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>
>> >> Having spoken to Jim Bowden @ Tek about using Argonox, since he and Sheck
>> have
>> >> used it on a couple of occasions it was interesting to note that they
ran the
>> >> schedules as if air was being used for the time spent on Argonox.
>> >
>> >I wonder why they didn't just use air with its lower narcotic
>> >potency...perhaps just to add additional decompression safety margin? Or
>> >was this during the time they were simulating high narcosis?
>> >
>>
>> They were using Argox to accelerate the off-gasing of He and N2.
>
>[ETC...]
>
>But if they were using air schedules anyway, then I guess they were using
>Argox as an additional safety margin over&above the safety margin of
>the schedules they generated to incorporate air. (i.e., no decompression
>time advantage, only reduced probability of DCI...presumably)
>
>I'll ask Jim or Ann next time I talk to either of them. If Sheck was a
>strong believer in advantages of Argox, then I am inclined to be a
>believer as well.
>
I live in Austin, and dive occasionally with Jim and Ann. Speaking with
them this past weekend at a conference (NAUI SW Branch), we were
on this subject. I have posted to some of you personally, and once to
techdiver on this. Hopefully, this will clear up their use of Argon-oxygen
(argox, argonox) use.
1) Both indicate that they would not have used argox except for Sheck's
strong belief in it's benefit for off-gassing their He and N2 at deco stops.
Yes, they used it assuming half-times similar
to Air (N2). Presumably Ar will be slower than N. This might (I'm not
a pro here) follow from the fact that He is faster than H2 (researched by
Comex), which are both faster than N2. Judging by their relative molecular
weights, this _may_ be the reason. A similar argument about molecular
wt was used on their relative narcotic potencies. I believe a reference to
both of these is in "Mixed gas Diving" by Mount and Gilliam.
I think that is a fairly acceptable place to start, since research, if
any, is
limited on Ar use in breathing gases. According to Jim, if it weren't for
Sheck's belief in the use of Ar in deco, he wouldn't have used it. I doubt
he would have even considered it, at that. I know they never used anything
but air, nitrox, and trimix on their previous dives.
2) Now for a "hypothetical" discussion:
For those who don't know, they are having a habitat built for Jim by
"a sponsor" for his next attempt. Jim wants to be extra careful about
deco problems, be dry, be on O2, have I-V fluids, and all of that. I asked
in a previous post about the possibility of Ar causing his DCS hit on the
previous attempt. I'm just curious on that one, and probably no-one knows
an answer. Jim, Ann, and their whole team believe the hit was due to
dehydration primarily.
I'm sure it probably was for the most part, but what else was
contributing? 10 hours underwater? Deco on air, EANx, ArO2, O2?
Does anyone have a clue about any of this? Could the Ar have dissolved
enough to become a problem on ascent? Jim says the he knew he had the
hit as soon as he surfaced, but he didn't say anything about _during_ the
ascent.
Any thoughts?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carl W. Meilahn Snail Mail:
NAUI Instr. # 14470 1510 W. Northloop Blvd. #914
NSS/CDS Full Cave Diver Austin, TX 75786-2030
IANTD EANx, EANx Cave Diver USA
cmeilahn@cc*.cc*.ut*.ed* Phone:
cmeilahn@cs*.ut*.ed* H: 512.467.1861
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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