Question Tri-Mix regulator questions

[inquis]

Dude, snoozing 4 hours on the log at Eagle's Nest is anything but "interesting"

You must be REALLY good at rock-paper-sissors by now.

 

[grantctobin]

You must be REALLY good at rock-paper-sissors by now.

It’s all fun and games until the phone runs out of battery or your teammate picked a ****** movie to blast through the basin

 

[PfcAJ]

You must be REALLY good at rock-paper-sissors by now.

 

[broncobowsher]

View attachment 705639

Do me a favor, submit that photo to XKCD.com

https://xkcd.com/chesscoaster/

 

[_Ralph]

$0.18/L works out to $11-12/cuft! Unless my math is horribly wrong.

Most I’ve paid for helium has been $5US/cuft in the Caribbean. It was an expensive and glorious dive!

With $2/cuft at a Mod2 level dive (based on OC 1 deco gas square profile), it’s roughly 70-80 dives to break even on a 10k investment. Obviously, inflate that to even $10/cuft and that # of dives drops considerably.

But to get to mod 2, that’s another course (unless you already have OC trimix training and the certifying agency accepts it in thier program)

My last rebreather cost me $5300 ready to dove, and it worked out to $9410 by the time I got it home with travel, training and the cost of the unit and everything else for the week. With the $1.60/cuft pricing I think it was north of 90 50m dives to break even, even more since I pay less than that.

Diving multiple times a week is a nice luxury…. I’m jealous


One of my regular dives is prohibitive on OC…. Still very doable on OC (3 gas switches).. doubles, stage and O2 deco, or it is a ‘recreational’ no deco dive on CCR. 3hrs avg depth of 15m…


_R

I think it more then just "potential" saving is more guaranteed savings and it happens a lot faster then 5 years. More like in a couple months

I know I was talking about sub 100m dives ok so maybe thats not a realistic normal dive for most. Lets pick a simple 60m-70m range dive. Below is pretty standard type dive I do 2-3 times a week, I attached a quick multideco plan below

For simplicity lets use a 17/45 bottom gas, 50% and O2 for deco. Also lets assume diver is fit with a low SAC rate of 12l/min bottom phase and 9l/min deco phase.

In Indonesia user price right now for He is about $0.18 /liter and O2 is $0.03/liter

He: 2142l x $0.18 = $386
O2: 1335l x $0.03 = $40
Total: $426

$426 is not the fill price this is strictly just the cost of gas you would consume does not include any extras for a full tank fill plus rule of 1/3rds or whatever your using.

Normally do this dive 2-3 times a week so that is $1,278 in gas every week if I was on OC

On my rebreather I am spending about $120 per week.

$10,000/$426 = 23 dives

In 23 dives you would pay for an expensive rebreather. Going on 23 dive is nothing this would happen alot faster then 5 years. For me this would happen in 2-3 months of diving.

But lets say you dont dive that often maybe 35 dives a year. So that is 35 x $426 = $14,910
If you do that for 5 year in a row. $14,910 x 5 = $74,550

5 years of OC trimix diving at only 35 dives a year is a $74,550 gas bill. And that is for infrequent diving, 35 dives a year is nothing I know there are lots that are doing way way more that that. I know I probably average about 100 trimix dives a year (and even this is not that many compared to instructors). Image what that OC gas bill would be

Lastly this $10,000 price tag for a unit is for top the line new unit. Remember you can buy used also. Just noticed 45min ago someone posed an SF2 for $4,500 SF2 ECCR for Sale
and befor that there was a JJ for $7,300 For Sale - JJ CCR

View attachment 705496

 

[Miyaru]

In Indonesia user price right now for He is about $0.18 /liter and O2 is $0.03/liter

He: 2142l x $0.18 = $386
O2: 1335l x $0.03 = $40
Total: $426

Wow.
With those prices, H2 is becoming a serious He replacement candidate.

 

[inquis]

$0.18/L works out to $11-12/cuft! Unless my math is horribly wrong

Yes, math is off. Works out to about $5/cuft. (~28 liters per cuft)

 

[_Ralph]

Yes, math is off. Works out to about $5/cuft. (~28 liters per cuft)

Thanks!

I do everything else metric, except for gas pricing and blending, as everything here is cuft… and reading 1psi is easier than .1bar on my blending gauges

_R

 

[Marie13]

It depends on your geographic location. In California, expect to pay $2.00cft. I believe they pay the same near the Great Lakes region. Pesonally, I have a spare tank. I have my shop transfill the trimix into this spare tank while they perform yearly service on the tank and the manifold.

Eastern end of the Great Lakes (MI/OH), $2.50/cft from two sources I personally know. Western end of the Great Lakes, IL/WI, try $4.60-$5/cft last year. I personally paid $4.60 at a dive shop in the western Chicago burbs. My tech instructor's shop in Madison, WI was charging $5/cft last I checked into it. Virtually all CCR divers out of that shop. For 20/20 for my Helitrox class, it was about $90 just for the helium (20%) for a 3000 psi fill in one of my LP85s (dive SM). So $180 for the helium for one pair of 85s. I was getting fills at the same west suburban dive shop yesterday, and the owner told me someone had recently called about helium availability. Right now, a T bottle in the Chicago area is going for $700. That doesn't include the delivery charge. Owner is hoping price comes down by spring. Last year it was $600 for a T bottle when I was paying $4.60/cft I hope to go CCR next year, but it doesn't fit into my dive goals for this year. I could drive to the Detroit area for $2.50/cft, but what with 10 hours round trip driving time, hotel cost (I wouldn't be doing that drive in one day), and the cost of gasoline, it's not cost effective. If I was already in the area, I'd definitely get the fills.

I get narced easy and the cost is worth every penny to me. The first dive to 115ft with 20/20 was amazing. I had an END of about 75-80ft.

This is my thread from last year on helium costs.

The Great Helium Hunt of 2021

AN/Helitrox starts in a couple of weeks. It’s going to be an adventure getting helium, so I decided to have some fun with it. I’m in the Chicago area and several shops do He fills. If they have it is another matter. Shop A - closest to me (still an hour), plus will overfill my 85s a bit...

scubaboard.com

 

[broncobowsher]

All this speak of $10k for break even. That is true if you throw the rebreather in the trash can when you are done with it. They do have value used, often quite a bit.

If you are a hobby jumper, and will be selling off everything in a few years, you can get a lot of money back. Buy used, sell used, you could just about be in it for the cost of training.