Nitrox Capable???

[Scuba Ken]

If you're in doubt, have your buddy breath from the reg first. If his head doesn't burst into flames you're good to go.

To be serious though being O2 clean is more important for your tank since tanks will be subject to O2 concentrations much higher than 40% if partial pressure blending is used.

It would really suck to blow up your LDS's blender.

 

[Randy43068]

If you're in doubt, have your buddy breath from the reg first. If his head doesn't burst into flames you're good to go.

To be serious though being O2 clean is more important for your tank since tanks will be subject to O2 concentrations much higher than 40% if partial pressure blending is used.

It would really suck to blow up your LDS's blender.

well yes and no. The VALVE is the most important item to be clean as it's going to see the heat from high pressure O2 flowing through it. The cylinder will ( if filled correctly ) already have some air ( or leftover gas ) into which the new O2 will combine with.

 

[Om3ga*wolf_1362...]

It would really suck to blow up your LDS's blender

are you sure???...

 

[Gen San Chris]

I think that all regs are good up to Nitrox 40 as is the rest of your gear! Above 40% is another subject, one where clenliness of equipment is king!

 

[Catt99]

well im planning on doing my enriched air course soon
and im not sure if my reg set would be good for that??
how do u know what percent u use and when u use it... whast the difference??

In case it wasn't clear from the other excellent posts, most recreational enriched air courses will focus on, and grant you a cert to purchase and use, enriched air up to a 40% mix. Standard "air" that we breathe is about 21% oxygen (with almost all the remaining 79% consisting of nitorgen); typical recreational enriched air mixes vary between 21% and 40%, often referred to as EANx21 to EANx40 ("EANx" meaning "Enriched Air Nitrox" and the numeral representing the percentage of oxygen in the mix) - with the most common mixes being EANx32 and EANx36 but with some shops offering mixes with any oxygen % you'd like.

The decision as to which mix to use will depend on availability and your planned dive profiles. By reducing the amount of nitorgen in your breathing gas (substituting greater oxygen content) you reduce the amount of nitrogen in that same gas and therefore reduce nitrogen that is absorbed by your body -- resulting in greater time at depth without bumping up against limits on nitorgen absorbtion which push you towards decompression sickness. For many sport divers, nitrogen loading may not limt dive time - available air in the tank will take care of that. But for experienced divers with very efficient gas consumption, or for divers of all experience levels doing a number of repetitive dives in a short period of time, using lower nitrogen mixes (higher oxygen mixes) will extend safe dive times. All this comes at the risk of having too much oxygen - which means with Nitrox you'll also need to be sensitive to oxygen exposures, and that exposure is affected by depth (the pressure under which you're breathing the oxygen). All this will be the focus of your training.

And, as others have said, mixes up to 40% oxygen are generally considered to add no special equipment requirements (for regulators - tanks are different depending on how the nitrox blend is mixed and filled in the tank) -- any reg is effecitvely "nitrox ready" out of the box.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

All Scubapro regs are good for up to 40% nitrox out of the box.

Scubapro does advertise " Nitrox" models, but what they mean by that term is really "O2 clean" as they are then approved for up to 100% O2 at up to 3500 psi. Currently this applies to the Mk 20 Nitrox, the Mk 25 Nitrox and the Mk 2 Nitrox.

 

[tfsails]

I recently serviced a Mk 20 Nitrox 1st stage that had no Viton o-rings in it at all. This reg was in no way compatible with high concentrations of O2 but was fine for 40% on down.

 

[Jimmer]

I recently serviced a Mk 20 Nitrox 1st stage that had no Viton o-rings in it at all. This reg was in no way compatible with high concentrations of O2 but was fine for 40% on down.

That's an iffy subject. Viton rings does not always make a reg O2 safe, and Buna rings do not always make a reg unsafe for O2. The aviation industry uses Buna for all their O2 use. It's the lubricant that cause the most issue with combustion, not the rings. The main issue with Buna is that it may "dry out" faster in high O2 environments compared to Viton, but I have been told by a couple of high ups from various reg manufacturers that using their standard service kits with Buna rings, and proper O2 cleaning procedures and compatible lubes, will make their regs O2 safe.

 

[TRIBOLUBE71]

What lubricant would cause the issue? Silicone?
Use an O2 compatible grease for any o-ring.

 

[Jimmer]

What lubricant would cause the issue? Silicone?
Use an O2 compatible grease for any o-ring.

Yes, it's the silicone lubes that seem to be VERY easy to find in all dive shops that worry me. I know a lot of shops, especially older ones, use silicone for reg service unless it's specifically asked for an O2 safe lube.