PSA: Check your helium tanks before you splash, learned the hard way in Gulfport

Last Thursday me and my tender were 60 feet down on a pipeline repair off Gulfport when my helium started acting funky. Tanks were supposed to be topped off but they were barely half full from the supplier swap. I had to cut my bottom time short and do a rushed decompression that left me feeling off for hours. Turns out nobody at the yard checked the contents before we loaded the boat. Has anyone else run into this with a new gas supplier?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray_carr1d ago

I used to be pretty relaxed about checking tanks on site - figured the yards had it handled. But after hearing stuff like this I'm definitely gonna start double checking every fill before we splash.

claire9581d ago

Don't you hate that feeling when you realize you've been trusting too much and not looking close enough? Totally get where you're coming from @ray_carr - a little extra effort upfront saves a lot of headaches later. Glad you're making the change before something goes sideways.