Posted by MHK on August 09, 2001 at 17:25:49:
In Reply to: Re: what about price, Mike? posted by SLANG on August 09, 2001 at 17:10:53:
Time out... Nothing that was said was BS...
If some what to use Nitrox to insure added safety I have NO problem with that..
If Peter Hughes wants to provide Nitrox, then more power to them, but I'd be hard pressed to let ANYONE tell me what setting and what gas I would use, much less some DM that I've never met before the trip.. I also have NO problem with added safety precauitions taken when evac is a great distance away.. I applaud Peter Hughes in that regard..
I NEVER said that if you dive Nitrox to Nitrox limits that it decreases your risks of bending like a pretzel.. What I said was that under standard Buhlman tables Nitrox provides for added BT's.. And that was the point we were discussing..
Per the PADI tables the NDL's are thr following:
Air 100' 19 minutes
32% 100' 29 minutes
36% 100' 34 minutes
We get so caught up in *specific language* on this list that the tree gets lost from the forrest..
Put aside for a minute how we manipulate the Buhlman algorithm and just focus on the above..
If you did one dive to 100' on air and did it for 19 minutes then I'll stipulate for purposes of this conversation that you have reached your M-value.. Now let's assume that you used a 36% and did a dive to 100' for 34 minutes I'll also stipulate for purposes of this discussion that you've hit your M-value..
Now, nothwithstanding the added EAD benefits, I'll grant you that you are maxed out, for lack of a better word, on you M-values and so according to your theory you really aren't safer..
That being said, you nearly doubled your available bottom time, but have you considered that rather than using Nitrox to air limits, using the above example let's assume that rather than using air you used the 36% but stayed only 30 minutes.. In other words 4 minutes short of your M-value.. So I would argue that 19 minutes on air your at your M-value whereas 30 minutes on 36% you are NOT at your M-value and you've managed to increase your BT by 11 minutes.. You also have the added EAD benefits.. Take that logic and apply it out over a 4 dive day or a 5 day liveaboard and then can you honestly offer your theory that you aren't safer on Nitrox???? And that you haven't significantly improved BT's and still managed to avoid reaching your M-values...
Then add to that how we manipulate the algorithms, which I'm not going to get into now, and add in some deep stops and you'll see you are more safer, more efficient and you have significantly increased your BT's...
Later