Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Message Display

>   Tony, there is no point, these guys do not see deco the way I do, but 
> then they don't do it either. All this hoopla about helium is pure 
> bullshit. It is the toatl inert gas that matters, or the total oxygen,, 

George,
	We all know that total inert gas is what limits deco (for the
compartment models, anyway). What you seem to be assuming is that rates of
net gas movement for He and N2 are identical, and that gradients across
the alveolar membranes are meaningless. Did you ever take physics in
college? Do you understand Henry's Law? Or is Henry's law bullshit too? 
Your profiles are near the cross-over point for He and N2 in terms of deco
efficiency, so of course it won't matter too much what the N2:He ratio is 
in your bottom mix.  Just ask Dr. Bill, hypothetically, if your chances 
of getting bent increase at all if you were to breathe heliox all the way 
out while maintianing the same deco profiles? Just ask him that.  Try to 
remember, most folks on this list are not doing hour-plus long bottom 
times at those depths like you and I do. For shorter dives, the ratio of 
helium is a bigger issue for deco. You're gonna get somebody crippled if 
you keep this horseshit up.

> dending on which side of the equation you want to work with.  I have 
> done plenty of sneak dives on trimix with no deco gas,

So have I.  I used to follow my air computer for trimix deco in the early 
days. I also have done profiles and omitted deco that would make even you 
tremble with fear and pee in your pants. I've also gotten away with a lot 
of hairy-ass air diving. What does any of this proove? I only got nailed 
once, but once is all it takes. 

> and Rich is always terrified of 
> getting bent, 

I concede to this.  But as you know, I have good reason.  When you use up 
all your reservoire neurological pathways re-learning how to walk, you 
don't get a second chance.

> and he listens to the only the bioggest known 
< assholes in 
> diving, rather than the people who know what they are talking about.

Hmmm...there are only three people from whom I take decompression advice: 
Bill Hamilton, Eric Maiken, and Jean-Pierre Imbert.  Most of my
perspectives come from personal experience, which I consider a much more
reliable source of information than most of the published stuff. Which of
the three people listed above are among the "biggest known assholes in 
diving"?

>  If you are afraid to blieve me, then don't. I refuse to take the 
> physiological beating from unnecessary breathing of high ppo2's for 
> exended periods. 

What does this have to do with helium:nitrogen ratios? I keep my PO2 at 
1.4 all the way out.  You bump up to 1.6, and apparently plan to bump up 
to 2.0 when you get in a habitat.  Which one of us is taking a 
"physiological beating from unnecessary breathing of high ppo2's for 
extended periods"?  As you are fond of saying, the proof is in the 
pudding, and the eating thereof.

Rich

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]