Recreational Helium?
- Thread starter Reg Braithwaite
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I think they said the same thing about the cod in the north sea (UK).... I can remember when cod got taken off the menu because there weren't any left. All resources are limited, and everyone has a responsibility for it....
Anyway, at over $500 for a trimix fill here..... nah, I'll wait until I buy a CCR...
OP
Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
Anyway, at over $500 for a trimix fill here..... nah, I'll wait until I buy a CCR...
One LDS is advertising O2 at CDN$0.60 and He at CDN$1.20 per cubic foot, so a steel 95 with 30/30 would be less than CDN$66, which would be less than NZ$97. Not cheap, but not $500 for a pair of doubles, either.
So from the comfort of my arm chair, it is a little more do-able for me for the odd dive. Not every dive, not even most dives, but perhaps a few special dives where I want the absolute minimal narcosis and where I have a team that can help make sure I perform a safe ascent.
bleeb
Contributor
Anyone read the Ornhagen paper (1984) about Arne Zetterström's hydrox research (c.1943)? Did it have any useful information about hydrogen narcosis?
Rainer
Contributor
I think they said the same thing about the cod in the north sea (UK).... I can remember when cod got taken off the menu because there weren't any left. All resources are limited, and everyone has a responsibility for it....
Anyway, at over $500 for a trimix fill here..... nah, I'll wait until I buy a CCR...
What this has to do with a bad analogy to cod is beyond me.
In any case, let recreational divers trumpet the call to preservation of the second most common element in the universe! That'll make a difference!
Reg,
We're talking about recreational, no-deco, 130' maximum, complete-access-to-the-surface-at-all-times diving here, right? Some recreational profile where your Total Bottom Time is going to be limited to less than 15 minutes, and that includes the required descent time.
Unless a diver has a monumentally high intolerance for narcosis, I can't think of many profiles where a recreational diver would substantially benefit from a helium mix.
And in those cases where helium conceivably, possibly, might improve the quality of the dive for some recreational divers, it still seems to me that taking a recreational helium class is borderline silly. If you're going to spend the money and time necessary to dive using helium anyway, take the entry level trimix course from the agency of your choice and examine the matter with an appropriate level of study.
Just my opinion, which you asked for..., but I can see very few applications for a 'recreational trimix' course. The cost/benefit analysis simply does not support that sort of application for the vast percentage of divers in the population bell curve. IMHO you're going to need to get out beyond 3 standard deviations from the mean to find divers/dive profiles where that sort of gas is going to provide any substantial benefit.
And in those cases, they would likely better be served with a trimix course that includes discussions of deco, etc., rather than a course aimed at 'recreational' usage.
Just MHO.
YMMV.
Doc
I hope you are now and then able to do a safe ascent from depth without a buddy/team, if not at this stage then you need to work on that first!
Helium is the second most abundant of the universe, why we could not obtain much helium on the Earth?
SparticleBrane
Contributor
It is a byproduct of natural radioactive processes, and so light that it floats off into the atmosphere if it isn't captured.
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