Diving using Nitrox?

[MauiScubaSteve]

so unless the tables or your computer are ending your dives before your tank ends the dive, you will not get longer dives or bottom times.

Of course, many people do indeed have a SAC rate [briefly, the rate at which you use up the air in your tank] that mneas they are being forced up by decompression limits rather than the amount of air they have. Your wording implies that it is rare, but it is not at all rare.

Me thinks you read something I did not type because my wording does not imply low SAC is rare. If I implied anything it was (none) more than implying SAC does not improve measurably on EANx. Evidently your posting style should be similar to how I was taught to play chess; once you decide your move, sit on your hands for 5 minutes and look as many moves backwards and forwards as you can before actually moving. :no

Perhaps there is a conflict in terminology. I consider bottom time to be the time from start of dive to start of ascent, and NDL to be the no decompression limit (duuhh). I still contend that the only way EANx will increase your bottom time is if your tables or computer are ending your dive rather than your tank. Either way you look at it, I am not implying anything with regard to rarety of SAC.

For the record, I have a decent SAC but I know plenty of divers with less training and less dives that have better SAC.

 

[Twiddles]

There are limited benefits to diving with Nitrox and a lot of myths: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/190954-nitrox-wonder-gas.html

Please keep the hype to a minimum . To most recreational divers with an average depth less than 70' you will recieve NO BENEFIT at all. Keeping in mind gas management, the statements made about being able to dive to 80' for 55 minutes with nitrox vs 35 minutes with air is a useless comparisson, if you understand that on an AL80 you will not be able to dive longer than 35 minutes anyway on a single tank of air. I know all us recreational divers sport doubles or are hopping from foot to foot waiting to jump back in the water after a dive....

As a staff member I would expect that your comments would be founded at least in part on fact, the statement that Nitrox has the same O2 Tox problems as air is fiction. Okay maybee not fiction, but at the least cleverly phrased misdirection.

I really wish divers would share all the facts instead of just the ones that either feed the myths or the LDS. If trainings needed then by all means sell it, if not then at least have the common courtesy to be fair in how you represent it.

 

[Web Monkey]

Please keep the hype to a minimum . To most recreational divers with an average depth less than 70' you will recieve NO BENEFIT at all. Keeping in mind gas management, the statements made about being able to dive to 80' for 55 minutes with nitrox vs 35 minutes with air is a useless comparisson, if you understand that on an AL80 you will not be able to dive longer than 35 minutes anyway on a single tank of air.

Maybe you can't personally get more than a half hour on an 80, but there are a huge number of people that can. Also, the choice isn't "An AL 80 or doubles", tons of people dive recreational rigs with 85's, 95's, etc, as well as 130's, without being tech divers.

In fact, most people that dive frequently size their tanks so they can get an hour dive (or at least the NDL) with the air they brought with them.


Terry

 

[agilulfo]

No one seemed to address the following aspect, that Nitrox becomes more beneficial when on does multiple dives. I just went diving wrecks in NC using EANx30 in the 90-110ft range. On the first dive of the day SAC rate determined the length of the dive but on the second one, after a 2 hour surface interval, the determining factor was the NDL. Had we used air, we wouldn't have been able to to stay a depth as long as we did (35-40' average on both dives).

About the previous post. I agree. At the dive op in NC they rent both 80s and 100s. I dove with the 100 the first day but I had so much Nitrox left (because other divers were diving 80s) that the next day I just got the 80 which was cheaper.

 

[Nemrod]

There are limited benefits to diving with Nitrox and a lot of myths: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/190954-nitrox-wonder-gas.html

Please keep the hype to a minimum . To most recreational divers with an average depth less than 70' you will recieve NO BENEFIT at all. Keeping in mind gas management, the statements made about being able to dive to 80' for 55 minutes with nitrox vs 35 minutes with air is a useless comparisson, if you understand that on an AL80 you will not be able to dive longer than 35 minutes anyway on a single tank of air. I know all us recreational divers sport doubles or are hopping from foot to foot waiting to jump back in the water after a dive....

As a staff member I would expect that your comments would be founded at least in part on fact, the statement that Nitrox has the same O2 Tox problems as air is fiction. Okay maybee not fiction, but at the least cleverly phrased misdirection.

I really wish divers would share all the facts instead of just the ones that either feed the myths or the LDS. If trainings needed then by all means sell it, if not then at least have the common courtesy to be fair in how you represent it.

Huh, speak for yourself. I can and I also have other tanks at my disposal other than aluminum 80s and "technical" divers are not the only divers who may use doubles or do deco dives BTW. I don't buy into the whole tech vs rec hocus pocus anyway but Nitrox certainly does offer benifits and in the depths many of us dive they are significant not only to bottom time but surface interval and safety factor as well. The anti Nitrox hate is misdirected, not everybody dives aluminum 80s at 30 feet and suck air like a Hoover. N

 

[Belmont]

I dive mostly between 40-80 feet. I use EAN40 in my two 130's. Last time I had nearly 3 hours bottom time in one day. I love my 130's and nitrox

 

[Twiddles]

In the original post the diver is assuming longer dives with less surface interval in his post. By telling him yes and yes you are misleading the diver. Fact is unless he (1) owns his own tanks that are not AL80s or Steel 72 (or smaller) or dives doubles or (2) Dives to depths greater than 70' on average but less than the mix limits or (3) Dives repetitively without resting between dives (whether it be for fills or for just physical rest), he is unlikely to see any benefit to diving Nitrox. Fact is the VAST MAJORITY of recreational divers do not fit into any of the above statements.

In regards to your ability to stay at 70' for longer than 35 minutes on an AL80 or Steel 72, you are either part fish or your endangering yourself and your buddy because you dont understand gas management (specifically Rock Bottom Pressure).

 

[texdiveguy]

The only time I use Nitrox much anymore is for a deco gas such as 50EANx or 80EANx when doing staged decompression diving.

 

[Nemrod]

In the original post the diver is assuming longer dives with less surface interval in his post. By telling him yes and yes you are misleading the diver. Fact is unless he (1) owns his own tanks that are not AL80s or Steel 72 (or smaller) or dives doubles or (2) Dives to depths greater than 70' on average but less than the mix limits or (3) Dives repetitively without resting between dives (whether it be for fills or for just physical rest), he is unlikely to see any benefit to diving Nitrox. Fact is the VAST MAJORITY of recreational divers do not fit into any of the above statements.

In regards to your ability to stay at 70' for longer than 35 minutes on an AL80 or Steel 72, you are either part fish or your endangering yourself and your buddy because you dont understand gas management (specifically Rock Bottom Pressure).

Your welcome to your opinion but it does not represent fact and it makes many assumptions which are not always true or known to be true. The facts are clear to anybody who works through the tables that Nitrox mixes can and do have value. Nitrox is not a panacea, it is nonetheless a useful tool for divers. If you don't want to pay the cash for it that is another bias. Your hung up on catagories to which some people may not fit. The bottom of the northern Gulf is typically 80 to 130 feet, the Oriskany is over 130, many dive sites in many areas are well in excess of 70 feet and in fact the only thing you will dive at 30 feet is mid water.

N

 

[Leejnd]

I never cease to be amazed at the passions involved in any thread on Nitrox. That's what I think makes it a "wonder gas" - the fact that it can stir such intensity in arguments between normally rational people.

I respectfully differ with the contingent that believes there is no value to Nitrox to recreational divers. I am just yer basic recreational diver, I don't do anything fancy or unusual, and I have found multiple occasions when Nitrox was of benefit. The most recent example is my trip to Bali last month. We were looking for Mola Mola, and the best depth to see them is between 80-90 fsw. By setting my computer on the appropriate percentage (and yes I tested my own tanks) I was absolutely able to extend my bottom times, especially on 2nd and 3rd dives. I have a pretty good SAC rate (I'm a marathon runner, so that helps), so it was almost invariably my NDL times that ended my dives, not my air supply.

In addition, I have gone on a number of local boat trips (SoCal) on which Nitrox provided the same benefits. We do have many dive sites in the area at optimum Nitrox depths. I also do many beach dives around here, which rarely go below 60 ft (if that). Naturally I don't use Nitrox on those dives.

A simple way to know if Nitrox can provide any benefit at all is if you ever go on dives in which your NDL ends your dive before your air supply. If it does, Nitrox would have helped. That's a fact. If it doesn't, then there is no benefit whatsoever.

It's a pretty simple, and indisputable, concept. Not sure why everyone argues it.