Argon for drysuit inflation

[LKunze]

I noticed argon was brought up in a different thread so I thought I'd post a poll for the heck of it. Personally I've never tried argon so I'm curious. I have heard many people say it feels warmer than air and then of course the navy study that Jason posted a link to in the rebreather forum that says there technically is no difference between the two as far as warmth goes.

[Derrick]

In the article, the divers used 6.5mm neoprene drysuits and only dove to a max of 10m. At that depth, what accounted for the most of the thermal protection? Neoprene or gas? I wonder if they did the same test and went to 30m (or where the neoprene was pretty much compressed) or use triliminate suits.. would argon then make a difference?

Derrick

[Jason]

When i was with SD&T and the crew over the weekend i dove with argon. I belive the water temp was 34-36 degrees. I don't know if it was all in my mind, but i felt warm. only my hands were cold because the wrist seals don't let argon into the drygloves. When i would inflate my Drysuit i could feel the warm air. it was wonderful. I belive it works and will now dive argon in colder water. As far as the navy tables, you cant tell in 10m of water. Shoot, Jean dives with out a hood in those depths and she still comes up with a grin from ear to ear.

Thats my two cents.

Jason.

[ScubaDiveandTravel]

I didn't notice an immediate difference when I switched from air to Ar, but trying to switching back was a different story. Air feels cold comming out of the tank, where as ar does not. I can conduct a 90 minute dive on trimix with AR and not feel cold, where as I freeze using air in about 40 minutes. It may be in my head, but even so it works for me. I'm a freeze baby, so any warmth I can gain is extremely valuable.

[Gramps]

this is coming from a guy who can wear a t-shirt working outside of his shop in the dead of winter and still work up a sweat!

[ghosch]

Derrik has an excellent point, I would not dismiss Ar for a study done on six people doing one dive each to a limited depth with one type of dry suit. If Ar didn't work, it would not be used in windows.

I notice the Ar most when making repetitive dives over multiple day periods. For example last week I dove in Crosby for 5 days straight with a minimum of two dives per day. Each dive ranged from 45 to 81 minutes and the depth of each ranged from 60'-140', I had no problems with cold. Last year doing fewer shallower dives I would be wearing several pairs of socks, and polypro long underwear in addition to my DUI undergarments and I would still get cold.

Not a scientific study (perhaps I just got fatter over the winter) but Ar seems to work for me.