Your Answer To The Question About Scuba Compressor ...

scubaman answers:

SCUBA cylinders used for recreational ?no-stop? diving (considered to have a maximum practical depth limit of around 130 ft, 40 m) are usually filled with atmospheric air (approx. 78% N2, 21% O2, 1% argon + trace gases). During the compression cycle, this air is very thoroughly filtered to remove oil and other toxic contaminants, and dried to minimise internal corrosion of the cylinder.

Standard air compressors (e.g. To drive paint sprayers and other pneumatic tools, or fill car tyres) are generally unsuitable for filling SCUBA cylinders because (1) they may be oil-lubricated, increasing the risk of contamination and (2) they do not contain the filter/driers needed to provide air of sufficient purity?a dedicated breathing-air compressor is required.

Depending on local regulation, standards for SCUBA-quality air may actually be more stringent with respect to e.g. Oil and/or carbon monoxide content than compressed breathing-air intended for surface-level use (e.g. For firefighters), since the toxic effects of these contaminants are multiplied by the increased depth (i.e. Higher partial pressure) at which they are delivered to the diver. (Even at as little as 30 ft, 10 m, the ambient pressure is double surface pressure, so the toxic potency of CO contamination would also be doubled?at 100 ft, 30 m, it would be quadrupled).

Sport divers are now also increasingly using gas mixtures with higher O2 contents than standard air (up to 40% for recreational diving, and up to 100% O2 for ?technical? decompression diving). These mixtures are known variously as ?nitrox?, ?enriched air?, ?EAN(x)?, or ?SafeAir? (depending on who?s doing the training!), and many dive shops are now equipped to provide these fills as well as normal air.

Nitrox can be made in several ways?either by adding pure O2 into a cylinder and then topping up with compressed air, or by increasing the relative O2 content of the air prior to it entering the compressor (e.g. By premixing with pure O2, or even by de-nitrogenation via a membrane system). Whichever method is used (and whatever %O2 is desired), the gas mix still has to be SCUBA quality.

Using nitrox safely requires the diver to learn some extra theory on top of what their entry-level course covered, but is still well within the grasp of a newly-certified diver (some training agencies even include nitrox theory in their basic course).

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