Argon--pro and con

[OHIO DIVERS]

Looking for some feed back on using argon gas for drysuit inflation.
Will argon gas keep a diver warner in drysuit?
Or is argon a wast of good cash?

 

[ucfdiver]

This is a subject of great debate between people who have relevant PhD's to the topic. I'd say with how cheap argon is, even if it's only mental, it's worth it.

 

[PfcAJ]

In my experience, it's worked. If that's a placebo affect, I don't really know. Either way, I feel warmer, so its a plus. Around here, its not really expensive, either.

There is some science to back it up, but it involved a bunch of suit flushes. I'll typically do a flush and purge once and call it good. The addition of argon as you descend really reduces the relative amount of "air" left over in the suit, anyway.

 

[tflaris]

Looking for some feed back on using argon gas for drysuit inflation.
Will argon gas keep a diver warner in drysuit?
Or is argon a wast of good cash?

It works but requires pre-flushing the suit about 3 times before the dive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lamont]

+1 on carrying a bigger bottle or an argon Al80 and doing suit flushes off of it.

 

[Blackwood]

The rare occasions I've used Argon, I've felt warmer. Like AJ, I have no idea whether it's placebo or not.

I don't do flush cycles. I only ever use it on boat dives, and I consider jumping in the water and letting hydrostatic pressure squeeze the air out of my suit 'good enough'.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

+1 on carrying a bigger bottle or an argon Al80 and doing suit flushes off of it.

What volume of argon do you think you use per dive when you are doing several flushes as described?

 

[rjack321]

If the price of argon vs. an air fill in your suit bottle is even noticed at the cash register you are too cheap or broke to be tech diving.

I use argon but only on longer and/or winter dives. Summertime, air is easier for me to get full fills. Unless its an esp long deco and then I revert to argon.

I would not waste a good al80 on argon. Get an al19 or some other useless size like a fat 1800psi lp50 or whatever off craigslist if you are doing massive suit flushing.

Whatever you use be sure to label it properly so nobody tries to breathe it.

 

[DENFSEA]

It works for me.
I've used it for eight
years or longer on very
deep dives in the Great Lakes

 

[Trace Malinowski]

You may find this to be informative: Why Argon?