NITROX fittings

[Paul Duckworth]

Does anyone have any info on the proposed changes to NITROX fittings?
I have heard that the fittings (DIN) for use with NITROX are changing from an M25 thread to an M26 thread to be brought in by 2007. Therefore any reg that you currently use with NITROX will be no use for that purpose after '07.
Is this just rumor and hearsay or is this going to happen? Are the manufacturers going to offer conversions to existing regs or is everyone going to have to replace their regs (or just dive on normal air!).

[Mike Halligan]

Not information, just hearsay. When I took a cylinder for cleaning to a recognised IDEST test station here in the NW, I was told the EU proposals were not yet requirements and that it was only the Germans (vested interest) who wanted this regulation.

At the same time, I know well the machinations of the EU from elsewhere and experience suggests that British representatives will have their heads in the sand long after all opportunities to influence this madness have passed us by.

If you want to know, pursue your MEP with vigour. If you want to influence, do so with extra vigour. At the end of the day, it will be commercial interest that will influence UK reality.

We could point up to MEPs and to Westminster that the diving population might not fund this EU lunacy and that two things would then happen, diving and cylinder businesses will lose trade as we all revert to air, and NHS costs will rise as we lose the protection of NX.

We could also just ignore developments and then whinge after the event, just like our papers and Government. (Monkey see, monkey do?)

This is entirely a personal and disinterested view. Whatever happens, I shall occasionally use NX when it is appropriate and pay the necessary on-cost. If this comes in, though, I shall probably not maintain my own cylinders but hire when needed.

Mike

[Philip Smith]

Does anyone have any info on the proposed changes to NITROX fittings?

The following are extracts from a letter headed "Diving cylinders and cylinder valves - Questions and Answers" from the HSE to the diving industry in Sep 2003:
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B2.1 The new standards, BS EN 144-3 Respiratory protective devices - Gas cylinder valves - Part 3: Outlet connections for diving gases Nitrox and oxygen, and BS EN 13949 Respiratory equipment - Open-circuit self-contained diving apparatus for use with compressed Nitrox and oxygen - Requirements, testing, marking, have to be endorsed as a national standard by August 2003. BS EN 144-3, Introduction, acknowledges that a 5 year transitional period will be required to phase in valves using the new valve connection. i.e. by August 2008. There is no similar statement for BS EN 13949 but clause 4.4 Pressure vessel valve(s), third sub clause, states that ?Safe connection between the pressure vessel valve(s) and the demand regulator shall be ensured by using the connections as defined in EN 144-3?.
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B2.3 HSE recommends that the diving industry decide on a date when these two standards should be used for all Nitrox and oxygen diving breathing apparatus. As previously recommended the diving industry should consider 1 July 2005 as an implementation date for all cylinder and cylinder valve changes subject to the possible introduction of ISO standards which should be clarified before finalising this date to avoid another change in the near future.
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Philip Smith

[Paul Duckworth]

:=Does anyone have any info on the proposed changes to NITROX fittings?

The following are extracts from a letter headed "Diving cylinders and cylinder valves - Questions and Answers" from the HSE to the diving industry in Sep 2003:
------------
B2.1 The new standards, BS EN 144-3 Respiratory protective devices - Gas cylinder valves - Part 3: Outlet connections for diving gases Nitrox and oxygen, and BS EN 13949 Respiratory equipment - Open-circuit self-contained diving apparatus for use with compressed Nitrox and oxygen - Requirements, testing, marking, have to be endorsed as a national standard by August 2003. BS EN 144-3, Introduction, acknowledges that a 5 year transitional period will be required to phase in valves using the new valve connection. i.e. by August 2008. There is no similar statement for BS EN 13949 but clause 4.4 Pressure vessel valve(s), third sub clause, states that ?Safe connection between the pressure vessel valve(s) and the demand regulator shall be ensured by using the connections as defined in EN 144-3?.
--------------
B2.3 HSE recommends that the diving industry decide on a date when these two standards should be used for all Nitrox and oxygen diving breathing apparatus. As previously recommended the diving industry should consider 1 July 2005 as an implementation date for all cylinder and cylinder valve changes subject to the possible introduction of ISO standards which should be clarified before finalising this date to avoid another change in the near future.
--------------

Philip Smith

Thankyou for the reply,

Just for peoples information this is what Oceanic replied whan I asked them:

Dear Paul
Thanks for your e-mail.
The EU and the Germans are pushing to have this M26 fitting done as a
standard through the industry through ou the world ie the CEN committee.

But the HSE and the UK SITA are fighting this at the moment and saying this
fitting is yet not required and will cause more confusion in the market
place, and in turn will force the market to introduce a adaptor which will
convert a M25 to a M26 fiitting, this in turn will be no advantge for the
safety side of things as this will then mean another connection and O rings
in the Line.
At this moment in time the UK industry have been told to carry on with the
M25 as they feel strongly they can fight this requirement at the CEN Meetings.

We as a manufacture can only produce what is a requirement at the moment,
as for 2 years down the road I am sure there will be an alternative for the
M25 users out in the market place.

Having said that it will be possible to convert your M25 Din kit to a M26
kit for the cost of a DIN fitting, which at present market value is ?51.00,
if and when they do decide to change this law,
We as a manufacture will be forced into offering this kit as and when it
will be required, but at this moment we are not offering this part.

I hope this has helped a little.

Kind regards


K R Richards