Nitrox ?

[BCDgirl]

would you recomend learning to dive nitrox for the average diver? i want to get my advanced diver cert. but im trying to decide how far i want to go with my certification. Are there real advantages to Nitrox for the average diver or is it really only benefical for really deep dives ?

 

[jonnythan]

It's most beneficial in the 60-100 foot range.

 

[Matsya]

Actually Nitrox is not used for deep dives. In fact using 32% Nitrox at depths greater than 33 metres can expose the diver to risk of oxygen toxicity that would not occur at that depth with air. To my limited knowledge other mixes are used for deep dives for example Trimix - Helium, Oxygen and Nitrogen.
Nitrox is typically used for recreational diving. The advantages of Nitrox are - extended bottom times, reduced surface intervals.
You can also dive nitrox using air tables and reduce the risk of DCS even further. But that way you forego the advantages of more bottom time and shorter surface interval.
While it has not been established by definitive studies, many divers feel that Nitrox reduces fatigue compared to air and I personally experience less fatigue when I dive Nitrox

 

[rocketry]

Nitrox, at least I think, is a valuable investment that you will benefit from greatly. With the purchase of a good nitrox computer, you will find yourself able to dive longer, with less narcosis and with less fatigue (obviously). In my pseronal opinion, it is a certification where the least amount of actual "stuff" is involved--->all you are really doing is breathing different air. Even if you dive air more often than nitrox, I feel I personally benefit when I am able to do even one dive on nitrox. My suunto mosquito does oxygen toxicity and NDL's beautifully, as do all dive computers, and with this convience Nitrox becomes something great!

 

[D1vePr1ncess]

hi BCDgirl, I've been doing a lot of research on this lately as well, and have found the major advantage of Nitrox is the ability to dive more often. Not necessarily longer, not really deeper (for me, this is irrelevent, as a sport diver I'm generally <100ft), but simply less tired btwn dives in any given day, and for dive vacations when you are making 3-4 dives per day for an extended period.

 

[ClayJar]

I don't dive nitrox too often, but it's a tool that I am delighted to have available to me. For my diving, it's most useful on the four-hour two-dive boat trips that you get out of places like Panama City, FL. You have a limited surface interval, and if you're diving air, you often hit your NDLs far before you breathe your tank down to your ascent pressure.

I was diving air last trip (since I was with a buddy who hasn't had an opportunity to take Nitrox yet), and on the second dive, we'd have to leave the bottom and take the bird's-eye-view tour around the wrecks, since we'd run out of no-deco time on our computers. If we were diving nitrox on those dives, we could spend the whole time on the bottom inspecting all the holes and cracks and crevices and hiding spots instead of spending a good chunk of the dive up in the water column looking down at the divers who entered later (we were first off the boat) and the ones diving nitrox.

 

[TheRedHead]

I think it is a good course just for the refresher one gets in decompression theory. There is no downside to Nitrox if you dive it within the MOD.

 

[The Kraken]

I would recommend it in that it is to the betterment of any diver to extend her/his knowledge of diving and all the facets thereof.

Is it practical in your style of diving? Only you can determine that.

Now, don't confuse nitrox's extending of NDL's with entending your bottom time.

In the recreational ranges, bottom time is controlled most often my the size of tank one is diving.

One quick example and I'll leave you to ponder your decision . . .

An average diver with a SAC rate of 0.65 (consumes .65 cubic feet of gas per minute at the surface) diving an Aluminum 80 on regular air will have about 30 minutes of breathing gas on a 60' dive (with a residual 500 psi). The NDL for that dive is 55 minutes.

That same diver diving the same dive profile but using EAN36 will still have only about 30 minutes of breathing gas, but the NDL for the nitrox dive is 115 minutes.

But here's a kicker:

Diving air, if the diver maxed out to the NDL he would be in a pressure group of "I" after a 1 hour surface interval.

Diving EAN36 on the same tank, Al 80 (remember, you consume the same amount of gas regardless of elemental percentages) for the same period, 55 minutes, the diver would be in pressure group "E".

Just something else to think about . . .

the K

 

[HowardE]

would you recomend learning to dive nitrox for the average diver?

Yes.

I dive nitrox on almost every dive. While it's true that the most benefits from recreational nitrox (<=40%) can be the extended NDL's in the 60-100 foot range. There are other benefits as well.

For example - a 60' dive on air - your NDL is 55 minutes. On Nitrox 36% is 115 minutes.

Not to mention that if you do a 60' dive on air for 55 minutes... your second dive will be considerably shorter.

There are those who say that diving nitrox has no proven benefit to your "feeling good" after the dive vs. air... but I really don't understand how someone can gauge "feeling good" in a scientific sense.

I have inexpensive nitrox available, so I even dive 40% nitrox on shallow dives as well...

 

[fdog]

It is beneficial if:

>You live at altitude and dive at sea level
or
>You dive at sea level, and have to cross mountains to get home
or
>You dive 3+ dives in a day, over 3 days or more
or
>you fly to a diving vacation

All the best, James