Deep Air - Here we go again....

[mafiajoe]

The most vocal detractors of deep air also happen to be alums of the DIR philosophy as taught by GUE and UTD.

Also the ones who can't bring themselves to admit that they can perform the very same dive without spending all that money on helium and bring along all that paraphernalia(always difficult to admit you've been taken in)

Often times the verbiage of their detractions has a language tone that sounds very close to industry wide impositions. Something like, "this is the way I do it, this is the best way, this is the way everybody should do it. If you're not doing it this way you're doing it the wrong way and you are running serious risks against your life.".

I've long since banned the DIR brigade from diving with me:seeing them makes me laugh so much that I always risk to drown...and yes industry impositions has very much to do with it,but it seems,at least 'round here in Europe,especially Italy,France and maybe Spain, that their malackery has finally been given itself away.Oh,and thanks for worrying so much about my safety but I can take care of myself.

Therefore Deep Air = anything below 100ft/33m.

I don't consider deep air anything shallower than 40m.

 

[mafiajoe]

Good luck, and goodbye.

Likewise.Better go diving.

 

[DCBC]

Just wondering if anyone here has heard much about it and where if anywhere its being tried out

Hydrox has several problems (in addition to being explosive). Although tables have been developed, they haven't been perfected. There has been complications noted upon gas-switching, which have resulted in seizure.

Hydrogen narcosis has been known to occur around 800-900 feet which is psychotropic (more like LSD), so it presents a much greater danger to the diver than HPNS. Definitely more research needs to be done, but who knows what the future holds?

 

[Slamfire]

In a conversation last night Neon, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen mixtures were mentioned as having excellent properties for divers. I haven't done any research on the topic. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[Rhone Man]

In a conversation last night Neon, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen mixtures were mentioned as having excellent properties for divers. I haven't done any research on the topic. Does anyone know anything about this?

Commercial divers sometimes use Neon, because it doesn't have the Mickey Mouse effect (it actually has the 'James Earl Jones' effect) and I think it is even less narcotic that Helium. But it is considerably more expensive.

 

[DCBC]

In a conversation last night Neon, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen mixtures were mentioned as having excellent properties for divers. I haven't done any research on the topic. Does anyone know anything about this?

Neon is harder to breathe, so this limits exposure depth. As far as decompression it's harder to eliminate from the body than Helium and is more expensive. However the USN has been successful using Neon on standard Helium tables (which is confounding in-itself). The advantages of Neon are primarily that the voice remains normal and it's a warmer gas (less heat transfer) than Helium.

 

[Slamfire]

The person I was talking to was showing me his gas bank cylinders mentioning he was carrying some neon now because its cheaper than helium and it worked good on helium tables. Could it be a price fluctuation phenomenon local to Vancouver? Maybe he just got a good deal on the neon. I'll see him again this afternoon, I'll ask him about the price of neon vs helium.

 

[DCBC]

The person I was talking to was showing me his gas bank cylinders mentioning he was carrying some neon now because its cheaper than helium and it worked good on helium tables. Could it be a price fluctuation phenomenon local to Vancouver? Maybe he just got a good deal on the neon. I'll see him again this afternoon, I'll ask him about the price of neon vs helium.

Perhaps it has to do with the shear volume of Helium that commercial diving companies consume and the cost reductions for buying in-bulk. What we used was purchased specifically for scientific testing and as I recall, the cost was about double the cost of what we were paying for Helium at the time.

Neon is too heavy to breathe in deep diving, so it's diving envelope is more restricted. OSHA would likely go through the roof if you used it commercially in the US, as there are no proven Neon tables, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Scott L]

Perhaps it has to do with the shear volume of Helium that commercial diving companies consume and the cost reductions for buying in-bulk. What we used was purchased specifically for scientific testing and as I recall, the cost was about double the cost of what we were paying for Helium at the time.

Neon is too heavy to breathe in deep diving, so it's diving envelope is more restricted. OSHA would likely go through the roof if you used it commercially in the US, as there are no proven Neon tables, to the best of my knowledge.

What is that funny signature of a member here or in TDS that suggests physical harm to party ballon purchasers who therorectically drive up the cost of helium?

 

[rjack321]

but who knows what the future holds?

Back to the future, deep air baby!!

Your commercial orientation is obvious here, which is fine but not applicable to many other conditions and dives done "deep" on OC, SCR, and CCR in caves and in wrecks too. Hence the reason some many people take issue with your positions on deep air, narcosis etc. I do find it interesting that you aren't posing the same provocative questions on the more (recreational) technical forums. RBW, thetechdiver, TDS etc.