Ssi vs padi enriched air course

[Sddiver44]

I’m looking at getting enriched air for a upcoming trip. It looks like Ssi can all be done online while padi cannot, is this correct? Any reason to not do Ssi? If it matters I am padi advanced open water certified.

 

[tursiops]

SSI Instructor here.... SSI requires one class session in addition to the online learning module. Of course the class session reviews the online material and ensures an understanding of the online work and there is a practical portion where we teach how to use at least two types of analyzers.

For what it's worth, my shop's wording for the class is, "Learn about the advantages of Nitrox, how to use the Nitrox dive tables to allow you to have shorter surface intervals because of the reduced fraction of nitrogen in your breathing gas."

Good for you!
Any idea what SSI had in mind with that wording quoted above?

 

[SmashMonkey]

I got my nitrox cert at the same time as my PADI AOW last year. When I booked the course with the shop I told them I wanted to do both AOW and nitrox. The shop guy booked AOW and told me if he booked me for nitrox it would be $150, but instead if I asked the instructor on the first day to add nitrox it would be $100. Is that pretty common unwritten deal with instructors?

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Here's an online Nitrox course. Step by Step.

1) Buy or already own a Nitrox compatible computer and learn how to use it.

2) Use equipment that is Nitrox compatible. (I actually believe this is unnecessary with 32).

3) Learn to analyze your mixture and either buy an analyzer or trust the ones provided at most resorts or liveaboards. Your choice.

4) Do not exceed your MOD for your particular mix. (Wife and I use 110ft for 32 mix).

5) Go online and print one of the many Enriched Air Certification cards that can easily be copied and laminated. Once done take a photo and store it on your phone so that you can show anyone who cares that you are now a CEATD...... Certified Enriched Air Tech Diver.

5) Have fun and enjoy your diving pretty much just the same as you always have.

Voila! Please donate $5 to your favorite animal rescue charity for taking this course.

Thank-you.

 

[Dody]

Good for you!
Any idea what SSI had in mind with that wording quoted above?

Maybe it is just poor English like mine . However, some people are convinced and report feeling less tired after diving on nitrox. Even though I have read that it is not backed up by science.

 

[tursiops]

Here's an online Nitrox course. Step by Step.

1) Buy or already own a Nitrox compatible computer and learn how to use it.

2) Use equipment that is Nitrox compatible. (I actually believe this is unnecessary with 32).

3) Learn to analyze your mixture and either buy an analyzer or trust the ones provided at most resorts or liveaboards. Your choice.

4) Do not exceed your MOD for your particular mix. (Wife and I use 110ft for 32 mix).

5) Go online and print one of the many Enriched Air Certification cards that can easily be copied and laminated. Once done take a photo and store it on your phone so that you can show anyone who cares that you are now a CEATD...... Certified Enriched Air Tech Diver.

5) Have fun and enjoy your diving pretty much just the same as you always have.

Voila! Please donate $5 to your favorite animal rescue charity for taking this course.

Thank-you.

I hope you are kidding. If I had a shop and you showed me a fake cert card, I'd kick you out of the shop and tell all the other shops in the area.

 

[GF99/99]

Here's an online Nitrox course. Step by Step.

1) Buy or already own a Nitrox compatible computer and learn how to use it.

2) Use equipment that is Nitrox compatible. (I actually believe this is unnecessary with 32).

3) Learn to analyze your mixture and either buy an analyzer or trust the ones provided at most resorts or liveaboards. Your choice.

4) Do not exceed your MOD for your particular mix. (Wife and I use 110ft for 32 mix).

5) Go online and print one of the many Enriched Air Certification cards that can easily be copied and laminated. Once done take a photo and store it on your phone so that you can show anyone who cares that you are now a CEATD...... Certified Enriched Air Tech Diver.

5) Have fun and enjoy your diving pretty much just the same as you always have.

Voila! Please donate $5 to your favorite animal rescue charity for taking this course.

Thank-you.

And that pretty much proves my exact point about how ridiculous some of these courses are getting. People are paying good money to literally learn nothing.

 

[tursiops]

Maybe it is just poor English like mine . However, some people are convinced and report feeling less tired after diving on nitrox. Even though I have read that it is not backed up by science.

I don't think it is poor English, I think it is poor understanding of Nitrox or very poor marketing/editing. Yes, some feel less tired, but that has not been refuted by science; the very few tests that were done missed the point entirely in their test design. The most quoted article (by Harris, et al) in 2003 had 12 subjects do a 40-minute dive to 18msw in a dry chamber, while exercising, using a gas that was either air or 36% nitrox...neither the subjects nor the testers knew what the gas was. A week later they did the same dive but with the other gas. Fatigue was measured with a questionnaire as well as by tests of mental fatigue. Nothing significant was found. In contrast, most divers reporting less fatigue after a nitrox dive say they feel no real effect after a single dive, but the effect comes on with repetitive diving, such as on a liveaboard, or shore-diving in Bonaire. Charlton (1998) reported on an archaeology project involving two dives a day (25 or 40 minutes long) to depths of 90 and 120 fsw, with a 5h SI in-between. The dives used 100% O2 at 20 feet for decompression of 3 to 20 minutes, depending on the dive. He stated,

There is one more advantage to the use of Nitrox in scuba diving, although this one is not scientifically measurable and cannot be indicated on Nitrox dive tables or dive computers. Most divers who breath Nitrox, especially working divers, report that they are less fatigued after a long series of dives. I believe we proved at Bozburun this past summer that this is, in fact, true. My observations of the team as a whole this summer, as compared to past summers, indicate such. Dr. Fred Hocker, the Project Director, feels much the same. He noted that he thought more clearly on the bottom, and felt that the shortened decompression times certainly reduced overall fatigue levels.​

A 2008 Study by Chapman and Plato mostly repeated the Harris work, but with open water dive. this was also a double-blind study. Insted of one dive in a dry chamber, and a second dive a week later (Harris), this study did two 30-minute square-profile dives to 18msw with a 1h SI. The subjects swam laps at depth, for exercise. Mental, general, and physical fatigue were assessed post dives. All post-dive measures of all three kidns of fatigue were higher after the dives, but the gas used did not have any statistical significance. The authors commented that their test was not really good enough to see if nitrox lessens fatigue; they really needed 100 subjects instea of 12, and multiple repetitive dives over multiple days.

The question is open, in terms of the science. The actual situations under which recreational divers tend to report less fatigue have not been tested.

 

[Wibble]

Non-decompression limits (NDLs) rule of thumb:

• Nitrox - 30 minutes at 30m/100ft on 32%
• Air - 20 minutes at 30m/100ft on 21%

Which would you choose?

….

Actually this lead to probably the most influential incident in my diving career. Early on I was diving on 32% with my DiveMaster buddy diving on air. We were diving on a 30m/100ft wreck. The visibility was a very rare 25m/80ft and the wreck was almost imposing in its size.

At 20mins bottom time the DiveMaster thumbed the dive; no deco means no-fricking-deco, so we headed up.

Certainly changed my opinion of stingy people diving on air; the absolute no-deco "rules" for recreational diving; DiveMasters not being comfortable with decompression, etc. It absolutely set my diving career on self-sufficient decompression diving with ANDP, Normoxic extended range and solo diving courses followed as quickly as possible afterwards.

Nowadays I wouldn’t waste my time for such a limited bottom time; what is the point of going diving if you’ve such limits imposed? I’d now dive that for at least an hour and take some rich deco gas (or a rebreather).

 

[Blackcrusader]

Maybe it is just poor English like mine . However, some people are convinced and report feeling less tired after diving on nitrox. Even though I have read that it is not backed up by science.

I often do dive vacations where I do 40 dives over 2 weeks. I have never felt any different from using air or nitrox. No difference at all..
For a lot of younger people they went out partying at night and of course felt tired but blamed it on the diving lol.

 

[Belzelbub]

Maybe it is just poor English like mine . However, some people are convinced and report feeling less tired after diving on nitrox. Even though I have read that it is not backed up by science.

I think you are right. Probably an inaccurate translation. There's a whole spectrum of benefits between increased NDL/reduced SI and increased safety. If diving to the NDL using either air or EAN, then that statement makes zero sense. However, using EAN instead of air on a dive that is gas limited, the statement starts to make a little more sense. Work isn't the right word, but in this example, the tissues are farther from saturation, so less stressed.