Diving shallow on Nitrox.

[halocline]

I think the only downside is that he (or she) paid extra for that tank of nitrox only to see other divers hoover it away.

Someday I'll be rich and famous and then maybe I'll use nitrox on every dive, even the shallow ones.

 

[Neilwood]

I think the only downside is that he (or she) paid extra for that tank of nitrox only to see other divers hoover it away.

Someday I'll be rich and famous and then maybe I'll use nitrox on every dive, even the shallow ones.

If doing multiple dives per day over multiple days, I think Nitrox even hoovered (normally by myself) is a good thing even if it does come with a small cost.

Minimising possible decompression stress (word chosen carefully) by reducing inert gas uptake can only be a good thing especially when applied to repetitive diving even when well within NDL.

 

[tridacna]

If doing multiple dives per day over multiple days, I think Nitrox even hoovered (normally by myself) is a good thing even if it does come with a small cost.

Minimising possible decompression stress (word chosen carefully) by reducing inert gas uptake can only be a good thing especially when applied to repetitive diving even when well within NDL.

How do you know how many dives she had done or was intending to do? I missed that in her post.

 

[Neilwood]

How do you know how many dives she had done or was intending to do? I missed that in her post.

I don't know how many dives she had done - it may have been a single dive in which case the benefit might be small (but still there). My point was simply stating my opinion about multiple dives on multiple days - even the small benefit of nitrox on those becomes greater (where it becomes the slower compartments on and off gassing that becomes the critical limits as opposed to the quicker compartments that are affected with single dives within NDL).

 

[tridacna]

I don't know how many dives she had done - it may have been a single dive in which case the benefit might be small (but still there). My point was simply stating my opinion about multiple dives on multiple days - even the small benefit of nitrox on those becomes greater (where it becomes the slower compartments on and off gassing that becomes the critical limits as opposed to the quicker compartments that are affected with single dives within NDL).

I doubt that there is any setious benefit of Nitrox on a single dive to 60 ft for less than 60 mins. I would never pay extra for that. Hence her post. All the rest is obvious.

 

[Storker]

I doubt that there is any setious benefit of Nitrox on a single dive to 60 ft for less than 60 mins. I would never pay extra for that. Hence her post. All the rest is obvious.

Someone is claimed to have said "if you've got it, flaunt it". I'll say "if you have it, use it". I have access to nitrox for a negligible extra cost, so unless I have a good reason to dive air, I dive nitrox. It makes for easier logistics. I've even used nitrox on a bounce recovery dive to less than 10m depth. Because that was what was in my tank.

 

[boulderjohn]

For those of you trying to figure out what Tarponchick meant by her post, let me just say that she has views about diving with nitrox that are very much out of mainstream thinking. Don't be too quick to judge what was meant by one past alone.

 

[Diver-Drex]

I think the only downside is that he (or she) paid extra for that tank of nitrox only to see other divers hoover it away.

Someday I'll be rich and famous and then maybe I'll use nitrox on every dive, even the shallow ones.

Chose the breathing gas appropriate for the dive. If you're doing a bunch of repetitive dives, want some added safety, want the extra bottom time or are diving horrible sawtooth profiles like I do with students EAN will provide an advantage over air in regards to inert gas loading and deco stress. If you don't need those advantages then breath air. If you want or need those advantages but dont want to pay for the gas I would suggest you change your dive plans.
It's not about being rich or famous, I am neither. It is about selecting the correct breathing gas for your dives.

 

[Storker]

Fact: Quite a few divers are middle-aged (or worse) and not in particularly good shape. That includes me, by the way.

Fact: Tables and computer algorithms are developed based on data from fit, young divers.

AFAIK it's a fact that fatty tissues are slow and degas slower than average.

Conclusion: We middle-aged (or worse) out-of-shape divers won't suffer from introducing some extra conservatism into our diving. In fact, it might be beneficial. Using nitrox is one way to introduce some extra conservatism into our diving.

 

[RainPilot]

I fill my tanks after diving to allow for spontaneous dives. Since I never know what I'm going to be doing next time, I always fill 32%. If I'm diving shallow with a dive op, more often than not I'll rent a tank as it's pretty cheap, then it's usually air. As I've said before, the extra cost here for nitrox is negligible so I very often dive nitrox even on 15' training dives for OW students.

TL;DR: Shallow nitrox not necessary but if it's there and affordable why not.