Gas Blender

Southeastern Divers, Inc.

2720 Governors Drive SW, Huntsville Alabama 35805 - Phone: 256-536-8404

"Training the best divers in North Alabama since 1980."

Max Gilbert PADI IDC Staff Instructor

Gas Blender

When I took my trimix class, it was the weekend after I had taken my DSAT Gas Blender class. My instructor, Lance Briner, who also assisted in the trimix class, helped me blend gasses for myself, him, and my primary instructor, Jeff Loflin. I was getting ready to do dives deeper than I’d ever been before, using gasses I’d never breathed before, and I was blending them myself. Needless to say, I was MOTIVATED to get the job done right! My need to blend gas came from my interested in deep dives on trimix, a gas with helium in it. The helium replaces some of the oxygen and nitrogen that’s present in air or nitrox, mitigating the effects of narcosis. I knew that after I came home from my training, I would want to do some trimix dives, and that the only way I was going to get any trimix fills was to be prepared to blend them myself!

The Gas Blender class starts off with a discussion of why and when people dive mixed gasses (nitrox or trimix), and what the physiological effects of each gas are when breathed at depth. We discuss and calculate Equivalent Air Depth (EAD) for nitrox, and Equivalent Narcotic Depth (END) for trimix. After we discuss why divers need and want mixed gasses, we move on to the stuff you have to have to make mixed gasses… oxygen clean cylinders, oxygen compatible/ready tubing, blending stations, etc. The goal of this part of the course is not to make you a fill station designer, but to let you know the amount of care and consideration that goes into designing one, and why it’s so important. Finally, we move onto the nitty-gritty, the actual math behind partial pressure blending of mixed gasses. We work tons of examples on the board, and we also use some software to do the calculations for us.

The class finishes up (maybe on a second day if there are several students) with you actually blending some gasses. If you just want to be a nitrox blender, you’ll make a couple of different nitrox blends. If you want to become a trimix blender, you’ll also blend some trimix. You’d better do a good job, because it’s very likely that one of us is going to personally breathe the gasses you blend!

To take the class, you need to be a PADI Enriched Air Diver (or equivalent). The class is usually taught on a weekend, so plan on spending Saturday in the classroom, and Sunday at the blending station.

“Sea” you soon… underwater, breathing my own custom blend!

max

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