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Excerpts from mail: 5-Apr-95 Re: Nitrox courses Jason Rogers@sy*.DI* (637*)
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Can anyone explain the difference between me home brewing Nitrox (or trimix)
and a shop brewing it?  Why is it that I get flamed for suggesting one, and
the shops are OK when they do it.  One nitrox instructor actually said that
I was being irresponsible if I used Certified Diving Mixture from BOC Gasses
and that I shoud get "much safer" mixes from a shop.  Does it strike anyone
else here that there is alot more to this than just safety (conspirisy
theory of the day)
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It's funny you should bring this up. I teach a lot of Nitrox and
Technical courses in the Pittsburgh area. On several occasions I've had
previous students call me up and ask me why their "homebrew" wasn't
turning out right.  My simple answer is "Because you have no idea what
you're doing". Now this isn't to insult anyone's intelligence. Anyone
can pick up a book or read enough e-mails to figure out how to mix
oxygen and air, and come out with reasonable results. The difference is,
I might mix a dozen tanks a week in the summer. My analyzers are very
accurate, I have flow controls on my mix panel, I have a compressor that
is giving me hyper-pure air to mix with the o2, and most importantly
(from a mixer's safety standpoint) I premix the gases in cascades and
THEN fill a customer's Nitrox tank (you never know where that Nitrox
tank has been). You are correct in saying that it doesn't take a genious
to perform this act. If you want to invest the time, money, and effort
to put together a comprable system, you very well may be able to do it
just as safe. 
	Another point to consider is that buying Nitrox from a store associated
with a training organization such as IANTD ensures that you will be
getting a quality mix. (non-contaminated air, quality o2, no other
gases). Your local gas suppy house might be able to give you Nitrox, but
how much do they know about the use of Nitrox under pressure? How much
do they care?

IMHO if you 're that interested, seek out a mixer in your area and start
learning. There's more to it than just book smarts.

-Pete

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