Why Argon

[victor]

Why do you use Argon to inflate dry suit / BC when you are deco diving?
I would have thought any extra air would be worth while carrying as a backup. You cannot breathe argon in an emergency.

 

[DepthCharge]

Why do you use Argon to inflate dry suit / BC when you are deco diving?
I would have thought any extra air would be worth while carrying as a backup. You cannot breathe argon in an emergency.

Argon is used primarily when you are diving trimix. You would get colder quicker if you used trimix for suit inflation as the helium will transfer heat quicker. Myself, I stopped using argon several years ago as I found little difference than just air. Of course I never did a "good" suit flush with argon. I just plugged it in and used it with what ever air was in the suit, effectively diluting the argon. Some say that you do notice a difference if you flush the suit 2-3 times with the argon. I never got that cold to have to worry about it.

 

[karstdvr]

cannot breathe argon in an emergency.

Some people will add a little oxygen to their argon bottle to make it a normoxic mix in case they needed this as a gas source in an emergency. Unfortunately argon is far more narcotic that nitrogen. I typically use air as an inflation gas,much cheaper and does the same. Some people used to use cardon dioxide,but this causes carbonic acid which is very unpleasant when you sweat.

 

[victor]

Thanks
Did not know about the heat transfer issues.
When you do long deco stops when you are just hanging around doing nothing, it must be easy to get cold. No exercise to generate heat.

I am going to do my trimix soon so I will need to think about this even though I intend to dive in warm water.

 

[Mako Mark]

honestly, I have to agree with depthcharge, I think that the whole argon thing is a little academic. If you have the money and you think it will help go for it. If you think a little extra layer of woolen underwear is cheaper and re usable, then go for it.

I havent used Argon, but I do know the cooling effects of helium. I would probably go for the extra underwear myself.

 

[Fat]

argon for me is like peeing in my wet sute

 

[rainman_02]

I was in a shop the other day that said to me: "You want argon in your suit inflation bottle?"

I said, "No, just air. I find no need for the argon on the dives I'm doing."

They said, "Well, an air fill is $5 and an argon fill is $6 so why not just get the argon?"

I said, "You're going to charge me $5 for less than 6 cuft of air? ***?"



It's almost as good as the comment I got from another dive shop recently: "I thought you were automatically in decompression if you had helium in your mix..."

 

[karstdvr]

I was in a shop the other day that said to me: "You want argon in your suit inflation bottle?"

I said, "No, just air. I find no need for the argon on the dives I'm doing."

They said, "Well, an air fill is $5 and an argon fill is $6 so why not just get the argon?"

I said, "You're going to charge me $5 for less than 6 cuft of air? ***?"



It's almost as good as the comment I got from another dive shop recently: "I thought you were automatically in decompression if you had helium in your mix..."

That is a pretty ******. Most places will fill my bottle for free,or I will use a transfer whip.