Are there formulas for Blending Nitrox and how to achieve a certain percentages?

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It is more economical for an independent diving club where you have a hundred divers sharing hardware cost :/
If your LDS does not offer banked nitrox but custom blends it, chargin by the minute, then the cost is... high.
 
I am not going to buy any O2 and I am definitely not doing any blending any time soon...
But as I was thinking about the Nitrox formulas I thought what if I had some percentage of Nitrox left in my tank - could I figure out what the result would be if I took it to my LDS for a top off of clean air - 21% - the result would be greater than 21% but less than the original percentage I would have say 32%... it was more of a calculation question than a I am ready to start Blending Nitrox question...
So that would be a question - as long as I have an analyzer would the LDS care if they filled with 21% to give me a random percentage of Nitrox or topped it off to certain 28 / 32% - do they care? It is up to me to know the percentage, MOD, EAD and such - right?
 
dive shops don't care what your tanks end up as, but you have to analyze the bottles EVERY time they get filled, no ifs ands or buts, O2 analyzers are cheap and you should own one if you're diving nitrox out of your own tanks.

John, why don't you just build a blending stick? They're cheap to make with some plastic golf balls and a piece of PVC pipe, would allow you to blend continuously on the cheap, and pay for itself quickly with the O2 savings since you can scrounge those bottles down to nothing.
 
Some shops just sell air. Some shops make what you ask.

If your cylinder is half full of air (~20% oxygen) and you top it with 40% then the result is the average: 30%

The above equations are still valid. The initial O2 fraction is then not 0.21 but 0.32 or 0.28 or 036 or whatever you have in the tanks, and the added gas does not have o2 fraction of 1 but it is 0.21. The result is then unknown. Everything else goes as before.
 
If you want to get better results download and buy the full version of V Planner. It has a blending tab that allows you to put in your current mix and then tell you what you need for a desired result or what you'll end up with. It's why I have it on my desktop, laptop, and tablet. The tablet is a separate license but when you download for the computer you get 4 licenses. Or did. That's why I have it on two laptops. Old and new.
 
Maybe. It depends upon how much nitrox you are making and a whole lot of other factors. ...
I have a ton a cylinders at all stages of fill and oxygen content. My 120's are always hot filled with air to get me the final boost.

I'm a solo diver. When the mood strikes me, I'll just mix and match to get something diveable. I have O2 deco cylinders, but quite honestly, don't tap them for boosting. Nothing difficult or complicated, just boosting my backgas with leftovers.
 
TF3.jpg

Wrote a program in LabView to make it easy. Yeah I pushed O2 on that particular instance...
 
While you can certainly set up "Have, Needs, Wants" tables, the easiest way to do it is with a decent deco program. MultiDeco, for example, has a Nitrox and Topup program associated with it.

This is one of those subjects where a class, by someone who has done it, really has value. Transfil whips, at a couple of hundred dollars, are the least expensive method and provide the best education. Once you have them, they will handle a myriad of issues. That said, if using the transfil for partial pressure blending, your dealing with pure O2 and there are concerns there. Additionally, make sure your fill pressure operator doesn't bleed off before topping of, something they would do as a matter of normal practice.

If you decide to take a course (a good idea), tell the shop that you want to learn it with a partial pressure emphasis. This will better prepare you for the challenges you will run into as a blender and will serve you better as you move into Advanced Nitrox.

Wanna mess with a stick blender? Tell him you want 80%!!
 
If you own your own cylinders/tanks then the answer is: Nope.

Enlightenment (wrt all those equations) comes when you realize that a transfill whip will save you money..

I have a ton a cylinders at all stages of fill and oxygen content. My 120's are always hot filled with air to get me the final boost.

I'm a solo diver. When the mood strikes me, I'll just mix and match to get something diveable. I have O2 deco cylinders, but quite honestly, don't tap them for boosting. Nothing difficult or complicated, just boosting my backgas with leftovers.
I'm not sure your situation is characteristic of the average beginning nitrox diver.
 

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