PADI Gas Blender course

[DiverDave]

Many people out there are very interested in learning about all the facets of diving. The desire to understand gas blending does not require the person to want to actually fill cylinders.

I dive Nitrox and am a PADI instructor. I have no intention of blending personally but took the IANTD blender course to learn both for my own benefit and so that I could answer students' questions more knowledgably. Unfortunatly the material provided by IANTD is dire. I personally think that the PADI material will be a lot more useable, interesting and informative, but I am yet to see it.

Certainly I was surprised to see helium metioned, but a DSAT trimix course cannot be far away. Whether or not this is a good thing I'm sure will be argued to death at a later date and I have no intention of starting it.

 

[detroit diver]

roakey,

I've got the Oxy Hacker book, and it is a GREAT reference book.

With the community of mixers very small at this point, those few mixers can develop the relationship that you mention. I'm worried about the poor dive shop owner that now starts getting multitudes of people wanting to mix their own gasses in the shop. I'm not an LDS owner or in any way associated with one (except for my cash infusion<G>). Other than flatly refusing to do so, how can they safely allowed mixed gas blending in their stores? Too many variables IMHO.

Diver Dave- "Certainly I was surprised to see helium metioned, but a DSAT trimix course cannot be far away. Whether or not this is a good thing I'm sure will be argued to death at a later date and I have no intention of starting it."

C'mon, it's already started!!

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by detroit diver
I'm worried about the poor dive shop owner that now starts getting multitudes of people wanting to mix their own gasses in the shop. I'm not an LDS owner or in any way associated with one (except for my cash infusion<G>). Other than flatly refusing to do so, how can they safely allowed mixed gas blending in their stores? Too many variables IMHO.

Good point, though I think (note I’m not sure!) that there won’t be a problem. Folks that really want to mix have been going out and getting existing training for years, so I don’t see PADI availability as really boosting the number of “I really want to mix my own” types. There's going to be some like DiverDave who are inquisitive and want to increase the breadth of their knowledge. The vast majority will merely want to impress chicks on the Cozumel dive boats with their PADI Mixer patch.

As for mixing IN the store? “Ordinary” (whatever that means) customers aren’t allowed to run the compressor or fill cylinders. I can see the same policy for the “spiking” equipment. Students may mix for their class using the store’s equipment (I mixed about half a dozen cylinders using the shop’s equipment during the IANTD class) but never afterwards (and I haven’t touched their O2 setup since then).

So if you REALLY want to mix after your class, you’re going to have to buy the equipment required for spiking your cylinders. Taking a minimum SWAG at the cost of an O2 setup you’ve got a yearly rental of $25 for a bulk cylinder, $25 for ABO O2 and about $150 for fittings, hoses and gauges. So $200 minimum. That cost alone will stop the dilettantes right there. For a decent setup with a digital gauge and two bottle support you’re talking around $400 for just the fittings, hoses and gauges. You also need a minimum of two bottles for any gas you’re going to use because otherwise you waste a lot of gas. Not a huge issue with O2, but He is much more expensive. I personally think two bottles is worth it even with O2.

As an aside the place where I get my gas doesn’t rent bottles, you buy them outright. A T bottle (340cf O2/300cf He) is about $225. When you decide to get out of the mixing business you sell the bottles back for your full purchase price. When you need fills they simply swap bottles like any other gas place, so the concept of “your” bottle is an on-paper concept only. I think “buying” a bottle is a huge advantage, because I don’t fret about rental money going down the tubes when I don’t mix for a couple months.

So anyway, I think the number of real honest to gawd garage mixers that want to spike their own cylinders and then bring them to the shop to blow air on top of them will not increase any more than it’s increasing now. Well, maybe a bit more, but hardly noticeable. And I expect ALL shops to say, “No, you don’t get to use our equipment.”

Roak

 

[Uncle Pug]

might a old new board member squeeze a comment in on this thread???

 

[detroit diver]

No need to ask for permission. Go for it. I always look forward to a wide range of opinions.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Well thank you....
Uncle and his buddies tried everywhere to find a willing soul to blow a little air on top of the mix....
Some were scared....
Some scared us....
One was willing....but....shall we say, inconvenient....

And so we do our own....
This is not rocket science unless you use and oiled compressor without proper filtration to top an O2 prime.....
Then it becomes Rocket Science....

The secret formula is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Now if you have a shop that sells mix and is close at hand....
You can multiply the formula by .12 but .....
You must multiply that by 3.5 every three years and sum...

 

[scubaturek]

...we should've bought that compressor, Roak.

Joe

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by scubaturek
...we should've bought that compressor, Roak.

Yhea, but at least for the time being we're set

History for the board: scubaturek designed and setup the mixing manifold for a shop up in Denver. This is the very definition of "cultivating a good releationship with a shop" since he's not an employee.

Roak

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by scubaturek
...we should've bought that compressor, Roak.

Joe

One word...three letters...

RIX

 

[Iguana Don]

About the O2 cleaning of the chicken, you don't have to clean the legs, kinda like the 2nd stage. It's impossible to O2 clean the legs. Be sure you don't let them charge you for it either!

FID