Nitrox - Is it "worth it"?

[Tribal]

My conclusion is that this is a small difference and supports my thesis. For rec dives the difference in off gassing during ascent between air and 32% is negligible.

It’s clear to me what you compare. But nobody will dive on air and then take 32% to ascent. If you do the comparison of the entire dive on 21% or 32% there will be difference.

 

[Diver-Drex]

It’s clear to me what you compare. But nobody will dive on air and then take 32% to ascent. If you do the comparison of the entire dive on 21% or 32% there will be difference.

Ugh...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Does anyone here routinely dive nitrox on air settings as a safety margin?

Since there is only a fraction of a percentage in the reduction of DCS cases using nitrox versus air, you are cheating yourself of the actual benefit of diving nitrox. I prefer knowing what I'm breathing and my actual ndl status during any point in the dive rather than thinking I'm "probably" OK because I gave myself a huge buffer If you ever had to go to a chamber, they are going to look at your computer, which will give them false information about your dive.

 

[Carly Bradley]

I have been diving Enriched air/Nitrox, for most of my diving career. I also ended up in the chamber in Cozumel with about 475 dives under my belt, and no definitive reason as to why I ended up with skin benz type 2 with neurological involvement. I had 5 days of chamber treatments.

I now have a little over 700 dives under my belt, and I always recommend Nitrox to everyone.

When we go down to depth, our computers/dive tables, are basing calculations on theoretical numbers, these numbers came from young healthy individuals. When we are under the water, we don't have wires directly monitoring our nitrogen load.

All of our bodies off gas differently. As we age, our bodies are less efficient at releasing nitrogen, also bone density, scar tissue, fatty tissues, make nitrogen harder to release.

Diving enriched air reduces the chance of getting nitrogen narcosis. Clearly there is no guarantee.

In addition to the above, you can get more bottom time, shorter surface intervals, and you feel less tired. Personally, I don't use it to extend my bottom time. I use it as an additional precaution.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Diving enriched air reduces the chance of getting nitrogen narcosis. Clearly there is no guarantee.

In addition to the above, you can get more bottom time, shorter surface intervals, and you feel less tired. Personally, I don't use it to extend my bottom time. I use it as an additional precaution.

Current thinking is that oxygen is as narcotic as nitrogen or even more so. Nitrox does not reduce narcosis. If you feel less tired, congratulations. The placebo effect works for you. There is no scientific evidence that backs up your claim.

 

[yle]

And by "worth it" I mean, in your opinion, what type of diving (frequency, etc) is Nitrox a benefit, etc.

You just never know. For any given dive, it's possible that you'll be just fine on air and you'll be just fine with nitrox. In one sense it's a form of insurance. The only difference is that if you use nitrox and come out of the dive just fine, you'll never know if you could have used air instead.

Life is full of risks and rewards, and the cost of mitigating risk entirely depends on an individual's preferences. Which is why you'll get a wide variety of responses to your question. But the only one that matters is the one that you decide fits your personal risk-reward-cost profile.

(Personally, I nearly always use nitrox when available because I frequently dive with my 70-year old mother and the cost of nitrox is relatively trivial for both of us.)

 

[yle]

Nitrox is really becoming the recreational dive gas. There are dive operators and boats that are now "Nitrox Only." They just don't do air anymore. I just got back from Grenada and the op there recently removed their surcharge for Nitrox. It's the same price as air. The owner told me after the 1st of the year, he was going to add a surcharge to air instead in an effort to eliminate it from his business.

Interesting... I certainly haven't been everywhere, but I've been a lot of places. I have never seen or heard of this. Everywhere I've been and seen is still very much air by default, nitrox for a select few.

Haven't been to Genada, but it sounds (to me) like a very unique place. There is no possible way that producing nitrox is more economically viable than compressed air. What would a "nitrox only" shop do for divers that are not nitrox certed?

 

[yle]

That headache was pretty debilitating and even made me a bit nauseous. I was told later that I'd have felt better had I switched to EAN. Not sure how much truth there is to that but increased oxygen intake to curb a headache sort of seems like it makes sense.

Your body does nothing with the excess oxygen in nitrox. If you breathe in air, with 21% oxygen, your body will use about 5% of that 21%... the other 16% sits in your lungs until you exhale it.

Which is why CPR can be effective: you exhale gas that is 16% oxygen, and the unconscious person can use some of that O2 (hopefully...)

If you breathe in enriched air of 32% oxygen, your body will use 5% and the other 27% sits in your lungs until you exhale it.

The increased oxygen in nitrox has no benefit. It's only the decreased amount of nitrogen that matters.

 

[yle]

And to what extent is it worth the cost to certify, etc.?" I guess I'm trying to weigh the realistic amount of diving frequency while we're there with the cost of $300 bucks to get us both certified before we go. Realistically, I see us doing a couple dives before lunch each day, having a surface interval that involves stopping somewhere to eat and taking our time there, then doing one or two in the afternoon (depending on if we feel like hanging out at the pool or not, haha), including a couple of night dives while we're there. We'll be diving for 6 days.

Sounds like the diving you'll be doing will be limited by your gas supply (i.e. shallower than 60 feet) and not by your NDL. Which means...

the cost to get nitrox certified for the long run (i.e. the rest of your diving future!) is well worth it

the cost of nitrox cert just for this trip is probably not worth it.

So... if you plan to dive in the future, even irregularly, invest in the nitrox class. Once you have it, you'll use it, even just occasionally. And you'll learn some interesting stuff in the class. And then you'll have the chance to use a nitrox tank a few times (you don't need it for every dive...) during your trip.

Even better, if you're switching back and forth from air to nitrox during your trip, you'll get a lot of practice at working the settings of your dive computer, maybe reading through the manual. There's a lot of secondary benefits to doing the nitrox class that are good for your diving experience in general.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

And by "worth it" I mean, in your opinion, what type of diving (frequency, etc) is Nitrox a benefit, etc. I've done a little research into this and figured as part of that research I might as well ask for opinions here amongst veteran divers and those who have used Nitrox. My wife and I are going to take our first trip to Bonaire this January. Super excited by the way. We are both experienced divers but have never felt we had the "need" for Nitrox certification since we've mostly done boat dives with charters or on our own and seldom dive deep, preferring longer bottom times.

As soon as we told our local people here we were going to Bonaire, the first thing they said is, "You should get Nitrox certified." They explained, and I found through my research, the benefits of shortened surface interval times and all that, which I understand. But really, my question is this, "How much diving do you need to be doing to NEED the shortened interval times? And to what extent is it worth the cost to certify, etc.?" I guess I'm trying to weigh the realistic amount of diving frequency while we're there with the cost of $300 bucks to get us both certified before we go. Realistically, I see us doing a couple dives before lunch each day, having a surface interval that involves stopping somewhere to eat and taking our time there, then doing one or two in the afternoon (depending on if we feel like hanging out at the pool or not, haha), including a couple of night dives while we're there. We'll be diving for 6 days. I know each person's dive profile and all that factor into the equation, but the sites there are pretty set in relative depth, etc and most people I would guess would have similar profiles for reef/shore diving there. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!

If you are not nitrox certified it limits you. As much money as we spend on diving and dive vacations Id say 300 bucks for two of you is well spent. all the pros and cons in the world wont change the fact NOT being nitrox certified is a self imposed limitation.

Options are better than no options