Enriched air and new divers

[ems_is_4_me]

What are everyone’s opinion on this should there be a minimum amount of air dives under your belt before going on to Enriched air.

 

[Garrobo]

Depends on what the term "new" is. I think that a beginning diver should qualify him/herself as to be able to operate underwater safely on compressed air and then go on to enriched air diving with the proper instructions and accompanied by a DM or instructor for the first few dives.

 

[Interceptor121]

Diving with enriched air requires you to understand the risks associated with it but no additional diving skills is required nor there is any required number of dives.
So from that point of view you can start your EAN diving immediately after your ow class, you have also an option to actually do OW4 on EAN with PADI
In terms of when it is actually worth it here there are different school of thought.
I would think that if your air consumption is really high there is no point diving EAN as your bottom time is limited by air supply and not by NDL

 

[muddiver]

It all depends on how well you grasp the concept and use of the dive tables. Once you are able to dive a standard air table, then you can move to EAN. It's all thoretical so you need to understand the limits and you will be fine.

This is regardless of whether you use a dive computer, or not.

 

[TSandM]

There are two pieces to safety with Nitrox. One is that you intellectually understand the risks involved and the proper use of the gas, and the need for analysis of your gas after each tank is filled. The second is that you have the buoyancy control to stay above the MOD of your gas. This may not be an issue, if your dive sites have a hard bottom, and you can stay at a safe depth, but becomes more pertinent on walls where the bottom is below the MOD.

I see no reason why someone can't learn about EAN straight out of OW (and GUE teaches it IN their OW class), but it's probably good to avoid sites where getting below the MOD would be easy, until one is sure of one's buoyancy control.

 

[Rhone Man]

I remember seeing an advert for a triple-header special whereby a new diver could take OW, AOW and Enriched Air in one consolidated lump. I remember thinking that was a quite a bit to swallow, but there was a lot to be said for it.

 

[vjanelle]

I wouldn't do nitrox on a bottomless wall dive if you're not comfortable with maintaining depth yet, but if you're jumping into a 3-5 dive a day vacation just after getting your OW, you're probably going to want to look into it.

All things in moderation, or something.

 

[SeaCobra]

No reason not to do it right from the start. The NAUI EAN course is designed to be plugged right into the Scuba Diver course and able to do dives on EANx during your open water scuba dives.

Jeff

 

[Peter Guy]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with teaching the use of Nitrox while teaching OW -- why not? And if the Nitrox instructor goes beyond the minimum, the average OW student might also learn something about gas management along with No deco/minimum deco limits.

Everyone is so concerned about a newbie doing a wall dive on Nitrox and blowing the MOD -- but I'm more concerned about them blowing through their gas and not knowing it. As long as the new diver stays well within their limits, what's the matter?

 

[elan]

What are everyone’s opinion on this should there be a minimum amount of air dives under your belt before going on to Enriched air.

I think it should be taught right in the OW class