What are the effects of scuba diving in oil?

[Rhone Man]

Interesting everyone assumed diving in pure oil - I was thinking back to diving on the Zenobia where there is a constant film of oil on the surface which neatly coats your gear at the exit of the dive... I could have used some tips with how to deal with that as well.

 

[j2s]

Canola or olive oil?

Xtra virgin or regular !!!!!

 

[Akimbo]

Commercial divers deal with this problem all the time. Short of the extreme cases like in Thal’s photo, attacking equipment and contaminating inside chambers are the main problems. We will often pump large volumes of uncontaminated water from depth and spray fire hoses on the surface at the entry point. It is pretty hard to bring a diver up from his last stop, undress him, decontaminate him, and get him back down to 60' on pure oxygen in the chamber within the five minutes allowed.

On do-decompression dives, the same effort is made to protect the equipment, but wetsuits and neck seals on hats are often consumables. It is surprising how simply wearing coveralls will prolong the life of a wetsuit several times. Umbilicals are made from hydrocarbon resistant materials. We don't use BCs. Most hydrocarbons commercial divers contend with are heavier crude and fuels that are not as corrosive as the lighter distillates like gasoline.

Safety harnesses are usually riveted together with stainless or Monel instead of sewn because the threads are attacked by hydrocarbon films and fail unexpectedly. That is why a lot of surface divers prefer the impregnated Black harness material over the more flexible, comfortable, and absorbent Blue material used by saturation divers who never dive through the air-sea interface.

See: Miller Harnesses

 

[dmoore19]

Aniline point is an indicator of how destructive the "oil" can be to elastomers. The higher the Aniline point the less problems you have with seals. The lower the aniline point the more problems there are with destroying elastomers. Most crude has a higher aniline point than refined products such as gasoline.

 

[Ayisha]

I had a similar question to the OP in response to a thread last year that many of the divers that were working to clean up the Gulf after the BP oil spill had already been diagnosed with cancers, presumably due to their exposure. I had asked if there could be any ill effects from diving in/around a wreck that is seeping oil from the holds, like the America on the U.S. side of the St Lawrence river. We dive there once or twice each summer. I stopped penetrating it years ago when the oil started seeping out. No one had answered the question on that thread.

So do you think there are exposure risks from diving around/in a wreck that is seeping smaller amounts of oil?

 

[Thalassamania]

The worst dive I ever had to make was in a tank of hot paint pigment to retrieve a wrench that was jamming a valve at the bottom. To complicate things there where hectically staggered stir bars that I had to thread my way through. Amazing what you'll do for money when you're young and stupid and the pay is good.

Surface supplied with a "cold water" suit.

 

[Kevrumbo]

In Chuuk Lagoon, you still have fuel oil leaking from the nearly 70 year old wrecks; on a calm day you can see the oil sheen & smell the odor (especially on the Aikoku Maru), and at times taste it through your regulator as you surface. The petroleum product you really have to watch out for on the wrecks is Aviation Gas (AvGas) -charaterized by a white milky haze suspended in the water or present in the silt stirred-up inside a cargo hold with leaky fuel drums- which can cause an immediate & painful chemical burn to the skin. . .

 

[Steve50]

much greater chance you'll be solo

 

[irishsquid]

Interesting everyone assumed diving in pure oil - I was thinking back to diving on the Zenobia where there is a constant film of oil on the surface which neatly coats your gear at the exit of the dive... I could have used some tips with how to deal with that as well.

I saw the question in context as you, however; this thread had some classically humorous answers and enjoyed it somewhat. I notice the OP hasn't returned. I hope he does. There are some good answers and probably more will show up.

 

[CamG]

Sorry for the hijack!
Thalassamania would you please consider writing a book of your experiences.
I for one would love to read of your dives and their nature.
I find many of the Commercial Divers to have rich experiences that many of us would enjoy reading.
Why? Because divers like myself realize the difficulty and danger you and divers like you face everyday.
This is your choice and we live vicariously through your deeds!
Just the truth no bs.

The only time I dove with contaminates it was on a recovery of an ATV via honey combed ice with a lot of gas / oil under the ice from the ATV and boat exhaust.
It does eat dry suit seals for a fact but insurance companies pay well!

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!