pauldw
Contributor
Out of curiosity, a few days ago I sent emails or web form requests to each Utah dive shop or pseudo dive shop found online, to look into whether they partial pressure blend EAN 32 nitrox or bank EAN 32 nitrox, 32% being probably the most common nitrox mix. Partial pressure blending, in which some 100% oxygen is put into a cylinder and then air is mixed in so that the desired final nitrox mix is reached, is cheaper for the dive shop, but requires the diver to have an oxygen serviced tank due to fire hazard. Banked, in which a particular nitrox mix is created in advance and then dispensed directly into cylinders when they are brought in for filling, does not necessarily require a diver to have an oxygen serviced cylinder, and can be quicker. It is possible that a shop with banked nitrox is operating overall on a little more sophisticated level than one that blends, but I don’t know that for sure. At any rate, Dive Utah in Salt Lake (Holladay) said they bank something in the 32-34% range (which seems oddly amorphous) but cylinders still have to be left there for filling. Surprisingly, given that it’s a fancy tech-oriented shop, Dive Addicts doesn’t bank, they just blend. The rest either blend, or don’t fill nitrox at all, although some of them are still good dive shops—blending is quite common in the industry, I believe. Complete results are below. A question mark means there was no response; some of those shops might not exist. It didn’t occur to me at the time to make sure these shops will also do EAN 21.
After sending out this query, it occurred to me to also ask whether these shops can fill HP tanks to 3442 psi on either nitrox if they have that, or air, so I followed up with that question and found that most responding shops say they can fill to 3442 psi, although Dive Utah says they go to about 3200.
Absolute Scuba, in Tooele: ?
Access Scuba, in St. George: No nitrox
Adventure West Scuba, in Ogden: ?
Aqua Sports, in St. George: ?
Bonneville Seabase, in Grantsville: Banks nitrox to around 32%, appointment needed
Cache Valley Divers, in Logan: ?
Caribbean Dreaming Scuba, in Park City: No nitrox
Dive Addicts, in Salt Lake: Blends nitrox
Dive Utah, in Salt Lake: Banks nitrox between 32-34% (need to leave the cylinder)
Dive Utah, in Ogden: Can often fill 32% while you wait
Dixie Divers, in St. George: Blends nitrox (may have a nitrox bank at Sand Hollow)
Neptune Divers, in Salt Lake: No nitrox
North American Divers, in Orem: ?
Scuba Utah, in Salt Lake: ?
The Crater, in Midway: No nitrox
The Dive Shop, in Bountiful: Blends nitrox
Underwater Dynamics, in Orem: Blends nitrox
After sending out this query, it occurred to me to also ask whether these shops can fill HP tanks to 3442 psi on either nitrox if they have that, or air, so I followed up with that question and found that most responding shops say they can fill to 3442 psi, although Dive Utah says they go to about 3200.
Absolute Scuba, in Tooele: ?
Access Scuba, in St. George: No nitrox
Adventure West Scuba, in Ogden: ?
Aqua Sports, in St. George: ?
Bonneville Seabase, in Grantsville: Banks nitrox to around 32%, appointment needed
Cache Valley Divers, in Logan: ?
Caribbean Dreaming Scuba, in Park City: No nitrox
Dive Addicts, in Salt Lake: Blends nitrox
Dive Utah, in Salt Lake: Banks nitrox between 32-34% (need to leave the cylinder)
Dive Utah, in Ogden: Can often fill 32% while you wait
Dixie Divers, in St. George: Blends nitrox (may have a nitrox bank at Sand Hollow)
Neptune Divers, in Salt Lake: No nitrox
North American Divers, in Orem: ?
Scuba Utah, in Salt Lake: ?
The Crater, in Midway: No nitrox
The Dive Shop, in Bountiful: Blends nitrox
Underwater Dynamics, in Orem: Blends nitrox
