive industry standard that you are certified, but not the law). At one time almost no-body sold SCUBA gear to un-certified
people, but now anyone with a computer can buy life-support equipment (and training)
on the net (they are doing nothing against the law).
This industry has aways made the dive store the Scuba Cop(I don’t like it, but that’s the
way it is). We are the ones who check for Certification, Hydro’s, VIP’s, eddy wave test,
we are the ones that do most of the training (good and bad). We are what makes
self-regulation work or not work.
We are also the ones who listen to the sniveling over the price of a piece of equipment, a
class, a repair, an air fill, or VIP. The dive stores are the grass roots of the industry when we are healthy we see the industry grow .
So support your local dive store ( not your local chain store, or your inter-net store, the
guys you are buying air from) they are the ones that makes this industry work or not
work.
There I feel better now.
Jim Hoffmann
Scuba Toys