argon bottles??

[milldog]

i have been looking at getting an argon setup for the dry suit, however whilst looking today the shop assistant pointed out a few problems

1. not all dive shops sell argon
2. why carry a gas you cant breath?
3. its about 1 degree warmer so what?

now i didn't get one as i am new to the argon lark so give me a few pro's and con's for me parting with the reddys

cheers all

[Digger]

Not al dive shops have argon, most have air. A lot of argon bottles get filled with air, I have mine as a redundant system as opposed to the warmth factor. But I do fill it with Argon when I can as it seems to be slightly warmer, especially on cold or long dives.

Why carry a wing when you can use your suit for buoyancy? A litre or two isn't goign to be a lot of use if it comes to it, but you can stick a reg on it if it comes to it and use air in there. But then what use is air with a deco obligation or at any depth? Think of it as you'll have the gas in your main tins that you've not used to keep yourself alive.

Digs.

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Digger

Not al dive shops have argon, most have air. A lot of argon bottles get filled with air, I have mine as a redundant system as opposed to the warmth factor. But I do fill it with Argon when I can as it seems to be slightly warmer, especially on cold or long dives.

This is it. The first use is redundancy. The suit as buoyancy is not my preferred method but works if the wing fails. When I was diving twins the wing and the suit came from opposite posts but on the RB I'm hardly going to fill the suit with my other tank as that's oxygen. One good curry and I could explode.

Similarly the 60% percent more insulation is for pure argon and diluted with whatever was in the suit, even if you do flushes, never seems noticeably warmer. However getting out after a long dive I feel much less drained. I suspect that you can maintain core temperature on air or argon, which is what the studies show, but you use more 'fuel' doing it.

[Mal Bridgeman]

The primary need for Argon is from Trimix divers because of the cooling effect of the helium.

It's a nice to have for other dives with some added benefit of redundancy where it more normal contents is AIRGON

Mal