The insulating qualities of argon compared to air has been challenged in some studies, but many divers swear by it. It is definitely better than helium, though.
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I thought argon was used for drysuit gas inflation since it was thought to have better insulative properties than regular air. AFAIK, this hasn't been proven by any scientific study, but anecdotal reports support the notion.
The helium gas present in trimix has higher thermal conductivity than either argon or regular air. For tech divers using helium, I think a stronger case can be made to have a dedicated drysuit inflation bottle.
But, then again, I'm not a tech diver using helium mix, I don't use argon, and I don't have a dedicated drysuit inflation bottle. What do I know?
The insulating qualities of argon compared to air has been challenged in some studies, but many divers swear by it. It is definitely better than helium, though.
Like I said, I could have been making it up. I swear I found something at some point in time that one of the gasses, O2 or N2, at higher partial pressures can create some sort of acid when it comes in contact with perspiration causing the diver to get a rash.
Is a "purge cycle" defined as filling the drysuit completely (Michelin man-style) and then exhausting the suit completely? If so, I wonder how much of the 16-20% of "total suit insulation value" while using argon would be lost if researchers did not do the 6 purge cycles. There must have been some reason that they did 6 cycles...and not 3...or 1.Pretty conclusive scientific evidence in favor of argon over air can be found in this recent study sponsored by the Office of Naval Research:
Rubicon Research Repository: Item 123456789/7789
Do note that suits were flushed of air for the argon trials (whether achieving such noted benefits actually requires six full flushes as opposed to less is not detailed).
Is a "purge cycle" defined as filling the drysuit completely (Michelin man-style) and then exhausting the suit completely? If so, I wonder how much of the 16-20% of "total suit insulation value" while using argon would be lost if researchers did not do the 6 purge cycles. There must have been some reason that they did 6 cycles...and not 3...or 1.
Do argon inflation drysuit divers typically do purge cycles prior to water entry?
How much of the argon bottle is consumed doing the necessary purge cycles?
I think the study supports the theoretical benefit of argon drysuit inflation. That says very little about the actual benefit argon inflation drysuit divers might experience in the real world without numerous purge cycles.
The study was only published as a meeting abstract. Usually, this comes in the form of a poster. Poster content is not typically peer-reviewed. (Not saying that any of the content of the abstract is out-and-out wrong.)
Sorry for the thread hi-jack.
It's TOTALLY meaningless. Totally. I can get 3-4 looong recreational dives off my AL6 inflation bottle. That's <2cf for the dry suit per dive. MEANINGLESS from a gas management perspective.
Argon? Just not worth the cost or effort IMO.
Oh yeah! It's very noticeable. That's a big part of the reason a lot of dry divers use a separate tank just for suit inflation.