Diving questions please help thanks.?
Hello everyone i went diving in Tenerife in the summer and i loved it so much. I love diving i love when you go down and see all the fish and sea creatures. I have a few questions which i would be very happy if answered.
1.) Dry suits do you stay warm in them.
2.) Why do divers use nitrous oxide in some dives can you please explain this.
3.) Is there anywhere on the internet where i can find lots of information on diving.
4.) Is it safe to buy second hand scuba gear.
5.) How do they measure a dry suit as i am very skinny etc and wondering would it be safe to buy a second hand one as i don’t know how to measure them.
6.) Also what is the difference between oxygen and nitrous oxide
I will pick best answer thanks.
First off, are you actually a qualified diver yet? You don’t sound like one, and until you get qualified, no trustworthy vendor will even consider selling you life-support diving gear (tank, regulator, BCD, etc.). That aside, in answer to your questions…
(1) Drysuits insulate using a layer of air, as opposed to wetsuits, which trap a layer of warm water against the skin. Air is a better insulator than water, so using a drysuit means you will not get chilled as fast as you would with a wetsuit in the same water temperature–note that you will still chill though, unless you have some means of heating the drysuit.
(2) Divers don’t use nitrous oxide, they use ‘nitrox’ which is a breathing mixture of nitrogen and oxygen which has a higher percentage of oxygen (and hence less nitrogen) than normal air (which is approx. 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen). This gives the diver more potential ‘no-stop’ time at a given depth than they would have with air, but restricts the maximum depth to which they can dive safely, according to the oxygen content (more oxygen => less depth).
(3) There are literally hundreds of websites with diving information–but as with everything online, some sites are more reliable and less biased than others. Most sites are run by dive centres as advertisements for their services, but there are also many blogs and discussion forums. Wikipedia’s factual info is generally reliable, and www.divernet.com is a (relatively) non-partisan website run by the publishers of the UK magazine DIVER.
(4) Buying second-hand gear is relatively safe if you know what you’re doing and trust the seller, but otherwise I wouldn’t advise it. Also, for essential life-support equipment, I would only buy second-hand gear from a seller who could provide a detailed service history, e.g. a dive store selling off its old rental gear.
(5) Drysuits count as life-support equipment, since they will be connected to your regulator and cylinder, and require training (and/or experience) to use safely, so point (4) applies. Buying new means that you can be (reasonably) sure that your drysuit will work properly from the start.
NB drysuits don’t need to fit as snugly as wetsuits, so an off-the-peg version may be fine, so long as the length is OK. Neoprene suits can be easily tailored for width. If finding a well-fitting suit is a real problem, there are several companies in the UK which build drysuits to order–a Google search will find them–and the company will specify which measurements they need from you.
If you have any further questions, feel free to mail me through Y!A
May 21st, 2012 at 8:42 am
sorry i do not know but if would probably be easier to have a look on wikipedia or google
References :
May 21st, 2012 at 9:01 am
Lots of questions….my brief answers:
1) "Warm" is a relative term, much depends on the individual’s tolerance to cold. Dry suits tend to be warmer than wetsuits as they are designed to keep you completely dry inside the suit. The warmth comes from air trapped within the fibers of whatever garments you are wearing under the suit exterior (appropriately called undergarments).
2) No. Divers use a variety of different gases which include compressed air, enriched air nitrox (a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen which has an increased percentage of oxygen compared to air), and trimix (a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium). Nitrous oxide (molecular formula N2O) is a weak anaesthetic and would not be appropriate for breathing underwater.
3) Yes, there is lots and lots of information on the internet. Just do a search on "scuba diving".
4) Depends. Like anything else, scuba equipment bought second hand is "buyer beware" as you know nothing certain about its condition or how it was taken care of by the previous owner. Given that scuba gear is life-support equipment that allows you to survive in an alien environment, would you want to trust your life to an unknown? With that said, people do it every day. If you should purchase second hand equipment, the first thing to do is take it to a reputable dive shop and have it inspected/serviced before you use it. Be aware that dive shops often only service specific brands of equipment so the nearest shop may not deal with equipment you buy elsewhere.
5) Dry suit sizes depend upon the manufacturer. Most offer off-the-rack sizes as well as suits that are custom-made to your measurements. The fit of any diving suit is very important, if you buy a used one you should try it on with someone who knows what to look for before buying, and again it is "buyer beware" on the condition of the suit.
6) Oxygen and nitrous oxide are completely different gases, and neither one is used for RECREATIONAL scuba diving. Oxygen is one component of air, and you are probably confusing nitrous oxide with enriched air nitrox. You can read more here, or do your own search to find more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrox
References :
I am a NAUI Scuba Instructor
May 21st, 2012 at 9:19 am
First off, are you actually a qualified diver yet? You don’t sound like one, and until you get qualified, no trustworthy vendor will even consider selling you life-support diving gear (tank, regulator, BCD, etc.). That aside, in answer to your questions…
(1) Drysuits insulate using a layer of air, as opposed to wetsuits, which trap a layer of warm water against the skin. Air is a better insulator than water, so using a drysuit means you will not get chilled as fast as you would with a wetsuit in the same water temperature–note that you will still chill though, unless you have some means of heating the drysuit.
(2) Divers don’t use nitrous oxide, they use ‘nitrox’ which is a breathing mixture of nitrogen and oxygen which has a higher percentage of oxygen (and hence less nitrogen) than normal air (which is approx. 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen). This gives the diver more potential ‘no-stop’ time at a given depth than they would have with air, but restricts the maximum depth to which they can dive safely, according to the oxygen content (more oxygen => less depth).
(3) There are literally hundreds of websites with diving information–but as with everything online, some sites are more reliable and less biased than others. Most sites are run by dive centres as advertisements for their services, but there are also many blogs and discussion forums. Wikipedia’s factual info is generally reliable, and http://www.divernet.com is a (relatively) non-partisan website run by the publishers of the UK magazine DIVER.
(4) Buying second-hand gear is relatively safe if you know what you’re doing and trust the seller, but otherwise I wouldn’t advise it. Also, for essential life-support equipment, I would only buy second-hand gear from a seller who could provide a detailed service history, e.g. a dive store selling off its old rental gear.
(5) Drysuits count as life-support equipment, since they will be connected to your regulator and cylinder, and require training (and/or experience) to use safely, so point (4) applies. Buying new means that you can be (reasonably) sure that your drysuit will work properly from the start.
NB drysuits don’t need to fit as snugly as wetsuits, so an off-the-peg version may be fine, so long as the length is OK. Neoprene suits can be easily tailored for width. If finding a well-fitting suit is a real problem, there are several companies in the UK which build drysuits to order–a Google search will find them–and the company will specify which measurements they need from you.
If you have any further questions, feel free to mail me through Y!A
References :
I am an ex-fulltime SCUBA instructor (PADI # 609394)