Nitrox for 20 dives in 5 days?

[boulderjohn]

As far as free Nitrox? Never seen that anywhere.

I used to use a fill station in South Florida that offered your choice of air, 32%, 36%, or 40% with tank rentals, with no difference in price; however, I will admit that I generally see pretty high prices for a nitrox fill. For that reason, I will offer the following information about nitrox costs.

There is not a lot of use for nitrox in Colorado, where our deepest truly local diving is about 35 feet, so most shops do not offer it. It is only used on out-of-state trips to deeper water. My local dive shop uses nitrox for its instructors on such trips, and they get it from me. So does just about everyone else I know who uses nitrox, especially for decompression gas. I get oxygen from a supplier only when I am about to take one of those far off dive trips, and I don't get any special rate, since I am not a high volume user. I rent the supply cylinders for the time I have them. I have to drive about 35 miles each way to pick up and return the cylinders. I take them with me on the long trips to the deep dive site and mix gas there. I am not looking to make a big profit on this, so I charge enough to cover my costs for cylinder rental, gas, and added travel. I add a little more to cover the cost of the equipment I use for the partial pressure blending.

For what I charge people for the oxygen, a 32% mix comes to about $3.00, plus the air topoff. I would guess that if I had a dedicated fill station and a high volume gas supply, it might cost me about $1.00 per cylinder more to fill it with 32% than to fill it with air.

Keep that in mind the next time someone charges you $20-$25 more for a nitrox fill.

 

[Brett Hatch]

I used to use a fill station in South Florida that offered your choice of air, 32%, 36%, or 40% with tank rentals, with no difference in price; however, I will admit that I generally see pretty high prices for a nitrox fill. For that reason, I will offer the following information about nitrox costs.

There is not a lot of use for nitrox in Colorado, where our deepest truly local diving is about 35 feet, so most shops do not offer it. It is only used on out-of-state trips to deeper water. My local dive shop uses nitrox for its instructors on such trips, and they get it from me. So does just about everyone else I know who uses nitrox, especially for decompression gas. I get oxygen from a supplier only when I am about to take one of those far off dive trips, and I don't get any special rate, since I am not a high volume user. I rent the supply cylinders for the time I have them. I have to drive about 35 miles each way to pick up and return the cylinders. I take them with me on the long trips to the deep dive site and mix gas there. I am not looking to make a big profit on this, so I charge enough to cover my costs for cylinder rental, gas, and added travel. I add a little more to cover the cost of the equipment I use for the partial pressure blending.

For what I charge people for the oxygen, a 32% mix comes to about $3.00, plus the air topoff. I would guess that if I had a dedicated fill station and a high volume gas supply, it might cost me about $1.00 per cylinder more to fill it with 32% than to fill it with air.

Keep that in mind the next time someone charges you $20-$25 more for a nitrox fill.

I'm not going to argue against any of that. Just want to add that I was talking to a guy at my favorite LDS recently. They charge $5 for air, $10 for 32%, a flat $15 for O2 <= 40 cu ft, which I find very reasonable. He was saying that the up-charge for nitrox is basically a labor charge. They go out of their way to fill slowly, cool the tank, fill some more, cool the tank, top off, etc. So I end up with a full 3442 psi of 32% in my HP tanks when cold, a proper fill. I respect that, they're my favorite for a reason.

There is another LDS who charges $5 for air or $11 for 32%. They have a water-cooled filling/blending station, and filled my tank in about 15 minutes with 32%. I was happy enough, but by the time the tank cooled down it was down to 3200 psi in my shed. Point is, their business model is fast fills instead of full fills, which is fine, but I don't really understand how they can justify the upcharge in that case, since the labor vs air is about the same, and as you said the O2 doesn't cost much. Another LDS charges $20 for a fill of 32%, which I find to be outrageous -- I guess filling tanks is not a big part of their business model.

Also, I went to Buddy Dive resort in Bonaire earlier this year, and their "nitrox upgrade" is free (free as in, it's built into the ~ $1k/week rate for the resort itself, so same cost as diving air). They just have a big pile of tanks with red caps for air, green caps for nitrox. Customers are expected to grab the right tank for them, and follow the analyzing protocol when grabbing a green-capped tank. I really like that setup, it was super efficient! Not sure how they handle mixes besides 21% and 32% -- but they are a full tech shop that supports O2, trimix, and rebreathers, so they do have it figured out, I just don't know how it works.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I'm a fan of science myself, and as such I'm not a fan of people misinterpreting science. But I'll assume you've made an honest mistake.

DAN reports scientific studies. What science can do is either find evidence to support a theory or not find evidence to support a theory. Each tells us something.

But not finding evidence to support a theory does NOT mean that the theory is incorrect... it simply means it's not supported by scientific evidence. And not finding something doesn't mean it doesn't exist... it simply means it has not yet been found.

In this case, you seem to be confused that the inability for scientific studies to find a connection between nitrox use and divers feeling "less fatigued" means that such a connection does not exist (i.e. you claim it's a "myth".) That is a misinterpretation of the science.

The correct interpretation, instead is that there could be such a connection... it simply has not yet been found.

In that case, I'll add nitrox to the list of things sciencs has been unable to dis-prove. Hmm, let's eee. We now have nitrox, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, space aliens, ...

 

[boulderjohn]

He was saying that the up-charge for nitrox is basically a labor charge.

One way I get around that is by certifying some of the people I dive with as gas blenders and have them do the work.

 

[boulderjohn]

He was saying that the up-charge for nitrox is basically a labor charge. They go out of their way to fill slowly, cool the tank, fill some more, cool the tank, top off, etc.

For shops with banked nitrox, the process would be the same, nitrox or air.

 

[stuartv]

For shops with banked nitrox, the process would be the same, nitrox or air.

There's still an increased cost for a shop to have banked Nitrox over just air.

 

[drk5036]

OK, I'll say it this way:
"Your personal experience is completely irrelevant to me."

I don’t know why you seem to take this so personally. This is a message board, where we share personal experiences. It may be “completely irrelevant” to you but maybe not to others, like the OP who posted the original question.

I also dive nitrox, as often as I can. There are clear, proven, scientific reasons why nitrox is a superior gas for recreational diving. I never disputed that. I’m just casting doubt on this idea that nitrox is somehow a form of gaseous cocaine that makes you want to take on the world after diving.

It could turn out I’m wrong in the future, I have no problem with that. I just don’t see from the biological / chemical point of view how nitrox could influence a persons overall condition outside of decreased decompression stress.

 

[tursiops]

I’m just casting doubt on this idea that nitrox is somehow a form of gaseous cocaine that makes you want to take on the world after diving.

Don't be silly. No one has claimed this.

 

[tursiops]

I just don’t see from the biological / chemical point of view how nitrox could influence a persons overall condition outside of decreased decompression stress.

I agree. And therefore I feel better. My point is that it doesn't matter if YOU don't feel better.

 

[PBcatfish]

Guess I was asking cause I'm being cheap. Everything we do is x3, wife and daughter also dive. Already signed up for AOW, but we are going to add the Nitrox class just to get it done.

The combination of AOW & Nitrox should open some doors for you. That combination expands the number of places that you will be able to go.