Calling out the Nitrox Posers!

[Rick Murchison]

Do you find you get more bottom time?

Yes.
Rick

 

[divad]

Works for me.

 

[KMD]

Gee I must be really bad. My set of tanks contain no fancy nitrox sticker. Just small viz sticker showing that they have been O2 cleaned.

Some times there is 32%, some times there is 32% and of late it has been some weird monkey mix.

Glad I havn't been caught by the scuba police yet.

 

[uspap]

I figured the way I worded it would get you all fired up. But in all seriousness, I hadn't really considered that they were diving air in a O2 clean tank. This seems acceptable... I, personally, would have a dedicated air tank to save money on cleaning... but I do a lot of shallow shore dives too. .

But to the rest of you who are worried about getting DCS at 15' just because you are old or overweight... seriously, come on. The paranoia of the diving community never ceases to amaze me.

Now here is a poser.

 

[BryceM]

All of my tanks are Nitrox labeled, regardless of current contents. funny thing is I've yet to have any chicks flocking to me because of my cool tanks. maybe I'm not using the right stickers??

You really need the bigger sticker!

 

[Kevfin]

This is what I have on all my tanks now...

Any questions???
Rick

I have sticker envy...

 

[BabyDuck]

nitrox doesn't fetch me, so i'll go for the can light crowd. that's one instance that slimmer and smaller is better!

trimix, maybe...but not nitrox.

 

[mattroz]

Just because you use air in a nitrox tank doesn't mean you have to have it re-cleaned

 

[ffestpirate]

I even use nitrox when I'm in the pool with students. I like the fact that I have more energy, don't have the after dive sleepies, and wether imagined or not, I never have cotton mouth on nitrox.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Just because you use air in a nitrox tank doesn't mean you have to have it re-cleaned

I guess it's time for a little "Oxygen Service Rating" review.
First of all, you need to determine your basic rule... are you going to go with the 40% rule, which holds that mixes less than 40% oxygen do not require oxygen service rated equipment, or are you going to go with some lesser percentage as a cutoff? Some folks hold that any elevated oxygen content above 21% requires oxygen service rated equipment; quite a few set the limit at around 25%.
Now, once you have your basic rule set, the next question is "will this tank ever have any gas that's richer (more oxygen %) than the cut-off set in the rule? If the answer to that is "yes," then the tank must be oxygen service rated and handled to retain its oxygen service rating. That means that if you use the 25% rule and dive EAN₃₂, you must O₂ clean the tank and introduce only oxygen compatible gasses into it or lose the oxygen service rating - and must re-clean it before you put any more EAN₃₂ in it. Or... if you go by the 40% rule and partial pressure blend, the same restrictions apply.
"Scuba Air" may or may not be oxygen compatible, depending on the fill station. So Mattroz is correct. Maybe. It depends.
Rick