Why get Nitrox certified?

[beaverdivers]

We do blend nitrox up in the Rocky Mnts. We use it for training, altitude and rebreather dives.
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I believe most the dive shops in Colorado offer nitrox.

I agree that if a fill source absolutely only has air, then there is no chance of a mix up. So you don't need to test your mix.
As far as TDI having an official position, I will give Brian a call.

However as a TDI instructor, I teach that you should always test your mix. It doesn't matter if you think it is 32...28...25...21...19...18.

I know almost every place that we dive they offer nitrox.

Of course, we don't dive with operations that don't offer nitrox.

 

[boulderjohn]

Of course, we don't dive with operations that don't offer nitrox.

That's great. You get to snub your nose at all the front range shops I know that don't offer it on their own. I bet any one of those shops reading that post must feel very ashamed that they are not spending the money necessary to keep industrial O2 tanks on hand in case a local diver wants nitrox for a dive at Chatfield Reservoir (maximum depth = 21 feet) or Aurora Reservoir (maximum depth = 35 feet). (They will get it for you, but to do so, they will purchase it from the shops that do blend their own.)

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

My local dives are all altitude (4200') and its way too easy to hit NDL with lots of gas left in the tank. Plus the SI time in winter is not so fun. Add to that the time and cost of driving 165 miles each way and the added cost of Nitrox is easy to justify.

I don't really miss it on So Cal dive boats, the sun is warm, there is plenty to see at modest depths and the boat crew controls the SI and dive time so NDL is not a big issue and its not worth the extra $$

 

[beaverdivers]

John,

I don't know any shops that don't offer nitrox in Colorado. My comment was not intended to snub anyone, just to point out that most Colorado shops have nitrox.

They must have nitrox to teach nitrox, even if they get it from someone else. I believe all Colorad shops offer nitrox.

My statement: "We don't dive with operations that don't offer nitrox." was directed at operations around the world.

Yes, my message is if you don't get nitrox then we are going somewhere else.

I have had this discussion with many operations ( WAKATOBI, Bilikiki, etc. ) over the years.

Now, they offer nitrox.

Yes, we are demanding a higher standard.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

Something that I don't think has been mentioned is nitrogen narcosis. My 18 year old son is Nitrox certified with about 20 dives. He was working on his deep dive for AOW in February in the Blue Grotto in Florida. He had to write his name backwards before gearing up while the instructor timed him and another student in his 30's. They then went down to about 90' and both wrote their names backwards faster at depth. The instructor and her assistant both were expecting the students to be slower at 90'. They decided it must have been the nitrox (both were breathing 32%).

It might have been that the instructor and assistant were breathing air instead so they were confused.

 

[PfcAJ]

There is no evidence to support the idea that nitrox is less narcotic than air (as far as I know. If someone has an paper to suggest otherwise, I'd like to see it). Oxygen is probably narcotic (Meyer-Overton hypothesis even suggests a higher narcotic potential than nitrogen) , but to what degree is controversial due to metabolism. However, we know that not ALL the oxygen you inspire is metabolized (even on the surface you exhale roughly 16% oxygen).

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't know any shops that don't offer nitrox in Colorado. My comment was not intended to snub anyone, just to point out that most Colorado shops have nitrox.

They must have nitrox to teach nitrox, even if they get it from someone else. I believe all Colorad shops offer nitrox.

I sent names via PM.

When I first started teaching nitrox class, the shop I was associated with then used its only tank with nitrox in it for the part where students learn to test it. They had had it filled elsewhere. The shop with which I am associated now does the same thing. As I said, if they really need it, they will go to one of the shops that does make their own nitrox for the fills.

The most popular places for OW instruction dives in the Rocky Mountain region are probably the Blue Hole in New Mexico and Homestead Crater in Utah, and since you can't get nitrox at either site, you had better bring your own if you insist on it.

The fact that you proudly say you will only patronize places that offer nitrox implies that there are places that don't, which is all I said.

 

[boulderjohn]

Something that I don't think has been mentioned is nitrogen narcosis. My 18 year old son is Nitrox certified with about 20 dives. He was working on his deep dive for AOW in February in the Blue Grotto in Florida. He had to write his name backwards before gearing up while the instructor timed him and another student in his 30's. They then went down to about 90' and both wrote their names backwards faster at depth. The instructor and her assistant both were expecting the students to be slower at 90'. They decided it must have been the nitrox (both were breathing 32%).

The fact that students can often do those exercises faster at depth than on the surface, most likely because they practiced it first on the surface, is the main reason PADI discontinued them on the AOW deep dive a couple of years ago.

As PfcAJ said, there is no evidence that nitrox is less narcotic than air.