Metric versus Imperial System for Diving?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Status
Not open for further replies.

drrich2

Contributor
Messages
11,263
Reaction score
10,414
Location
Southwestern Kentucky
# of dives
500 - 999


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread has been split off (and cleaned up) from another thread. The original thread may be found here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/q-...ican-divers-get-no-respect-4.html#post7250658 As it has now been moved [-]to the Basic Diving Forum,[/-] please remember the special rules of this forum to be friendly and polite. Marg, SB Senior Moderator



A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread has been copied to the pub and closed here.


All other things being equal, yes, metric would be easier to work with. For people raised up using it from early childhood, and using it regularly in every day life, it would be.

But in the U.S., most of us aren't that. If you say something is 30 km away, I'd think 'Okay, a km is about 0.6 miles, 30 x 0.6 = 18 miles. If you say you weigh 100 kg, I'll say 1 kg = 2.2 lbs, so you're around 220 lbs. That lack of fluid instinctive familiarity, coupled with the fact most of us find Imperial quite serviceable for our actual diving usage, has opposed greater metric penetration.

And a lot of people don't quickly gain familiarity. I've used metric extensively back in college in science classes. Was taught metric back in grade school if memory serves. Despite all that, I think intuitively think in Imperial. Metric will probably always be my '2nd language' of measurement out in the 'real world.'

Except at work, where medication dosage is in mg.

Often pushing metric for U.S. scuba divers is like the repetitive threads pushing DIN over Yoke connections; it's a better solution for something most of us aren't having much of a problem with.

Richard.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
But have you ever had to use a scuba tank filled with that foul tasting foreign BAR gas?

Look, it took me years before I stopped automatically estimating distances in 'klicks' (Km). I wasn't really a civilian in my mind until all that was gone.

Of course, it's never really gone.

I may have mastered km and meters. But I'm still inching my way through Celsius and Bar. Actually, bar is not that hard but forget about scuba tank sizes.
 
You get serious Holmes...

"Watson... it says right here that 30m is equal to 98.42511969ft."

AnnexRathboneBasilAdventuresofSherlockHolmesThe_NRFPT_01.jpg
 
I may have mastered km and meters. But I'm still inching my way through Celsius and Bar. Actually, bar is not that hard but forget about scuba tank sizes.

it's an interesting topic. being british, i use metric for some things and imperial measurements for other things. scuba has always been metric for me.
 
Really? I remember a long while ago, I got this killer deal on the sale at the local dive shop. Air integrated computer with hose and everything for like $75. Like new condition. So I screw it into my regulator and the damn thing is reading BARS instead of PSI.

i had no idea, but i figured.. I can just multiply by 15 or so.. shouldn't be that hard. So i jump in, solo, swim like hell to the wreck at 180 feet or so and the damn computer says I am at 523 ft or something. I have no back up computer or pressure gage, but I am pissed. Figure I better watch my air (X15) and use my watch and do what is close to my normal deco profile. I check the computer several times during the dive and FINALLY realize the damn depth is in meters... decimal meters....52.3 meters.

NOBODY needs their depth in decimals of meters.... you know how stupid that is to try to disceren decimals on a display?

I eventually learned to use the damn thing and just multiply the depth by 3 and a little bit and i eventually got used to bar and then in a year and a half it failed.. like every one of my other air integrated computers.

feet is better than decimal meters!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
it's an interesting topic. being british, i use metric for some things and imperial measurements for other things. scuba has always been metric for me.

I'm Mexican and use metric for depth, temperature and weight, but I like my tanks on PSI. Maybe it's because of the closeness to the US, their equipment and training. If you go to zones like Cozumel or the Gulf of California, where they're more used to American divers, they use Imperial for almost everything (maybe except temperature).
 
The units have nothing to do with being arrogant or stupid. It has to do with what one is comfortable with. It has to do with what one is taught.

Yes I see the advantage of Metric. Problem is I am not used to dealing with liters, kilo anything, and bar. I'm 60+ and will probably just have to deal with the rough conversions to metric when reading scubaboard. My gear is all imperial units, it's what I understand without thinking about it. Why would I, at my age, want to have to go through the mental process to convert something while I am diving because somebody says metric is better. I understand the calculations in imperial and can use them. Seems to me until we are taught to understand the numbers without thinking about it, there is a safety factor involved. We are supposed to be comfortable in the water right? And remember, -40C=-40F.:D
 


---------- Post added October 8th, 2014 at 12:49 AM ----------

Really? I remember a long while ago, I got this killer deal on the sale at the local dive shop. Air integrated computer with hose and everything for like $75. Like new condition. So I screw it into my regulator and the damn thing is reading BARS instead of PSI.

i had no idea, but i figured.. I can just multiply by 15 or so.. shouldn't be that hard. So i jump in, solo, swim like hell to the wreck at 180 feet or so and the damn computer says I am at 523 ft or something. I have no back up computer or pressure gage, but I am pissed. Figure I better watch my air (X15) and use my watch and do what is close to my normal deco profile. I check the computer several times during the dive and FINALLY realize the damn depth is in meters... decimal meters....52.3 meters.

NOBODY needs their depth in decimals of meters.... you know how stupid that is to try to disceren decimals on a display?

I eventually learned to use the damn thing and just multiply the depth by 3 and a little bit and i eventually got used to bar and then in a year and a half it failed.. like every one of my other air integrated computers.

feet is better than decimal meters!

The units have nothing to do with being arrogant or stupid. It has to do with what one is comfortable with. It has to do with what one is taught.

Yes I see the advantage of Metric. Problem is I am not used to dealing with liters, kilo anything, and bar. I'm 60+ and will probably just have to deal with the rough conversions to metric when reading scubaboard. My gear is all imperial units, it's what I understand without thinking about it. Why would I, at my age, want to have to go through the mental process to convert something while I am diving because somebody says metric is better. I understand the calculations in imperial and can use them. Seems to me until we are taught to understand the numbers without thinking about it, there is a safety factor involved. We are supposed to be comfortable in the water right? And remember, -40C=-40F.:D
What is so difficult to comprehend about working with multiples of 1 bar/min breathing gas Surface Consumption Rate in Metric versus 14.5 psi/min in US Imperial Units??? You've got no excuse, justification or rationale if you don't even try & understand. . .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We, Europeans, had to convert from our local currencies to Euros. I am 65 years old and I have no problem with it.:D

Everybody agree that the metric system is way simpler and efficient than imperial. To take one example: the volume of bottles is in cubic feet, but that is NOT the volume of the bottle, this is the volume of gaz that can be stored in the bottle, but at one atmosphere. Give us a brake!:eyebrow:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Metric is a doddle to use in diving.

Ambient pressure at depth? Divide depth by ten and add one e.g. 35m = 4.5 bar.

Air available in a cylinder? Multiply cylinder volume by pressure e.g. 12 litre cylinder at 200 bar = 2400 litres

Displacement? 1 litre of air displaces 1 litre of fresh water which weighs 1kg giving an upthrust of 1kg.

Way simpler than imperial.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top Bottom