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Gas blending cert was a waste when I started diving in 2017
I was super skeptical about taking the advanced gas blending course. Thought it was just another way for the training center to grab $400 out of my pocket. But after 3 months of running nitrox trimix for a job off the coast of Gulfport, I saw how easy it was to mess up a mix by eyeballing it. Now I check my partial pressures on every single tank and it keeps my deco stops from going sideways. Anyone else get humbled by a cert they thought was useless?
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kellyj235d ago
Buddy of mine down in Florida thought he was hot stuff with his eyeballed mixes until he hit a deco stop at 20 feet with a headache that wouldn't quit. Turned out his nitrox was way off, like 28% when he thought it was 32%. Spent the next four hours in a chamber at the local hospital getting treatment for mild oxygen toxicity. That $400 course looked pretty cheap after that hospital bill came in. He checks every single tank with an analyzer now and won't touch a blend unless it's got a signed fill log attached to it.
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betty_shah5d ago
Man, I read something similar in a diving accident report last year. Some guys out in California had this happen with a trimix blend, ended up with a bent tank that was actually mismarked from the fill station. The worst part is these mistakes don't show up until you're already underwater and in trouble. That chamber ride is no joke, glad your buddy learned the lesson the relatively cheap way.
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