Nitrox or Air?

[Daryl Morse]

Thanks, didn't know that. I don't imagine argon is present in enough quantity to be a concern unless you were approaching pure O2 for rebreather use. The guys at Bikini use one but it only makes 94%

I've never seen a gas analysis from a membrane system, but my guess is that if you made 94% O2, the balance would be ~4% Argon and ~2% N2.

I always thought Argon was narcotic, so I'm not sure how good that mix would be to breathe.

 

[Charlie99]

I've never seen a gas analysis from a membrane system, but my guess is that if you made 94% O2, the balance would be ~4% Argon and ~2% N2.

I always thought Argon was narcotic, so I'm not sure how good that mix would be to breathe.

IF there is really a membrane system out there producing usable quantities of EAN94%, then you are probably right.

Edit: Duh. Medical O2 concentrators produce that about that % of O2.

 

[Don Burke]

I've never seen a gas analysis from a membrane system, but my guess is that if you made 94% O2, the balance would be ~4% Argon and ~2% N2.

I always thought Argon was narcotic, so I'm not sure how good that mix would be to breathe.

It is, but 4% would not be enough to worry about at depths you could safely breathe 94% oxygen.

EDIT:
These guys seem to think 4% is a pretty good guess.
http://www.onsitegas.com/onsite_products_details.asp?products_code=o299

 

[padiscubapro]

I've never seen a gas analysis from a membrane system, but my guess is that if you made 94% O2, the balance would be ~4% Argon and ~2% N2.

I always thought Argon was narcotic, so I'm not sure how good that mix would be to breathe.

to generate mixtres that high you typically use a PSA system.. A perfectly functioning sieve generates 95.5% oxygen and 4.5% argon..

Memebrane systems in many cases DO increase co and CO2, its not from the membrane itesef but due to the fact that the gas is typically passed through a compressor more than once (once used to create a bank of gas to feed the system and once the output of the membrane to the hp compressor) , and the co and co2 is generated from that..

As you increase the o2 content fed into a compressor (unles its oilfree) you tend to increase co and co2 production..