SSI Nitrox Course

Hello,

A local dive shop is offering a nitrox course through my college dive club, and I have a few questions. I am PADI certified, and have no experience with SSI...the course requires no dives...is that the norm? Also I know this question has been answered many times before but I am still a little fuzzy on the subject: I have an Atomic Aquatics Z1 which atomic says that it is ready for up to 40% EAN/nitrox...the reg was just serviced three dives ago, do I need to have it cleaned? And if so if I dive air do I need to have it cleaned again prior to diving nitrox?

Thanks,
Adam

iflyprops once bubbled...
Hello,

A local dive shop is offering a nitrox course through my college dive club, and I have a few questions. I am PADI certified, and have no experience with SSI...the course requires no dives...is that the norm? Also I know this question has been answered many times before but I am still a little fuzzy on the subject: I have an Atomic Aquatics Z1 which atomic says that it is ready for up to 40% EAN/nitrox...the reg was just serviced three dives ago, do I need to have it cleaned? And if so if I dive air do I need to have it cleaned again prior to diving nitrox?

Thanks,
Adam

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how you can be fuzzy on a simple yes or no question that's been answered a thousand times here...but for 1001 and 1002...

no
no

Also, no dives for a nitrox class is not the norm.

Oh, and polls are stupid and a waste of time. Just ask the question.

I'm taking Nitrox through SDI this Saturday. No dives are required.

The week after next I'll be diving Nitrox on my MK25/S600 without having O2 cleaned.

The only way that you have to have equipment (besides tanks if you need to fill with the Partial Pressure method which is covered in the course), is if you dive over forty percent oxygen. As the limits of an SSI Nitrox Cert only take you up to EAN40, you will be all set.

In short, for safety you can treat any mix of EAN40 or below the same as air.

Congratulations on learning Nitrox diving you will find that the only differences between diving Nitrox and air involve planning and equipment issues with some math thrown it to cover the different Nitrogen content of the breathing gas. So, no dives are typically required.

Good luck and safe diving!

I don't think you'll find much variation in the Nitrox courses offered by different agencies. Some require dives, some don't. The ones that require dives are frequently more expensive. My opinion on this matter is well known, but I think the dives can be a waste of time...breathing nitrox doesn't make you a nitrox diver. Learning the math, physics, and physiology is what is important and that can all be gotten in a classroom. I did my nitrox course through SSI because it was 1/3 the cost of other agencies locally.

This is not to say that I don't support paying more for better training, but in this case, it's stuff that can be learned anywhere. The "instruction quality" isn't so important.

On a side note...agencies usually mean nothing. Go with the best instructor. This is one rare exception.

SSI doesn't require dives - but plenty of SSI instructors do. SSI leaves it up to the individual instructor - 'round here most of them require the dives.
E.

Soggy once bubbled...
I don't think you'll find much variation in the Nitrox courses offered by different agencies. Some require dives, some don't. The ones that require dives are frequently more expensive. My opinion on this matter is well known, but I think the dives can be a waste of time...breathing nitrox doesn't make you a nitrox diver. Learning the math, physics, and physiology is what is important and that can all be gotten in a classroom. I did my nitrox course through SSI because it was 1/3 the cost of other agencies locally.

This is not to say that I don't support paying more for better training, but in this case, it's stuff that can be learned anywhere. The "instruction quality" isn't so important.

On a side note...agencies usually mean nothing. Go with the best instructor. This is one rare exception.

Click to expand...

Just a little info for fun: NAUI offers it with or without the dives, the only difference is what the card looks like and the cost. The class is the same.:mean:

SSI is a great training agency. They have been around since the early 1960s, although they changed their name at one point. They have been around longer than PADI, although not as large currently as PADI.

SSI's basic nitrox course is a typical entry level nitrox course that uses charts and tables and that gives you an appreciation of the increased bottom times that nitrox offers. They also teach you the basics of oxygen clock calculations for CNS and pulmonary ox tox limitations.

You do not need to have your regulator cleaned for EANx mixtures of 40% or less. But you do need to have your tanks and tank valves cleaned and prepared for nitrox fills.

If you go on, to advanced technical nitrox, where you would be using EANx fills of 50% on up, THEN you would need to get your 2nd stage regulators cleaned. Advanced technical nitrox is formula driven rather than chart driven. With the higher fractions of oxygen in the advanced mixes, CNS ox tox limitations become more critical. But that is not an issue for basic nitrox at all, although basic nitrox teaches you to be aware of it.

I am not SSI affiliated, so you can consider my info as unbiased.

plsdiver4377 once bubbled...


Just a little info for fun: NAUI offers it with or without the dives, the only difference is what the card looks like and the cost. The class is the same.:mean:

Click to expand...

Last time I checked my NAUI instructor standards, there was no choice regarding the required dives for the basic nitrox class.

Where did you get your information?

Karl_in_Calif once bubbled...

But you do need to have your tanks and tank valves cleaned and prepared for nitrox fills.

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That would ONLY be necessary if PP blending is used. What does that have to do with SSI, or any other agency for that matter?
If the shop putting on the class uses CB mixing, there is no need to O2 clean tanks.

MD