Reasons for using aluminum tanks in cold water?
- Thread starter Bennno
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Just a reminder, this post pertains to SIDEMOUNT.....just incase some posters missed that.
Daniel, gotta ask, I'm aware of most of your diving locations, I assume you're referring to the North Sea for current and tides?
I also know someone who uses aluminums for deep oc trimix dives.
His stated reason: because he is a self proclaimed 'best mix fanatic'.
Tells me he normally uses (and teaches to use) at least one additions helium mix comparered to others for the intermediate depth, because he spends most of the time of the dives there.
(I am not a trimix diver myself and only telling this 'second hand' so take it with the proverbial 'grain of salt')
Anyway:
he needs lots of tanks, but not large volumes, so he uses 80cft aluminum stages exclusively, with a Hollis SMS100 with a backmounted 4liter inflation gas bottle.
His main advantage from using aluminums is that he will empty the stages when starting deco and send them up the line on their own or pulled by an inflated smb.
He will reach the surface with only his inflation bottle and the unused redundancy tanks attached.
Maximum mobility with tens of thousands of liters of potential gas volume.
That way he does not have to 'hang around' with his empty stages for an hour but can take take out his camera, take some pictures and extend the dive after finishing deco.
As I said, take it with a grain of salt, as it is second hand and hearsay, but I have reason to believe his descriptions to be accurate, since he is one of the trimix instructors I want to take lessons from when 40-45 meters maximum range start to bore me.
His stated reason: because he is a self proclaimed 'best mix fanatic'.
Tells me he normally uses (and teaches to use) at least one additions helium mix comparered to others for the intermediate depth, because he spends most of the time of the dives there.
(I am not a trimix diver myself and only telling this 'second hand' so take it with the proverbial 'grain of salt')
Anyway:
he needs lots of tanks, but not large volumes, so he uses 80cft aluminum stages exclusively, with a Hollis SMS100 with a backmounted 4liter inflation gas bottle.
His main advantage from using aluminums is that he will empty the stages when starting deco and send them up the line on their own or pulled by an inflated smb.
He will reach the surface with only his inflation bottle and the unused redundancy tanks attached.
Maximum mobility with tens of thousands of liters of potential gas volume.
That way he does not have to 'hang around' with his empty stages for an hour but can take take out his camera, take some pictures and extend the dive after finishing deco.
As I said, take it with a grain of salt, as it is second hand and hearsay, but I have reason to believe his descriptions to be accurate, since he is one of the trimix instructors I want to take lessons from when 40-45 meters maximum range start to bore me.
It's pretty standard to use Al for stages and deco bottles.
I'm a bit late to the party but I will give you my tuppence ("dimes") worth. I also haven’t read all the posts in the thread.
I'm UK based. I'm a little cautious of giving you the European viewpoint because I'm British, and the British approach is not always the European approach and vice versa.
The majority of cylinders in the UK are steel. Historically, where you have seen aluminium cylinders is where you are hiring cylinders, so more often European and Red Sea Liveaboards and dive shops where cylinders are being hired and abused (having the paint knocked off them). Generally Aluminium needs less maintenance
We had a big scare here a few years back with cracking in the aluminium, so a lot (in the UK at least) got scrapped (the test period got changed making it expensive).
The other issue is that Aluminium cylinders tend to change there buoyancy characteristics quite a lot, this has also historically made them unpopular (at least in the UK). They are also heavier than equivalent steels.
When I started carrying stages, the vast majority where steel, mainly because of availability, although aluminium is better suited as a stage cylinder.
The number of aluminium cylinders in the UK has significantly increased as the popularity of rebreathers has grown. The main reason for this is, with full aluminium stages, they are almost neutral in the water. So handling them, removing them, handing them off etc, is much more comfortable if you are on a rebreather than steels.
The popularity has increased so much that we regularly buy Ali80’s here. The only slight negative is that the fill pressures are low, around 205 bar instead of 232 bar, so you need to be careful when they are filled, that they are not overfilled.
I'm UK based. I'm a little cautious of giving you the European viewpoint because I'm British, and the British approach is not always the European approach and vice versa.
The majority of cylinders in the UK are steel. Historically, where you have seen aluminium cylinders is where you are hiring cylinders, so more often European and Red Sea Liveaboards and dive shops where cylinders are being hired and abused (having the paint knocked off them). Generally Aluminium needs less maintenance
We had a big scare here a few years back with cracking in the aluminium, so a lot (in the UK at least) got scrapped (the test period got changed making it expensive).
The other issue is that Aluminium cylinders tend to change there buoyancy characteristics quite a lot, this has also historically made them unpopular (at least in the UK). They are also heavier than equivalent steels.
When I started carrying stages, the vast majority where steel, mainly because of availability, although aluminium is better suited as a stage cylinder.
The number of aluminium cylinders in the UK has significantly increased as the popularity of rebreathers has grown. The main reason for this is, with full aluminium stages, they are almost neutral in the water. So handling them, removing them, handing them off etc, is much more comfortable if you are on a rebreather than steels.
The popularity has increased so much that we regularly buy Ali80’s here. The only slight negative is that the fill pressures are low, around 205 bar instead of 232 bar, so you need to be careful when they are filled, that they are not overfilled.
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