Air divers and nitrox divers, acceptable buddies?

[JoeFL]

I have a friend who dives nitrox, and I only dive air (so far). We haven't dove together, but we are planning to. Is there any risk to either of us in sharing a tank (switching from air to nitrox or nitrox to air) for the five minutes or so of ascent in the event of an emergency?

Any info would be appreciated.

-Joe

 

[SDAnderson]

Assuming that you both plan for and observe the more conservative applicable limits (EAN divers can't dive as deep, air divers can't dive as long) you really don't need to worry about the air sharing implications.

Steven

 

[daylight]

JoeFL,
Welcome to the board. Good question.
You should use the Nitrox diver's MOD to determine max depth of the dive. For the SI, I would use the air divers schedule. Generally, just dive it as an air dive for both divers except for the MOD.
Go ahead and get your Nitrox Cert.
Enjoy and Dive Safe.
Larry

 

[O-ring]

daylight once bubbled...
JoeFL,
Welcome to the board. Good question.
You should use the Nitrox diver's MOD to determine max depth of the dive. For the SI, I would use the air divers schedule. Generally, just dive it as an air dive for both divers except for the MOD.
Go ahead and get your Nitrox Cert.
Enjoy and Dive Safe.
Larry

Dive your MOD and dive an air schedule..

 

[scubasean]

O-ring once bubbled...

Dive your MOD and dive an air schedule..

I may have missed something, but Joe said he dove air, and his buddy dives Nitrox...

So, he wants to dive the nitrox MOD...(not his...) right?

 

[O-ring]

scubasean once bubbled...


I may have missed something, but Joe said he dove air, and his buddy dives Nitrox...

So, he wants to dive the nitrox MOD...(not his...) right?

Oops, yeah, I read it wrong...dive the nitrox guy's MOD and the air guys schedule/table.

 

[Big-t-2538]

Nitrox MOD....air table/surface intereval.

No worries about an emergency so long as you both have enough gas on reserve for each other.

 

[tigerdiver]

Well, one of the reasons I decided to get Nitrox certified was to have it available as an option on types of diving. Just because I can dive Nitrox doesn't mean I always do. It depends on the dive. So I would at least consider getting Nitrox certified.

As far as your question is concerned it is not advisable to dive with a Nitrox buddy while you are on air IMO. There are numerous differences and considerations with Nitrox vs Air that could cause difficulties.

If you plan to dive with a Nitrox buddy you will have to plan the dive conservatively (not that anyone plans a non-conservative dive.) Your Nitrox buddy has depth limitations that you do not and you have time limitations that he will not. So you will have to use your max bottom time as a parameter and his max depth as another when planning your dive.

With all of that said, I think in an emergent situation switching air to nitrox or vice versa to complete a 3-5 min safety stop at 15 fsw or an out of air situation may be acceptable. I am not an instructor and have only been recently certified in Nitrox. At the minimum I would not dive again after that situation for 12-24 hours to allow for a "re-set" of your off gassing.

Just my $.02.

 

[JoeFL]

Any dives we did would be within both our limits as far as depth and time. We would stay above his max depth on nitrox, and use dive times based on air. Well, we'd both be diving with computers, but we would be restricted to my no deco times due to air... that's not a problem (for me anyway...ha ha).

I do plan on getting nitrox certified after I do my AOW, But financial considerations keep them a little low on my priority list. Hopefully I will do both this year.

Thanks again.

By the way, I just stumbled across this board about a month ago. You guys have a pretty good thing going here. Lots of good info and entertainment. I will be back.

Later,
-Joe

 

[joens]

scubasean once bubbled...


I may have missed something, but Joe said he dove air, and his buddy dives Nitrox...

So, he wants to dive the nitrox MOD...(not his...) right?

Yes ,but I am not sure what you are questioning .The MOD for any mixture of nitrox will be shallower than air .if Joe is diving air he could go deeper than his buddy who is on nitrox .if he is willing to limit his depth to the depth his buddy can go.there is no problem there . and if they both plan their dive based on the air tables when considering surface intervals,bottom times ,etc if joe has to use his buddies nitrox in an emergency there will be no problem as long as they also keep track of and dont exceed his buddies O2 loading .Joe will never take in more O2 in an air sharing 5 minutes than his buddy did the whole dive.
Joens

PS after I posted I saw what you were questioning in O-Rings post .