The Beginner's Mixture

[Gallix23]

Sorry for my newbie-ness, but what exactly is the benefit of using Nitrox? Does it somewhat repress the build up of nitrogen bubbles in the tissues due to the increased amount of oxygen?

 

[Cave Diver]

Sorry for my newbie-ness, but what exactly is the benefit of using Nitrox? Does it somewhat repress the build up of nitrogen bubbles in the tissues due to the increased amount of oxygen?

Take a look here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/new-divers-those-considering-diving/150608-what-nitrox.html

 

[highlandfarmwv]

Funny his came up. I was with a student that just finished OW and he did Nitrox on his first dive after being certified for OW.

 

[DCBC]

Funny his came up. I was with a student that just finished OW and he did Nitrox on his first dive after being certified for OW.

Yes it seems to be more commonly used, as time goes by.

 

[DCBC]

Sorry for my newbie-ness, but what exactly is the benefit of using Nitrox? Does it somewhat repress the build up of nitrogen bubbles in the tissues due to the increased amount of oxygen?

Post 23 on this thread may also help to clarify some of the benefits and draw-backs of Nitrox.

 

[Jax]

Funny his came up. I was with a student that just finished OW and he did Nitrox on his first dive after being certified for OW.

Yes it seems to be more commonly used, as time goes by.

The above is why I asked my earlier questions. We did AOW and Nitrox before our 30th dive. I was frankly nervous about having so many things to remember on top of the rest we'd learned. Now that I have a computer in which I have a great deal of confidence, I feel better about the Nitrox. Still, as was stated before - unless I am really sure I am staying at 80' or above (Our favorite, San Carlos, Mx), I don't go Nitrox.

As for the cost of Nitrox -- I am seeing more and more that Nitrox < 36 is the same cost as air. Wow!

 

[sailingk8]

It would be interesting to hear more about air making you feel gross.

After my first 5 dives I was either physically sick or felt like I wanted to be. I also felt exhausted. (It's really a wonder I kept going back for more!) After nitrox dives I felt no different physically than before the dive. I actually feel that using the nitrox tables helped me better understand using tables in general. Yes it's more to remember but diving needs to be taken seriously. I wanted to learn everything I could up front.
In less than a year I got OW certified, Nitrox certified, took AOW and Rescue. My feeling is, if you are going to do something that has risk it's important you know all the facts. If nitrox is appropriate why not incorporate it into your diving career early. It made my dives much more pleasant. :cool2:

 

[Thalassamania]

Let's tell the truth about Nitrox. We used Nitrox in the science community for many, many, years ... with great success. When Rutkowski retired from NOAA he started flogging it to the public. Grand Cayman operators got upset. Not because of anything real, because they didn't want anything that might lengthen the dives, because that'd screw up the meal schedule - wild, eh? Anyway the Grand Cayman operators brought great pressure to bear on PADI and everyone else that they could (they even threatened a boycott of the Beneath the Sea show when I presented a paper that Bret Gilliam had authored but was unable to deliver at the last minute, that called the operators on it). It took a couple of years to get it all sorted out and for the fuss to die down.

This fuss founded a new industry and resulted in at least three new agencies (IANTD, ANDI, and TDI). Were it not for the fuss, Nitrox would have been an extra paragraph in the book and perhaps 15 minutes more lecture, after all ... what does a diver actually have to be able to do to use Nitrox? Analyze some gas, control depth and control time. They already have to do the last two, granted that the limits, and the reasons for them change a little, but the only really new element is oxygen analysis, something that hardly calls for three new agencies and a bunch of new stand alone classes.

 

[DandyDon]

After my first 5 dives I was either physically sick or felt like I wanted to be. I also felt exhausted. (It's really a wonder I kept going back for more!) After nitrox dives I felt no different physically than before the dive. I actually feel that using the nitrox tables helped me better understand using tables in general. Yes it's more to remember but diving needs to be taken seriously. I wanted to learn everything I could up front.
In less than a year I got OW certified, Nitrox certified, took AOW and Rescue. My feeling is, if you are going to do something that has risk it's important you know all the facts. If nitrox is appropriate why not incorporate it into your diving career early. It made my dives much more pleasant. :cool2:

The rest of that post sounded great, but the bolded part didn't. If anyone was ill after diving, I'd wonder about the air source - but then I am a cynic about such, as little enforcement as there is in that area.

Some of the benefits of Nitrox include:

1. Elimination of narcosis;
1. Longer no decompression limits;
2. Reduced decompression penalties;
3. Shorter surface intervals;
4. Faster off-gassing than air during decompression (which is what I mainly use it for);
5. For many it lowers your gas consumption; and
6. In theory, the effects of a barotrauma may be reduced, due to the improved circulation of breathing enriched air.

On the other hand there are:

1. Equipment cleaning considerations (increased cost of maintenance);
2. Reduced number of facilities (at present) that can provide fills;
3. Increased risk of oxygen toxicity if you break the rules (dive too deep);
4. Reduced time of total breathing exposure;
5. With the increased dive times, cold and dehydration may be predisposing factors.

Elimination of narcosis? For many it lowers your gas consumption?

 

[DCBC]

Elimination of narcosis? For many it lowers your gas consumption?

Hi Don, Perhaps you can read all my posts on the subject and comment. Elimination was the wrong choice of words (which I also mentioned), but with the PO2, N2 narcosis isn't really a factor.