Originally posted by Uncle Pug
Hi Ed,
We have a few shops around here that got into nitrox and banked 40 but I really don't think they thought it through...
Every tank has to be blended up or down (unless someone wants 40) and that adds a man power load not to mention the opportunity for Murphy to get into the act.
Not only that, but it requires customers to wait for tanks to be filled (most of these shops require overnight!) and that is unacceptable in my book.
If a shop decides to offer say EAN32 and EAN36 and bank just those two then they can fill customers tanks while they wait and if the bank is low then just top them off with the membrane fed compressor.
For those deco bottles that need to be filled say to 50 use PP blending with a EAN36 top.
What if a customer comes in and wants EAN33.5 for that *special dive*??? Send him down the road! Or educate him ($$$).
Really it would serve not only the dive shops interests but the customers as well to teach *standard mixes* instead of *optimal mixes* don't you think???
BTW I only bank EAN32 and that is what I dive... I'm not a shop but if I were that is still how simple I would keep it. If I end up banking anything else it will probably be 30/30 Tx
Ed?
Well, up untill the new compressor came in, there was only air and a 100% mix bottle.
When the decision was made on what to bank, 30% was used as that is what most divers in our area request. Most of the wrecks that the charter boats go to are just a bit on the deep side for 32% and the captains prefer that noone aboard have over 30% as they are then more limited to the shallower dive sites.
The non boat dives generaly have no reason to use anything other than air as you have to go out quite a ways to get deep enough for nitrox to have any reason for use.
As for banking 40%, that's not set in stone or anything, just the current working idea we're playing around with.
Thanks for your input. It's given me more to think about and discus with my LDS owner (probably next weekend).
As for TriMix, the shop has not ever offered it and so my buddy and I (we're looking into it) have been waiting for the dust to settle and the shop to get comfortable with the new nitrox systems before we bring it up.
I do have access to a shop where we can get Trimix fills (where we would go for TriMix courses if/when we decide to do that), but that is still in the future.