Tech Gas Cost

[mainedvr]

So I am not tech yet but in the future. I have been reading a few articles and looking at the cost of gas and while it cost what it cost just curious about a few things.

1. So you have your back gas, stage gas, deco gas, etc.... So to fill all the needed cylinders for a tech dive lets say a wreck. It will be a few hundred?

2. Just for a value your diving twin BM 120s with whatever gas needed to execute the dive, a stage cylinder and one or two deco cylinders. so one AL80 and AL40. (I realize individual gas consumption comes into account) Will you typically use most of all the gas your caring and have to refill from say 1000psi or whatever? (Recreationally of course single tank typically you need to refill after every dive) Or do you typically just need to top off tanks or maybe good for second dive?

3. If diving regularly (tech) is it worth doing your own fills and learning to be a gas blender? (I know this is a matter of opinion and that's what I want)

The reason I am asking this is as I said I would like to learn the tech side of things as we have several wrecks in the area that are beyond recreation depths, but had an associate that got tech certified and then did not really tech dive as the cost was a bit much for him.

Thanks for any responses.

P.S. I know there a many variables again just looking to be informed.

 

[Jack Hammer]

It can be expensive. Locally, helium runs $2+ per cube, getting fills at a LDS can add up quite quickly.

I have several tanks, doubles, stages, deco bottles, and top off what is left over from diving. Standard gas mixes make this simpler.

I mix and fill my own tanks. Inspect my own cylinders. Rebuild my own regs. Tech diving can get very expensive very quickly and tends to be gear intensive.

 

[swimlikethefish]

I would break it down 2 ways:

#1: Dives less than 150ft. You could do most of these comfortably on air/nitrox. In that case, it is whatever your local shop charges for nitrox fills. Let's say 28% for 150, maybe a 50%, and a bottle of 100% or 80%. The 80/100 would depend on your individual training and diving conditions. With double 120's, an al72, and a Al40 it would cost me $40 for that dive.

#2: Depths deeper than 150ft I would use a mix that had helium. Your deco gasses (nitrox) would be the same. Helium is very dependant on the amount and location of your fills. A set of double 120's could cost between $1.50 and $4 per cubic ft of helium. The price goes up from normoxic to hypoxic. And you would be adding travel gas as well (I use 32% for my travel.) For training in trimix I would budget $250 to $400 for gas on each checkout dive.

There are alot of variables. So it is difficult to give you exact numbers. What it costs me locally could be as much as 10x cheaper than what I would pay in some areas of the world. You could also be in the, I use helium on any dive below 100ft club. Then example #1 would have an increase in the price due to helium.

These are just examples. I am not saying this is written in stone. Take a trip to your local blender and ask them. Or find an instructor to share a coffee with. Assuming you go TDI, these costs would be spread out nominally over time. I would expect to go from Rec to full trimix in about 1.5 to 3 years if you were dedicated to diving. You wouldn't want to make the leap too fast. Get comfortable with what you learn along the way and then progress to the next step. Taking the education out of it. You should spend your time concentrating on using multiple stages and be extremely thorough with gas swaps.

Good Luck in your quest!

(you will have a tremendous degree of varying opinions on some of your questions)

 

[mainedvr]

I would break it down 2 ways:

#1: Dives less than 150ft. You could do most of these comfortably on air/nitrox. In that case, it is whatever your local shop charges for nitrox fills. Let's say 28% for 150, maybe a 50%, and a bottle of 100% or 80%. The 80/100 would depend on your individual training and diving conditions. With double 120's, an al72, and a Al40 that would cost me $40 for that dive.

#2: Depths deeper than 150ft I would use a mix that had helium. Your deco gasses (nitrox) would be the same. Helium is very dependant on the amount and location of your fills. A set of double 120's could cost between $1.50 and $4 per cubic ft of helium. The price goes up from normoxic and hypoxic. And you would be adding travel gas as well (I use 32% as my travel.) For training in trimix I would budget $250 to $400 for gas on each checkout dive.

There are alot of variables. So it is difficult to give you exact numbers. What it costs me locally could be as bunch as 10x cheaper than what I would pay in some areas of the world. You could also be in the, I use helium on any dive below 100ft. Then example #1 would have an increase in the price due to helium.

These are just examples. I am not saying this is written in stone. Take a trip to your local blender and ask them. Or find an instructor to share a coffee with. Assuming you go TDI, these costs would be spread out nominally over time. I would expect to go from Rec to full trimix in about 1.5yrs if you were dedicated to diving. You wouldn't want to make the leap too fast. Get comfortable with what you learn along the way and then progress to the next step. Taking the education out of it. You should spend your time concentrating on using multiple stages and be extremely thorough with gas swaps.

Good Luck in your quest!

(you will have a tremendous degree of varying options on some of your questions)

Thanks for the response, yeah when we dove in FL nitrox was cheap here in So Cal its not bad but they don't typically do it by the CUFT 10-16$ a tank no matter how much gas....

 

[swimlikethefish]

My local shop charges me $10 flat for all nitrox all the way to 100%. 50% off if it is for a class I am assisting with.

Helium however, no discount. I pay $1.95 per cuft. Only exception is for a rebreather bottle. Then they charge $35 flat for any and all dil bottles. Size/mix doesn't matter.

 

[mainedvr]

It can be expensive. Locally, helium runs $2+ per cube, getting fills at a LDS can add up quite quickly.

I have several tanks, doubles, stages, deco bottles, and top off what is left over from diving. Standard gas mixes make this simpler.

I mix and fill my own tanks. Inspect my own cylinders. Rebuild my own regs. Tech diving can get very expensive very quickly and tends to be gear intensive.

Does mixing your own mitigate the cost after some time accounting for what you need to blend?

 

[Jack Hammer]

I use a friends compressor, dont have my own setup yet. When I mix I buy a full bottle of helium and generally use it all, I pay my friend for any O2 used and donate some $ toward his costs. Its makes the costs much lower.

Sounds simple on paper. However, most folks I know with compressors dont want to be bothered by the endless hordes of divers looking for "free" fills and expecting to be able to use their stuff whenever they want. So people keep quiet about having them and only allow their friends and dive buddies to use it.

 

[tomfcrist]

DIY makes it slot cheaper IF you are diving trimix a lot. By a lot I mean going through 3-4 bottles of helium a year.... otherwise, it’s cheaper to just have the local lds do it for you.

Here locally I get 5.0 industrial helium for 1.25 per cube. Oxygen .28 per cube. The rental on my cylinders is about 170 per year. My haskel was 5k. The whips and accessories for blending was close to $700.

That’s a lot of startup cost...I use enough HE to make it worth the effort, and to me...even if it wasn’t cost effective...I can blend at the house and have full control over the process..vice trusting someone else to do it.

I use far less gas now that I’m almost always on CCR, but the investment is already made.

Most places I’ve seen charge around $2 a cube for He and .85 per cube for O2.

 

[mainedvr]

DIY makes it slot cheaper IF you are diving trimix a lot. By a lot I mean going through 3-4 bottles of helium a year.... otherwise, it’s cheaper to just have the local lds do it for you.

Here locally I get 5.0 industrial helium for 1.25 per cube. Oxygen .28 per cube. The rental on my cylinders is about 170 per year. My haskel was 5k. The whips and accessories for blending was close to $700.

That’s a lot of startup cost...I use enough HE to make it worth the effort, and to me...even if it wasn’t cost effective...I can blend at the house and have full control over the process..vice trusting someone else to do it.

I use far less gas now that I’m almost always on CCR, but the investment is already made.

Most places I’ve seen charge around $2 a cube for He and .85 per cube for O2.

Thanks

 

[RyanT]

On a recent dive in South Florida I paid around $150 total for:

1) 21/35 trimix in a set of HP 100 doubles
2) 50% EAN in a 40 cf deco bottle
3) 100% O2 in a 40 cf deco bottle

That's almost twice the cost of the charter, so yes, it adds up.