Quote: (Originally Posted by
iain-hsm)
It would be interesting to know just how many dives you have on pure 02 suit inflation and to what depth…..and why? When Air or Nitrogen for that matter is just as “good” in molecular size.
When we test materials in oxygen under pressure to see the reaction we do the same test 20 times before increasing either the pressure or temperature or both. 1 fire in 20 tests is interesting, 3 fires in 20 and were thinking, 13 fires in 20 test time to choose another material but I never considered the luck of the Irish. How many dives was that again Barry? lol
Static discharge is the biggest risk IMHO. Remember when girls wore those fluffy nylon tops and the hairs on your arms tingled when you got a hand up. At the time I would have thought she was hot! As the video enclosed shows….. I was right.
(Yes, agreed I would have moved the car first too)
Hi Iain,
Interesting video and certainly confirms the flammability of petrol when in contact with an ignition source and that dry clothes can produce a spark.
I have done 40+ dives using Oxygen for suit inflation to depths deeper than 60 mtrs without incident. My reason for using Oxygen was to eliminate Nitrogen from my suit as I dive with Heliox and I wanted to prevent any possibility of a skin bend from Nitrogen.
After researching with a professional gas engineer and an anatomy doctor it seemed the biggest danger was post-dive when opening the suit, naked flames and sparks where the biggest concern although this was off-set somewhat by the 'Damp' condition of my under-suit post dive.
I did some testing with undergarments using static and also naked flames to gauge the possible danger before using O2 but found even mildly damp under-suit's quite difficult to ignite.
Oxygen because we metabolise it would eliminate my concerns regarding Nitrogen skin bends and subject to it's safety record reduce the need for me to carry a cylinder that whilst using Heliox I could not breath from if the need arose.
I had also noticed an increase in body temperature and comfort levels at the end of longer dives on Heliox, when the loop contained only Oxygen and this also prompted me look further at Oxygen use.
As I stated in my previous post;
"Like DRMike if there is a proven instance of diver injury due to using O2 in the DS I would like to hear about it, none exist outside of the 'pub rumour' to my knowledge.
Risk assessment and dive planning aside using O2 in your DS is probably something you do not need to be worrying about during your dive but I would not castigate those who do choose to use it accept maybe the smokers amongst us."
As with many things in diving it is a work in progress and not "Proven" or something most divers would be engaged in but I think it is useful to know that it may be considered during an emergency.
Regards