Pros and Cons of Nitrox: What are they?

[ScubaTexas]

What are the pro and cons of diving using Nitrox?

 

[ScubaK-Dawg]

What are the pro and cons of diving using Nitrox?

Pro:
Longer no decompression times
Shorter surface intervals

Con:
Depth limitations due to higher partial pressures of O2 (oxygen toxicity

 

[glbirch]

What are the pro and cons of diving using Nitrox?

Pros:
EITHER
-longer no-deco, shorter surface intervals, longer repetative dives
OR
-increased safety through lower N2 absorption

Cons
-reduced max depth limits
-more training required
-higher cost
-potential requirement for special equipment (O2 analyzers, O2 ready regs)
-not always available
-increased potential risk of O2 toxicity from higher ppO2.

I knew keeping the manual would be good for something.

 

[String]

Another con, it limits your choice of sites a bit.

If you have a specific nitrox mix in your tanks, head out to sea and discover conditions arent what was expected and you elect to change sites you could find your mix is inappropriate for the depth.

Its a particular issue here where we often decide the site while on the water once we can gauge local conditions, depths can range from 8m to 40m so obviously customising a mix is hard.

--

If all the possible dive areas are shallow, say 20m or less then i cant see any cons for always carrying nitrox.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

In addition to those already mentioned...

Cons:

• Lack of availability of nitrox in some locations is a problem. When available, it may not be the exact blend you would prefer.
• Greater complexity in dive planning. Tables are readily available for standards mixes, but some non-standard mixes necessitate Equivalent Air Depth conversions or else using only a computer for dive planning.
• Special equipment preparation may be necessary in certain circumstances. Oxygen cleaning of cylinders to be used for partial pressure blending should be carried out.

Pros:

• Nitrox provides accelerated decompression and is widely utilized by tech divers.
• Various nitrox blends allow for even smaller cylinders and more efficient gas usage when diving rebreathers.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Ditto the problem of limited depths. I keep a pair of tanks with 32%, 36% and 26% on the boat along with several tanks of air, but then I own 20 tanks. If you only have one or two tanks and both are filled with Nitrox, you run the risk of having the wrong mix along for the dive and the MOD for the mix is a hard limit that you do not want to exceed.

Nitrox will allow longer bottom times within the NDL's and will allow longer bottom times for a given amount of deco than the same dive on air.

But then again depending on the dive profile, you can get the same bottom time for the same or slightly less deco using air for the backgas and an accellerated 50% deco mix. Same deco time but less O2 used so it is actually a bit more economical than using Nitrox for the bottom mix.

 

[ScubaTexas]

If using less than a 40% mix, can you use your regulator interchangeably with Nitrox and air? Or must I have one regulator dedicated to use on Nitrox and another dedicated to air?

 

[MechDiver]

If using less than a 40% mix, can you use your regulator interchangeably with Nitrox and air?

Yes.

If you do a search here on "nitrox" you'll find hundreds of posts that talk about all your questions.

 

[Hemlon]

Yikes, If I have to have a Nitrox-dedicated reg, that's gonna' be expensive! (I just bought my first reg last month!)

 

[Lead_carrier]

If using less than a 40% mix, can you use your regulator interchangeably with Nitrox and air? Or must I have one regulator dedicated to use on Nitrox and another dedicated to air?

You can use air and EANx with MOST regs. There are a few out there, especially some of the old first stages, that the manufacturers will not certify for EANx. For the newer regs 99% are compatible right off the shelf, unless you have an crooked dealer that makes you pay to have it serviced to see if it is compatible.