Cost of Trimix over the years

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

There are plenty of very high level senior divers on this forum and I was hoping to benefit from your memories. Can anyone remember how much helium was costing in the early 90s in comparison with filling your doubles with Air or Nitrox? I would like to get an understanding of helium prices as they have changed over the course of these decades in comparison with other, less favorable gas choices.

Thanks and a very happy new year!

 

[100days-a-year]

Lowest posted price I remember in a shop was .60 a cuft. We paid far less for our pp blended stuff and even had shops in the Keys willing to pump our tanks that had 02 and He in them when we brought our own down. Nitrox fills were $5 in bulk by the 90s but I remember bringing tanks to the shop in the 80s before there was a nitrox certification without telling all of them, they just assumed the tanks all had 150 to 300 psi of air left over in them.

 

[rjack321]

In the early 2000s for me (20 years ago now yikes), a 300cf T of helium at the gas store at "retail" pricing was about $110 usd. So about $0.35/cf.

I don't remember the dive shop prices exactly, but they were under $0.50/cf. Probably about $0.40/cf. The dive shop was a high volume buyer and they were getting 250cf K bottles of helium for about $55.

People still bitched about the costs and said they didn't get narced lol

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

In the early 2000s for me (20 years ago now yikes), a 300cf T of helium at the gas store at "retail" pricing was about $110 usd. So about $0.35/cf.

I don't remember the dive shop prices exactly, but they were under $0.50/cf. Probably about $0.40/cf. The dive shop was a high volume buyer and they were getting 250cf K bottles of helium for about $55.

People still bitched about the costs and said they didn't get narced lol

Thanks. And how much were you paying for Nitrox? Do you remember?

 

[tbone1004]

one note as this thread thread goes on
$1 in the year vs. today
1990-$2.13
1995-$1.84
2000-$1.61
2010-$1.27

That puts @rjack321 's $0.35 at $0.56 today. Helium at Amigos is $0.96. According to a post on here it was $0.85 in 2014. His gas is usually expensive due to the self-fill thing, but just for reference while we're discussing since normalization is important

 

[boulderjohn]

Prices today are all over the place--even from the same supplier. A friend was told by a major supplier that he absolutely could not even open an account for helium from them, and if he could, a 300 cubic foot bottle would cost him $900. I made him an employee so he could buy on my account (same dealer) for $200.

 

[PfcAJ]

one note as this thread thread goes on
$1 in the year vs. today
1990-$2.13
1995-$1.84
2000-$1.61
2010-$1.27

That puts @rjack321 's $0.35 at $0.56 today. Helium at Amigos is $0.96. According to a post on here it was $0.85 in 2014. His gas is usually expensive due to the self-fill thing, but just for reference while we're discussing since normalization is important

Paying .35 felt a lot better than paying .56.

 

[rjack321]

Thanks. And how much were you paying for Nitrox? Do you remember?

I've been filling (and VIPing) my own cylinders for 19 years...

But at the high volume trimix shop in 2002ish? Probably anywhere from $2 for the "friend" customers up to $12 if you were a pita. That owner was very casual. The people spending $500+/month on trimix with him probably deserved the occasional free nitrox fill.

 

[nadwidny]

In the mid2000s I was paying $65CDN for a T. Back then that would translate to $50ishUSD.

 

[kensuf]

I remember calculating it at around $0.25/ft3 for helium back in 1996. Oxygen was $0.06.