Nitrox compatible dry suits!?

[Aegir]

I have got to that stage in my diving where i am starting to think about starting techdiving. Naturally i am often thinking about all aspects of diving. Are there such things as Nitrox compatible dry suits? Regulators and BCD's have to be 02 clean for anything over 40% 02 concentration so what about dry suits. Why isnt the cleanliness of a dry suit ever mentioned. Can anyone enlighten us. Cheers

 

[Green_Manelishi]

my apologies 'in advance' for lack of tact but ...

are you serious?

BCDs do NOT need to be O2 cleaned. Nor does your dry suit.
assuming you DID "o2" clean your BCD/dry-suit it would be 'dirty' the first time you used 'regular' air as a gas
and inflated with same.

In addition you have no need to fill your BCD or
drysuit with a high O2 "deco", "stage" or "travel" gas
because you would (or should) be BREATHING the gas not using it to fill your BCD/suit.

cripes man.

 

[Aegir]

No i arnt serious , i only wrote it for a joke?!? Of course i am serious. Several divers i know fill there wings with enriched air. My BCD's booklet (as well as many others) says that it is suitable for 40% oxygen but nothing over 40%. It makes logical reasoning that if your regulator requires 02 cleaning then so does everything that the enriched air comes into contact with. MAny divers use ean 32-36 in a single tank and also use that gas for filing there BC. Maybe you should tell the manufacturers that they dont need to write "WARNING: Do not use with EAN over 40% oxygen" on there BC's anymore. But thankyou for your kind response.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

to start, my apologies for the tact-less response.

moving on.

the last time i checked 36% was LESS than 40%. Therefor
you should not need to clean. assuming you DO use greater
than 40% i cannot see any benefit for such a high % as a
primary gas. It would extend your NDLs in shallow water
to such an extent I can't see anyone carrying that amount
of gas, and it restricts your MOD to such an extent (unless you want to push the PO2 and risk ox-tox) that, again,
I see no benefit. If you are using the >40% as a deco gas
it is in a separate bottle and why are you filling your
suit/bc from your deco gas? you SHOULD be filling your wing from BG and your suit from same (unless you are breathing
"mix" and/or diving in coooooold water so you are using Argon in a separate SUIT FILLING ONLY bottle). assuming you DO clean, as soon as you open that BC up for a good cleaning, or unzip your suit it is no longer clean: ESPECIALLY on a dive boat where there are likely diesel or gasoline fumes in the air.

ps. I've been using <40% in my UNCLEANED suit and wing(s)
for some time and have not yet burst into flames. Now,
the bottle I keep 50-100% o2 in HAS been cleaned as has
its dedicated regulator.

 

[Aegir]

Yes i understand. But if you are going to reply to questions like you did in the above case then i would appreciate it if you didnt answer my posts at all Green_Manelishi. Ok my Q may sound a little dumb if you dont take it the way it is intended. You really shouldnt be taking that attitude on these boards. You could quiet easily frighten new divers away from here if you take the same tone with them. Once again, you came back to answer me the second time but this time you brought sarcasm with you.
Luckily i am not easily offended, but others certainly wont see it my way. Anyway getting back to the question.

Q: So why do manufacturers feel the need to put a warning on BC's whereby they state that you may not use any mix over 40% nitrox. In contrast, they dont do this on dry suits.

I dont do any tech diving as of yet Green Manelishi, but i am perfectly aware that you would not waste enriched gas ( over 36%) on your BC and dry suit. You missed the point of the question.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

i have never seen a BC manual warning against the practice
and would be interested in knowing the name of the manufacturer.

i ASSUME their reasons are:

1) liability. that is the same reason some mfgs say you
should have one reg for EAN (regardless of %) and one
for AIR and never the twain shall be switched back and
forth.

2) they want your money.

so now you have two regs (one for EAN and one for AIR)
and two BCs.

3) the mfgr is using some component that TRULY is volatile
in a higher O2 than air environment. If that is the
case, I would select a different BC.

as an example of something LIKE this, "Viton" o-rings
are popular with high o2 setups because they have a
higher burn-temperature (if that is the correct phrase)
than standard o-rings. Unfortunately, what i've read is
that, Viton, if it DOES burn releases a toxic gas.

With all due respect Aegir, and I meant no dis-respect,
it seems a bit bizarre. Sort of like the warning
on lawnmowers against trimming your hedges with them. they
are attempting to CTA because there are people 'out there'
doing silly stuff (eg: hooking up a T1 first stage to a
very-high-o2 bottle despite Atomic's warning against the
practice)

 

[carlislere]

Aegir:
You shouldn't worry whether BCDs will accept Nitrox. That is not a problem.
If you are getting into Technical diving, you will be using a separate small tank containing Argon, I believe, for inflating a dry suit. This way all of your breathing gas is available for your use.
As long as you are using less than 40% Nitrox, you will not need to have your regulators O2 cleaned. If you will be using a staged decompression tank with greater than 40% Nitrox or 100% O2, you will need to have a regulator O2 cleaned that will be dedicated for that purpose only.
Hope this helps.
RonC.