Pony for high O2 EAN on 15' safety-stop.

[TSandM]

Wookie, we aren't saying there's no benefit to O2. We're saying that, without the proper education and training, there are terrible risks to high O2 mixes.

The DCS rate on recreational dives, absent a major protocol deviation, is EXTREMELY low. The survival rate from O2 toxicity seizures is, too.

 

[Rhone Man]

Plus you can probably reduce your DCS exposure by the same amount by just doing a 4 and a half minute safety stop instead of a 3 minute safety stop, without the expense, risk and hassle.

 

[dkktsunami]

Hi all,

I recently attended a seminar on DCS facilitated by the hyperbaric medicine department of my local general hospital. The director of that program espoused the value of doing your 5 min safety stop @ 15' with up to 70% O2 as an additional means of purging nitrogen and reducing DCS likelihood.

Does anyone do this? If so, what sort of set-up do you run?

Thanks!

This would seem to me like a complicated solution to a problem that does not exist. The odds of incurring DCS on a recreational dive are very, very low.

 

[RJP]

Plus you can probably reduce your DCS exposure by the same amount by just doing a 4 and a half minute safety stop instead of a 3 minute safety stop, without the expense, risk and hassle.

Exactly; number one rule of carrying gas is "don't carry it if it ain't worth carrying."

 

[rjack321]

Plus you can probably reduce your DCS exposure by the same amount by just doing a 4 and a half minute safety stop instead of a 3 minute safety stop, without the expense, risk and hassle.

Exactly

Instead of trying to accelerate your recreational offgassing by turning every dive into a tech dive (with 70% (odd choice IMO), 50%, 80%, 100% whatever) just do longer stops and shape the time more intelligently.

I saw a reference to a dive computer in one of the earlier posts that "might have deep stop options". Heck, you don't need a computer do to that....a depth gauge and a watch will work fine. I won't start a "recipe battle" here with how many minutes at each stop or how deep the stops should but, but just use your head, and don't rely on that fancy watch and some guy's mathematical interpretation of you body you have on your wrist - it is far more likely to let you down than you are.

Ding ding
It doesn't take a computer or anything more than a depth gauge & watch to add 2 to 4 minutes into your ascent in the 50 to 20ft range. Little more for 100+ft dives little less for 60ft dives.

 

[Amphibious]

depending on your dive location, just make your safety stop as long as possible. I can;t count how many 20min "safety" stops I've done. if your wall or shore diving, there is always something interesting to see at 15'. as </= 15' doesn't count toward your total N2 times, why not just hang out and burn your tank down to 500psi?

Deep Stops and a >/= 5min safety stop will go a lot farther for preventing DCS complications then the hassel of fiddling with a second cylinder or High PP O2 mixes.

just some ramblings...

 

[Doc Harry]

A recreational diver should not be carrying rich mixes. (That's a frightening thought.)

Hanging the cylinder at 15 feet from the boat is not a bad idea, though. I wouldn't use a pony, though. For a hang bottle I'd use a larger LP steel cylinder so that it doesn't get "floaty" when it gets low.