Technical
Diving
NOTE: THIS IS NOT TRAINING MATERIAL AND MUST BE CONSIDERED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
Technical diving is the use of advanced and specialized equipment and techniques to enable the diver to gain access to depth, dive time, and specific underwater environments more safely than might otherwise be possible.
First you must understand the basics, beginning from safety. Safe divers are divers who take themselves seriously. Accepting that no-one can learn everything at once, or learn it just from books. Developing skills slowly, over years a bit at a time and that is what makes a good technical diver too. You have to ask yourself some questions. Why do you want to develope your diving skills? What are your prepared to sacrifice? How much are you prepared to learn? How long are you prepared to spend learning.? If the answer to these questions is something like
Because I want to go deeper and find more brass....
then it is not the sport for you. But if the answer is something like
Because I want my diving to be safer and my bounderies to be stretched...
Then you are on the right track. Technical diving, whether it's using nitrox or other gas mixtures to increase depth or bottom time or developing sage solo diving or deep diving techniques, is potentially dangerous as letting an untrained driver loose in a Formula One car. Before you are considered sage to go out on the track there is a great deal to learn, and you should never stop being prepared to learn, never assume you know it all. You never will. And before stretching your underwater horizons further, you must first learn to cope with yourself.
Nitrox is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen at required level depending on the type of dive involved. Air is considered to be a nitrox mix. Nitrox mixes which are hyperoxic (contain more than 21% oxygen) are variosly known as; enriched air, enriched air nitrox(EAN or EANx) or SafeAir®. For most of the part, sport divers will only be interested in hyperoxic nitrox mixes.
SafeAir® is copyright of ANDI and refers to any nitrox mix with an oxygen percentage between 22% and 50%.
It can be used as a gas for a normal dive, it can be used for decompression or it can be travel mix.
- Using it as if you are using AIR
In this way you are increasing the safety margin extensively, because by increasing the oxygen level you can reduce the ongasing effect of the NITROGEN, thus increasing your bottom time. It is important to know that the higher is not always the better. WHY? Because the more you increase the percentage of oxygen in your mix the shallower the dive must be because you are increasing your partial pressure of oxygen which can result in an oxygen hit.
- Decompression GAS
If the percentage of oxygen is in the region >40 % than it can be used as a decompression gas. It is safer to use it as a decompression gas because it flashes the nitrogen faster. Remember That in an emergency 100% oxygen is used and you must know why.
- Travel Mix
This system is used when you are carrying more than one cylinder one with a mixture of the bottom and one to be used while traveling to the bottom. You will find more information on travel mix later on.
We have 20 % oxygen, 79 % Nitrogen and 1 % other gases.
The partial pressure of a gas is the pressure of any gas at depth. The limits of oxygen toxicity at depth is of 1.6. That means that you cannot use Air at a greater depth than 66 meters. So if you are using 31% mix all you do to know the Maximum Operating Depth (MOD) is 1.6 divide by 0.32 = 5 - 1 = 4 BAR which is equal to 30 meters. Not difficult isn't it.
No It is not ideal to do these type of dives. Nitrox is a mixture of higher partial pressure of oxgyen which reduces your maximum operating depth.
Nitrox is not mixed gas. It is a blend of the same gas that you are breathing NOW. It is just enriched with a specified percentage of O2
Every diver knows that nitrogen (N2) causes narcosis at depths greater than 30 meters. It also enters the blood stream and is then absorbed by all body tissues. On ascent from depth this can cause decompression sickness if absorbed in high enough volume. With Nitrox there is less N2 and consequently less problems with nitrogen.
Training teaches you how to use the Oxygen Enriched Air with a very significant safety factor. Using Nitrox of the correct blend, at 45 meters is in fact, safer, than using air at 30 meters.
No new equipment is required if the oxygen content is not to exceed 40%. Nitrox is compatible with existing SCUBA equipment.
It is a air which is filtered to eliminate nearly all traces of oil in the AIR or mixture.
It is true that once a cylinder is filled with nitrox it can never be used with air again?
It should only be filled with hydrocarbon free gas. Nitrox does not affect the inside of the cylinder in any way. However a cylinder colour coded for Nitrox means that the gas inside is oxygen enriched air. Refilling with air would not be a safe practice unless the cylinder colour coding is removed.
When you take a course on nitrox, they will teach you how to select the optimum oxygen content for your dive depth.
In short, the correct nitrox mix is safer than air for the divers.
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