Nitrox With A Drysuit?

[Storker]

Not speaking from experience, but argon is extremely heavy gas and will rapidly settle. I imagine that if you are standing and adding argon to the suit, it will rapidly sink and air an be purge at the neck.

No, it won't. Two gases will not separate like that if they've been mixed. On the contrary, if you have two layers of gas they will eventually mix by diffusion.

Besides, argon is only 40% denser than air: Gases - Specific Gravities

 

[Lorenzoid]

Is argon super cheap or is that reason just a way to slightly extend dive time? Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I don't usually put all that much gas into my drysuit.

I think argon is popular with trimix divers because the cost of argon is insignificant compared with the cost of trimix. So if they're going to use a gas other than their expensive backgas for suit inflation, they might as well use argon for its slight superiority over air, even though it costs a bit more than air. If you're already in the big leagues using trimix and probably deco gas, a little argon bottle is no bother to you or your wallet.

 

[admikar]

Eat one can of white beans and top it off with two cans of black beans to yield 32% Buttrox.

WRONG! It will yield 33% Buttrox, and since I guess you do not have any valid data on MOD of Buttrox, that is a dangerous statement.
On the other hand, it could solve buoyancy redundancy issues, just add spark igniter inside your suit and you could fly!
As for Buttrimix, how would HAZMAT regulations deal with that. From my experience, gas I can produce can be used as a riot gas!

 

[kelemvor]

It's not an inert gas, don't breathe it!

 

[JJ Wright]

USIA Dry Suits are in no way effected by Breathing or Fill Gasses used during diving operations, USIA will continue to provide our full LIFETIME Seam warranty coverage on all Dry Suit models as well as our standard suit warranty. Please feel free to contact your local USIA Dry Suit Dealer to find out more.

 

[SeaHorse81]

All of my diving is done in a drysuit, and most of it is done with Nitrox. Even if Nitrox was somehow harder on the suit, the number of hours in, say, a year, that the suit is exposed will be minimal at best. Hard to imagine it would make a difference even if there was an actual issue. If there was an issue, my personal vote would be to replace the suit the tiniest bit sooner rather than lug along special air for it on every dive, but I don't see how that would ever be necessary.

 

[Lorenzoid]

WRONG! It will yield 33% Buttrox, and since I guess you do not have any valid data on MOD of Buttrox, that is a dangerous statement.
On the other hand, it could solve buoyancy redundancy issues, just add spark igniter inside your suit and you could fly!
As for Buttrimix, how would HAZMAT regulations deal with that. From my experience, gas I can produce can be used as a riot gas!

Now, calculate the fartial pressure.

 

[Scuba Scott]

On a more serious note... (now that I am not typing on a phone)

For 99% of drysuit dives, the choice of inflation gas is somewhere between insignificant and theoretical. For extreme dives on trimix, argon and helium are far enough away on the density scale to possibly make a difference. The longer and colder the dive, the more it matters.

For the rest of us, I look at it like this:

Air: easy, cheap, abundant, works just fine for most of us, unsexy
Nitrox: almost as easy to find as air, seems like a waste for inflation but if you can afford to dive in a drysuit the cost probably isn't a factor.
Argon: available at gas supply and may be hard to find, more expensive than air, won't make much difference for most of us, sucks as a backup breathing gas, sexy
Buttox: use is more art than science, less popular with the ladies than p-valves, slightly more pleasant backup breathing gas than argon

I really doubt any of them will have any lasting effect on your drysuit.

 

[CT-Rich]

No, it won't. Two gases will not separate like that if they've been mixed. On the contrary, if you have two layers of gas they will eventually mix by diffusion.

Besides, argon is only 40% denser than air: Gases - Specific Gravities

Actually, fluids of differing densities won't mix by diffusion. That's what makes gases dangerous. A heavy gas like argon will settle in a low are and then stay there.

Basic principle for weather, mining and scuba. Thermoclines in lakes and rivers and oceans are the failure of fluids to mix. If you want mixing, you will have to actually add an external force like a ventilation fan or some other force (like a farticle accelerator*).

*TM- my daughter and I have spent many hours discussing the properties of farticles on long drives to dive sites.

 

[Storker]

Actually, fluids of differing densities won't mix by diffusion.

I beg to differ. Second law of thermodynamics. It just takes time since diffusion is slow.

And they won't ever separate since two separate phases/layers of miscible components is a state of lower entropy. You can't go that way without paying some energy. Second law again. Does your whisky separate in a 96% layer on the top and a water layer at the bottom? If it does, make sure to publish because that'll be a scientific breakthrough and may form the basis for a perpetuum mobile.