I finally had a reality check about our backup gas plan from an old timer in Houma

Some retired diver with 30 years in told me the cheap O2 we stocked for surface-supply could kill us under pressure, and he showed me his math from a fatality report back in '89. Has anyone else actually tested their gas mix past the basic CO2 check?

2 comments

2 Comments

price.alice21d ago

The math he showed you is legit, that old timer wasn't just blowing smoke. Partial pressure of O2 changes drastically when you go deeper, and cheap welding-grade stuff can have impurities that don't matter at 1 atm but turn nasty at 3 or 4. Always run an oxygen analyzer on every tank before a deep dive, not just the CO2 detector, because that's the only way to catch a bad mix. I've seen guys skip that step and end up with lung issues nobody could explain until they tested the remaining gas months later.

nathan_foster6021d ago

Man, you're making it sound like every scratch dive is gonna kill you. I've been breathing tank air for years and never once checked an oxygen analyzer. Most guys I know just fill from the same shop every time and call it good. If the gas looks clean and smells fine, I don't see why you need a whole lab setup for a recreational dive. Yeah, sure, technical stuff is different, but for your standard 30 meter wall dive? Feels like overkill.