Nitrox - warning for beginner divers

[KD8NPB]

Do you really need to "practice" nitrox?

$5 air fills? That's crazy. It costs more than that to run and maintain a compressor. Air fills out here are $10 - $15. Of course little to no competition helps keep the prices up. Blending Nitrox takes more time, effort, equipment and potentially risk. $18 might be on the high side but not by much.

I don't think Nitrox certification is useless but you are correct that it is not as common as air and it costs more. You have to decide if your dive plans justify the extra cost or not.

We do $4 air fills.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I am a new diver, when I was buying gear, I was getting a nitrox certification. There I learned that I need a dedicated tank for it. Thus, when I was finishing buying my gear I bought a new tank and got it inspected for nitrox use. Now when I want to go dive I realized I cannot do it cheaply as air. I knew there would be a premium but I had no idea it would be so expensive and so hard to locate... Thus, after spending so much money on a complete set of gear, now I have to buy one more tank so I can do air. I am tapped out already.

Apparently your dive shop did a better job of selling you classes and gear than they did providing you knowledge and access to diving.

You do not need a dedicated cylinder to dive nitrox ... you need to get it filled at a place that sufficiently filters the air coming out of their compressor. Any shop that offers nitrox will have such filters on their fill station.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Texasguy]

I was not upsold on any of the classes. I wanted to do Nitrox and AOW on my own, I had money and time. 90% of the gear I got on the internet.

The only thing is, before taking Nitrox class I believed it were as available as air. I knew it was a bit more premium than air and I was ok with it, $3-4 extra vs air (as my instructor described) for a fill did not bother me. In addition, I totally decided to always use nitrox because the instructor said I might not be as tired after the dive on nitrox. Seems like a very good reason to seal the deal, right? Thus, I reasoned that I will buy a tank, certify it for nitrox and will be getting nitrox fills for all my dives. Little I known when I actually tried to re-fill my tank. No shops around have it and the only shop that has it wants an arm and a leg, and your firstborn.

As I said, I know only of one store that does nitrox around here. Even if I were to go to them and they would be human enough to allow an air fill of their filtered air, it would still not solve my problem. When I go to dive, local places offer only air. It would mean that to get a second tank dive I would have to drive across the town for another filtered air fill... Thus, forget nitrox in Houston, my tank has only air already and there is nothing I can do.

If I knew I cannot get nitrox that easily I might have had delayed my certification and would have got a regular air for my new tank.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well, I went to my local shop Maximum Scuba on Richmond in Houston. They told me that they need to let all the nitrox out. When this will happen it will be empty. All empty tanks need a visual. Thus, they will fill with air only if I will shell out for a visual.

BTW: The tank is new, visual was made 2 weeks ago.

Who owns that shop ... PT Barnum?

Seriously ... that is blatantly untrue, and the sign of either an incompetent or dishonest business ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Tigerman]

Maybe it is useless if you dive a 40' quarry all the time. If you are spending money for a trip where you are diving 80-100' repetitive dives it is definitely worth while. But we wouldn't know that, the OP hasn't given us any information.

End of september Ill be doing another 14-day vacation with 12 of them being diving 2 80-100' dives and quite possibly a 3rd or maybe even 4th dive. Ill be paying €30 for going nitrox instead of air.
That means AT MOST Ill be paying €1,25 extra per tank to get the benefits of nitrox - I think its worth it despite the fact there is nobody closer to me than 2 hrs driving filling nitrox for my local dives..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was not upsold on any of the classes. I wanted to do Nitrox and AOW on my own, I had money and time. 90% of the gear I got on the internet.

The only thing is, before taking Nitrox class I believed it were as available as air. I knew it was a bit more premium than air and I was ok with it, $3-4 extra vs air (as my instructor described) for a fill did not bother me. In addition, I totally decided to always use nitrox because the instructor said I might not be as tired after the dive on nitrox. Seems like a very good reason to seal the deal, right? Thus, I reasoned that I will buy a tank, certify it for nitrox and will be getting nitrox fills for all my dives. Little I known when I actually tried to re-fill my tank. No shops around have it and the only shop that has it wants an arm and a leg, and your firstborn.

As I said, I know only of one store that does nitrox around here. Even if I were to go to them and they would be human enough to allow an air fill of their filtered air, it would still not solve my problem. When I go to dive, local places offer only air. It would mean that to get a second tank dive I would have to drive across the town for another filtered air fill... Thus, forget nitrox in Houston, my tank has only air already.

If you took this class through a dive shop, they told you all that stuff, and then the shop failed to provide the services mentioned by the instructor, then they did ... in fact ... upsell you.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Texasguy]

Boy, I did not see that coming.. What do I do now?!?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Boy, I did not see that coming.. What do I do now?!?

Perhaps clarify these matters with your shop before naming them on a public forum. I've heard from someone who frequents the shop you mentioned and they told me that you're misrepresenting shop policies. Probably a perception thing, but you don't want to burn bridges you may want to use someday.

Might be a good idea to discuss your issues privately with the principals involved before naming the shop on a public forum. While it is worthwhile to seek opinions and information from experienced divers, we can only base our comments on what you post. Based on my friend's comments, I'm inclined to believe that this thread maligns a shop that doesn't deserve it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Texasguy]

I am not sure what policies the shop has, I was referring to my experience in the shop. If the employee was breaking their own policies, it would be unknown to me. I don't know any dive shop that trains their customers on its own policies, the only people who do get the training in store policies are the store employees. Customers get only a gist of store policies based on their communication with the employees. Therefore, I submit that I am totally and completely clueless of any policies that the stores I visit have, be it scuba or food supermarkets. Moreover, I submit that I have not misrepresented the "shop policies".

You are welcome to correct me.

 

[vcblklion]

$5 air fills? That's crazy. It costs more than that to run and maintain a compressor. Air fills out here are $10 - $15. Of course little to no competition helps keep the prices up. Blending Nitrox takes more time, effort, equipment and potentially risk. $18 might be on the high side but not by much. ...

Air fills at Sport Chalet in L.A. are $5. You can get a airfill card for $45 for 10 fills. I believe Nitrox here in L.A. (last time I checked) was $8-$9