Tank size for EAN50

[MonkSeal]

What tank size do you usualy use for EAN50 for dives in Tech-1 range (only one deco tank)? Catalina of Luxfer?

 

[ppo2_diver]

Luxfer 40 or 80. Depends on the dive being planned.

DJ

 

[DA Aquamaster]

If you are using a 30 or 40 cu ft tank, Luxfers tend to ride much nicer than Catalina's.

 

[Mr.X]

If you are using a 30 or 40 cu ft tank, Luxfers tend to ride much nicer than Catalina's.

I second that. The Cat's are a tad on the heavier and droopy side.

 

[Hyper-limits]

I'll agree with DA Aquamaster about Luxfers riding better than the Catalina's. I didn't believe it at first when divers recommended the Luxfers over the Catalina, until I borrowed my buddy's Luxfer 40 and compaired it to my Catalina 40 cuft. I find the 30s OK but a bit to small,40 are a lot nicer when doing about 30 min of deco.

Cheers

 

[Don Burke]

What tank size do you usualy use for EAN50 for dives in Tech-1 range (only one deco tank)? Catalina of Luxfer?

I use Luxfer 40s. Sometimes I think a 30 might work out better, but 10 ft too big is an error I can live with.

 

[Soggy]

If a dive requires more deco than can be done on 50% with an al40, you would be better off carrying another Al40 or O2 vs carrying an Al80 of 50%. It gives you more options, plus a cleaner deco.

Luxfer 40 or 80. Depends on the dive being planned.

DJ

 

[JS1scuba]

If a dive requires more deco than can be done on 50% with an al40, you would be better off carrying another Al40 or O2 vs carrying an Al80 of 50%. It gives you more options, plus a cleaner deco.

This is not entirely spot on Soggy. There are times from operational simplicity where a single 80 filled with 50% ean is more beneficial than carrying 2 - 40's. A prime example is a static anchor dive where the surface conditions make it difficult to hold 10-20 fsw stops. In this case having a little more 50/50 is more advantageous than having a bottle of O2 that cannot be used.

Having conducted several thousand gas dives over the past 15 years I can say without a shadow of a doubt that while oxygen is better for washout it does leave you with a specific Maximum Operating Depth that is unforgiving.

One of my favorite cylinders for 50/50 is a Luxfer 63. It's more than a 40 and it hangs better than an 80.

Just my nickles worth.

Cheers

 

[Soggy]

Obviously, there are exceptions to any rule, but given that we are discussing DIR and given that conditions where a 20ft stop can't be safely held are extremely rare (there is no reason for a 10ft O2 stop, IMO), as a general rule, dives requiring more deco than can be accomplished on a single 40 of 50% would be better off with 2 40s than 1 80. As you know, unless there is a *substantial* ground swell, surface conditions do not really propagate down very deep and most problems with a static drop line can be compensated with a jon line.

The original question was regarding Tech 1, which uses a single 40 of EAN50, and the position of GUE, I believe, is that (at that level) if you can't complete your dive on a single 40, you need to redo your plan.

This is not entirely spot on Soggy. There are times from operational simplicity where a single 80 filled with 50% ean is more beneficial than carrying 2 - 40's. A prime example is a static anchor dive where the surface conditions make it difficult to hold 10-20 fsw stops. In this case having a little more 50/50 is more advantageous than having a bottle of O2 that cannot be used.

 

[ScubaTricky]

There has been some discussion about this on the UK DIR forums (see my sig ), and the Tech-1 guys generally agree that an 80 is a good choice, particularly if it's not full (around 2000psi) as it floats up nicely. Personally, I have a 7 litre (what's that in cuft?), but that's mainly because I got it for a good price and because 80s were difficult to get hold of at the time.