I am in a German dive club. And yes in Germany there are "special" fittings for Nitrox. (Based on standards for tanks with 100% O2). So our club did all our Nitrox certification in the Netherlands, where anything below 50%O2 only requires "Normal" DIN fittings. It must be said Germany can be a bit finicky with "Standards", BUT I still have issues with Whitworth, Metric or Imperial screw threads. So there is that!!! Happy New Year Mark & all.
I'm in Canada and have an old Posiedon Cyclone 300 reg that has DIN threads, but there is a protrusion on the end that will not let the o-ring seat in a 300 BAR valve. We have two common DIN valves on tanks with different thread depths; a 3442 psi valve is shallower than a 3500 psi valve. Modern regs fit both but the 3500 psi valve is very robust and angled to get the reg a bit further away from your head when diving.
I heard that the DIN vs M26 standard was introduced globally in the EU. It is used for industrial and medical gasses as well. The idea is to stop people muddling up gasses. It makes much more sense where you have oxygen and air only but not blended gas. In EU any gas that is more than 22% should be M26. If you are using high O2 mix for deco where you need an oxygen cleaned regulator then it sort makes sense but for regular recreational nitrox up to 40% it adds a lot of complexity…
I live in the US and decided to go with a DIN setup so that I can dive with them anywhere in the world. I have recently come back from a vacation in Jamaica where I did 11 dives, multiple deep and wreck dives. I used the A-Clamp conversion that came with my regulators, DiveRite XT4/XT1. When pulling the A-Camp adapter off, I noticed a brown powder like buildup at the base of the A-Clamp adapter. Wondering if I should have my 1st stage serviced over the winter as a precaution. I don’t feel like I was breathing dirty air, but the buildup has me concerned. The simple answer I guess is, if in doubt get it done, but wondering if that is entirely rational. Thanks in advance for your guidance.
To be honest: Even the Germans almost never use this special Nitrox DIN. The typical Gerrman diver travels to Egypt with his ordinary 300 Bar DIN and dives with Nitrox there. And in German lakes, there are not that many diving scenarios that would require Nitrox at all, IMHO. I'm from Germany too and used my DIN regs worldwide. I did over 100 dives in Palau with my DIN. So, basically, there are today only two options worldwide available: 300 Bar DIN and Yoke (is a joke ;-) ). All the other stuff (Nitrox DIN or 200 Bar DIN) is rather theoretical. You hardly find someone actually use them (in recreational diving!!). Fun fact: I own an older MK20 with a 200 Bar DIN. Most of the time, there's nothing wrong with them, since 300 Bar tanks are pretty rare.
Yeah the argument for 300 bar is just that you will never have to worry about your regulator and valve not fitting but if you know for sure you will only encounter 200 bar valves a 200 bar regulator is completely fine. It is actually a little bit like Yoke vs. DIN. Yoke and 200 bar are both products which will work and ensure safe dives but they do have flaws which the Din/300bar version doesn't have, so if you buy new just go with the DIN/300bar as they cost the same or prize difference is negletible and why would you then go with the less good option if you could have the better option, but if you already have Yoke/200bar and it works for you there is no reason whatsoever to change and the money that would cost doesn't stand in any kind of relation to the benefits and would better be invested in another piece if gear.
Oh and I know some dive bases which offer enriched Air in Germany and they are legally obliged to use M26 fittings for their hoses so in theory they can only fill M26 tanks which would mean you use M26 regs. Now of course now one checks those valves carefully enought to recognise a DIN to M26 adapter and they fill your normal DIN tank with EAN. Unknowingly of course😉
I've been diving CCR for twenty years and have never used an M26 DIN, only ever had one O2 cylinder fitted with it and the first thing I did was change it. And I don't know anyone else who uses M26 either.
Fortunately, it's easy to convert M26 Nitrox regulators to regular 5/8ths DIN. I've personally never met anyone who uses M26 but I guess there must be some.
#AskMark Love your videos. They have reignited my passion for scuba and diving education. You mentioned that some DIN regulators are different for Nitrox. I got Nitrox certified years ago and never used a different regulator and I thought most regs are recreational Nitrox ready (not higher tech levels of mix). Does it really matter if the manufacturer builds them as “Nitrox Ready.” I guess I never thought about it because my first regular and current one have both been A-clamp, but I was thinking of getting a DIN reg for my next one.
@@RobWhitenoise In the booklet for my Apeks regs was a page called "Using gas blends with more than 21% O2 for EU" saying its dangerous and on the next page "Using gas blends with more than 21% O2 except in EU" saying its fine as long as youre below 40% so at least my reg was Nitrox ready when bought in switzerland. Maybe you can just switch the yoke part of your current regs to DIN to save some money
Yeah, Nitrox is where it gets complicated and regional. I use my 'regular' regs all the time on Nitrox. All regs are clean for up-to 40% Nitrox straight out of the box. In the EU, if you intend to dive 40%+ O2, you should be using a M26 regulator and a Nitrox cleaned cylinder. It could be different elsewhere around the world, but here you need to have special cylinders and regs for Nitrox over 40%.
Hi Mark #askmark Why do we just dive with 200 bar, wouldn't make much more sense to get our cylinder filled until 300bar, so we would have much more air? Thanks for the answer. 👌
Cost, weight and ability to get a "full" fill. 200/232Bar cylinders are the norm Worldwide and hold more than enough gas to perform most dives within normal "recreational" limits. And as 200/232 are the norm in most dive centres across the World, why should they up their costs by replacing all of their cylinders with 300bar ones, when a 200/232 would suffice for 99% of the diving they will do? Also, 300bar cylinders weigh significantly more than their 200/232bar counterparts, and also contain roughly 1kg of extra gas. All of this needs to be accounted for; both on land and in the water - both when full at the start of the dive, and when near empty at the end of the dive. A lot of divers already struggle with correct weighting, why make this worse for the travelling diver... And on getting a "full" fill. A lot of compressors struggle to get a cylinder full up to 300Bar, usually requiring a booster of some sort, and the time it takes to get up that high can be quite lengthy. Far easier to just have a 232bar cylinders and not make your compressor work so hard - it will last longer.
Gas laws get weird once you get up to 300bar. Everything up to 220bar is fairly linear but, over that it gets much harder to even reach the pressures and you get less gas volume per bar. And Nitrox mixes at that pressure is more luck than calculations. The cylinders are heavier which sucks and even when you fill your own cylinders, it's very hard to actually reach 300bar. Most of my fills for my 300bar 7Ls were closer to 260 by the time I reach the water, so not a great benefit over just a larger volume cylinder.
#AskMark - hey Mark. Thanks for all your great content. Can you please discuss the ins and outs of Partial vs Continuous Blend (and “banked” - if that’s different) nitrox? I know you need an 02 cleaned cylinder for PB but not for CB? Can you go back and forth between air and nitrox fills with CB or banked? Thanks!
So, we used to use *Partial* Blending at the dive center. PB uses pure Oxygen to fill your cylinder first with the required amount of oxygen and then you top it up with air to get the desired pressure. Using pure O2 fills the cylinder with much higher amounts of O2 and can easily go over that 40% threshold. It takes some calculations to work out but, it's not that tricky and we have calculators to work out the target pressures. It can be slow though because if you rush it, you'll ruin the mix. *Banked* will be large cylinders of pre-mixed Nitrox (32% for example) and they fill the cylinder with your chosen amount. It's not very flexible and if you already have a different mix in the cylinder it can dilute the mix. And unless they have a method of safely pumping the gas into your cylinder, once their bank is down to equal what's in your cylinder that's the pressure they can reach. *Continuous* is an unusual technique today but, it does have its merits. Similar to PB, you have pure O2 and air in bank or compressor. But the difference is that you have a blending chamber outside of the cylinder for the air and O2 to mix before it enters your cylinder and you control the O2% by the amount that you open the O2 valve. There's also *Membrane* Nitrox method where the compressed gas is basically put through a filter that separates some of the Nitrogen which, in turn, increases the amount of O2 in the final mix. There's a valve at one end of the filter that lets you adjust the amount of N2 that's lost and change the O2%.
why aren't all tanks able to accept din or yolk(a frame). i have din and was under the impression that every tank was designed with a din fitting and an adapter was used to fit yoke with an allan key.
Those are modern Pro valves(they are marketed as that but basically they are just DIN valves sold with a inset to convert to yoke) . Every DIN Valve can be fitted for Yoke with a little insert adapter, but a Pure Yoke valve can't be made to fit a DIN regulator. Those pro valves, which become more and more common nowadays, are the reason why a lot of yoke regions have DIN taking over. A pro valve is the best for a manufacturer because he can deliver every consumer with one product and the versatility is a great argument to buy your product. Some manufacturers only offer pro valves nowadays so Yoke tanks get less and less common.
DIN valves are relatively new, when the DIN fitting was introduced, most cylinders and regulators were yoke only and the only reason to replace the cylinder valve was if it failed a test. So, if most divers had yoke regs and a yoke cylinder, then there wasn't much need for them to change their cylinder valve. Now that more divers are using DIN, the only cylinders that have yoke-only valves are either quite old or in a region that hasn't adopted DIN. Most tourist spots are using DIN valves today but, as you've discovered, some areas still only have yoke valves and you need to bring an a-clamp adaptor on your travels with a DIN regulator.
@@MysticalDragon73 You can get tank valves that are din but have an insert you can screw in to the tank valve to make it yoke. You see a few of these in the Egypt also.
@markweaver3458 yep those would be the pro valves which are becoming more common and make sense. Easier and more compact than putting an adapter on the din regulator.
#askmark My secould question, I just wonder why does a cylinder need to be air cleaned, if I switch from air to nitrox, I mean at the end, both is just air. Why don't we just dive with EAN22? I guess it wouldn't be a big deal to got 21% or 22% O2, so I guess not evern a certification would be needed, but we may could save the money for air cleaning, I guess.
The reason for O2 Cleaning is due to the different ways an EAN (Nx) mix can be blended, and the O2 content within it. If one uses the "Continuous" blending method for mixes of up to Nx40, or uses banked e.g. Nx32 (preblended Nx mix stored in large higher pressure cylinders that just get decanted into your dive cylinder when needed), then O2 cleaning is not essential; but would still be recommend. BUT, if using the "Partial Pressure" blending method, or using mixes of over Nx40, O2 cleaning is essential due to the potential for carbons being present in the dive cylinder that can react with the higher concentrations of O2. For partial pressure blending, this is a significant risk as you "partially" fill the cylinder with an amount of 100% O2 first (quantity depends on the final Nx mix required) and then top it up to full with air to achieve the required Nx blend. And in answer to why don't we just dive with Nx22? Sometimes we do. One should use the best mix for the planned depth of the dive. Sometimes that will be Nx22, sometimes Nx40. But using Nx22 when the best mix for the dive is Nx40 will offer no significant advantage over Nx21 (air).
This issue re: 02 cleaning is safety - especially for the people filling the thanks. When blending for nitrox, a calculated amount of pure oxygen is put into the cylinder first and then regular air is added to achieve the desired blend. Pure oxygen under pressure is a fire risk in the presence of hydrocarbons. 02 cleaned tanks remove the hydrocarbons.
Am I the only one who thinks that it's absurd the Europeans nitrox regs can't fit air tanks? So you need two regs with you if you dive a tank of air the first dive, followed by nitrox on subsequent dives.
@tomtom4405 he said at the 5:30ish mark the European nitrox regs can't fit air tanks. This makes no sense if that's the case. Especially recreational levels. I've even seen guys run air in a nitrox tank.
An additional consideration to the different DIN first stage thread count, is the tank valve thread count. In an effort to ensure that all my sidemount equipment works seamlessly at my dive destination, I brought my own modular right and left tank valves to swap-out when I arrive. I was recently on a trip to Mallorca (coming from Canada) and when I tried to install my tank valves into the shop aluminum 80’s the thread was different. No big deal, I just had to use their standard DIN values for right and left for the duration of my trip. It was an inconvenience that I will try to be prepared for during my next European dive trip.
strange the dive shop would let you change their tank valves - but you most likely encountered 3/4 bsp thread there which is just slightly off the M25 that is common now
Funny Story time: About one month ago I went diving in a dive pool. I was there two years before and used 4kg of lead. I only wore a shorty (the water had 28°C), so I was way to heavy. This time I asked for 1kg. I ended up with two because they had no 500g weights (they used to have but they kept mysteriously disappearing) and I thought it would be better to be just a bit owerweighted than too buoyant. I got in the water and realised immediantly that I was to heavy. (I wore the same shorty than last time) I decided to remove both weight pockets. After that, I still was extremely overweighted. It made me a bit sad because I planned to practice buoyancy and frog-kicking. Does somebody have an idea what I can do about that? For those who want to know: - 3mm Shorty - 10L Steel tank - No lead - Standard Jacket-Style BSD PS: It's quite funny that the DIN (German Institute for Standards) tecnically controlls about a third (at least I think it's that much) of the diving marked. And Mark: That was a really good pronunciation of "Deutsches Institut für Normung". Especially the "eu" in "Deutsches"
maybe your bones are "heavy built"? but jokes aside, steel tank (especially at the begin of the dive), BCD and maybe your fins are heavy enough. A human body alone is usually only slightly positive buoyant (if you exhale you sink), so all those heavy items add up
In fresh water you’re better off using aluminum tanks otherwise the average person is going to sink with steel tanks. For salt water steel will do fine and will almost cancel out the extra buoyancy you get.
@@ccreevan depending on tank size (and salt- or freshwater) he might get too light / positive buoyant by the end of the dive with an aluminium tank. And alu tanks are not available everywhere...
@@djenn30 have you lost weight? Fat people are quite floaty when fully exhaled but very thin people (like my 17 year old son) will sink hard without air in lungs
The M25 is the thread form for the cylinder valve fitting into the cylinder, the old one was the British 3/4 bsp size so that is what you show when depicting the markings on the cylinder in your video. Unless you do service cylinders you won´t have to deal with those... M26 is supposed to be the new connector for EAN gases in the EU, connecting the cylinder valve to your first stage. The "old" standards there were the G5/8 DIN connector and the clamp style. Since "old" DIN connectors (sometimes after changing O-rings) can be used with EAN and the M26 is a local EU thing I´m not sure if they´ll ever get picked up worldwide, but EU-locally all new cylinders sold that are supposed to be filled with >22% O2 are required to have a M26 thread (which mostly concerns European rebreather divers). Cost for an M26 male to G5/8 female adapter (so you can use EAN-gas EU bottles with standard DIN regulator) or the other way around (so you can use international used DIN-cylinders with your shiny new EAN first stage) is about 30€, with those you should be good to go up to EAN40 (and probably above, but that´s another topic). Spread of M26 (especially for EAN40 and above) is mostly in France only - but that is based on my limited research in internet forums on that topic.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I am in a German dive club. And yes in Germany there are "special" fittings for Nitrox. (Based on standards for tanks with 100% O2). So our club did all our Nitrox certification in the Netherlands, where anything below 50%O2 only requires "Normal" DIN fittings. It must be said Germany can be a bit finicky with "Standards", BUT I still have issues with Whitworth, Metric or Imperial screw threads. So there is that!!! Happy New Year Mark & all.
I'm in Canada and have an old Posiedon Cyclone 300 reg that has DIN threads, but there is a protrusion on the end that will not let the o-ring seat in a 300 BAR valve. We have two common DIN valves on tanks with different thread depths; a 3442 psi valve is shallower than a 3500 psi valve. Modern regs fit both but the 3500 psi valve is very robust and angled to get the reg a bit further away from your head when diving.
I heard that the DIN vs M26 standard was introduced globally in the EU. It is used for industrial and medical gasses as well. The idea is to stop people muddling up gasses. It makes much more sense where you have oxygen and air only but not blended gas. In EU any gas that is more than 22% should be M26. If you are using high O2 mix for deco where you need an oxygen cleaned regulator then it sort makes sense but for regular recreational nitrox up to 40% it adds a lot of complexity…
I live in the US and decided to go with a DIN setup so that I can dive with them anywhere in the world. I have recently come back from a vacation in Jamaica where I did 11 dives, multiple deep and wreck dives. I used the A-Clamp conversion that came with my regulators, DiveRite XT4/XT1. When pulling the A-Camp adapter off, I noticed a brown powder like buildup at the base of the A-Clamp adapter. Wondering if I should have my 1st stage serviced over the winter as a precaution. I don’t feel like I was breathing dirty air, but the buildup has me concerned. The simple answer I guess is, if in doubt get it done, but wondering if that is entirely rational. Thanks in advance for your guidance.
To be honest: Even the Germans almost never use this special Nitrox DIN. The typical Gerrman diver travels to Egypt with his ordinary 300 Bar DIN and dives with Nitrox there. And in German lakes, there are not that many diving scenarios that would require Nitrox at all, IMHO.
I'm from Germany too and used my DIN regs worldwide. I did over 100 dives in Palau with my DIN.
So, basically, there are today only two options worldwide available: 300 Bar DIN and Yoke (is a joke ;-) ). All the other stuff (Nitrox DIN or 200 Bar DIN) is rather theoretical. You hardly find someone actually use them (in recreational diving!!). Fun fact: I own an older MK20 with a 200 Bar DIN. Most of the time, there's nothing wrong with them, since 300 Bar tanks are pretty rare.
Yeah the argument for 300 bar is just that you will never have to worry about your regulator and valve not fitting but if you know for sure you will only encounter 200 bar valves a 200 bar regulator is completely fine. It is actually a little bit like Yoke vs. DIN. Yoke and 200 bar are both products which will work and ensure safe dives but they do have flaws which the Din/300bar version doesn't have, so if you buy new just go with the DIN/300bar as they cost the same or prize difference is negletible and why would you then go with the less good option if you could have the better option, but if you already have Yoke/200bar and it works for you there is no reason whatsoever to change and the money that would cost doesn't stand in any kind of relation to the benefits and would better be invested in another piece if gear.
Oh and I know some dive bases which offer enriched Air in Germany and they are legally obliged to use M26 fittings for their hoses so in theory they can only fill M26 tanks which would mean you use M26 regs. Now of course now one checks those valves carefully enought to recognise a DIN to M26 adapter and they fill your normal DIN tank with EAN. Unknowingly of course😉
Just came back from the Red sea. Guess what...all DIN and no leaking 1th stage to tank connections.
Everybody knows, there are just two connections. DIN and the wrong one😜
Nope we use yoke just fine in the states
@MysticalDragon73 I understand your point. But all leakages I encountered are on Yoke connections and not DIN.
Anyhow. Take it with humor pls
@WhaleOnTour well we do use the proper measuring scale in the states lol
@@MysticalDragon73 "freedom units"😜😅
@WhaleOnTour better than the metric junk lol
You tend to see m26 threads on rebreathers for the O2 cylinder. This is a safety feature so you don't get it mixed up with the diluent.
I've been diving CCR for twenty years and have never used an M26 DIN, only ever had one O2 cylinder fitted with it and the first thing I did was change it. And I don't know anyone else who uses M26 either.
@@simonsays2685 i believe its now a CE requirement.
@@daveturton1784 might well be a requirement but nobody uses it. You can even buy M26/DIN adaptors to get round using it.
@@simonsays2685 I have them on my JJ so now you know one diver that uses them :)
Fortunately, it's easy to convert M26 Nitrox regulators to regular 5/8ths DIN. I've personally never met anyone who uses M26 but I guess there must be some.
Thanks Mark for explaining how this works
#AskMark
Love your videos. They have reignited my passion for scuba and diving education. You mentioned that some DIN regulators are different for Nitrox. I got Nitrox certified years ago and never used a different regulator and I thought most regs are recreational Nitrox ready (not higher tech levels of mix). Does it really matter if the manufacturer builds them as “Nitrox Ready.” I guess I never thought about it because my first regular and current one have both been A-clamp, but I was thinking of getting a DIN reg for my next one.
@@RobWhitenoise In the booklet for my Apeks regs was a page called "Using gas blends with more than 21% O2 for EU" saying its dangerous and on the next page "Using gas blends with more than 21% O2 except in EU" saying its fine as long as youre below 40% so at least my reg was Nitrox ready when bought in switzerland. Maybe you can just switch the yoke part of your current regs to DIN to save some money
Yeah, Nitrox is where it gets complicated and regional. I use my 'regular' regs all the time on Nitrox.
All regs are clean for up-to 40% Nitrox straight out of the box. In the EU, if you intend to dive 40%+ O2, you should be using a M26 regulator and a Nitrox cleaned cylinder. It could be different elsewhere around the world, but here you need to have special cylinders and regs for Nitrox over 40%.
Hi Mark
#askmark
Why do we just dive with 200 bar, wouldn't make much more sense to get our cylinder filled until 300bar, so we would have much more air?
Thanks for the answer. 👌
Cost, weight and ability to get a "full" fill. 200/232Bar cylinders are the norm Worldwide and hold more than enough gas to perform most dives within normal "recreational" limits. And as 200/232 are the norm in most dive centres across the World, why should they up their costs by replacing all of their cylinders with 300bar ones, when a 200/232 would suffice for 99% of the diving they will do?
Also, 300bar cylinders weigh significantly more than their 200/232bar counterparts, and also contain roughly 1kg of extra gas. All of this needs to be accounted for; both on land and in the water - both when full at the start of the dive, and when near empty at the end of the dive. A lot of divers already struggle with correct weighting, why make this worse for the travelling diver...
And on getting a "full" fill. A lot of compressors struggle to get a cylinder full up to 300Bar, usually requiring a booster of some sort, and the time it takes to get up that high can be quite lengthy. Far easier to just have a 232bar cylinders and not make your compressor work so hard - it will last longer.
Gas laws get weird once you get up to 300bar. Everything up to 220bar is fairly linear but, over that it gets much harder to even reach the pressures and you get less gas volume per bar. And Nitrox mixes at that pressure is more luck than calculations.
The cylinders are heavier which sucks and even when you fill your own cylinders, it's very hard to actually reach 300bar. Most of my fills for my 300bar 7Ls were closer to 260 by the time I reach the water, so not a great benefit over just a larger volume cylinder.
#AskMark - hey Mark. Thanks for all your great content. Can you please discuss the ins and outs of Partial vs Continuous Blend (and “banked” - if that’s different) nitrox? I know you need an 02 cleaned cylinder for PB but not for CB? Can you go back and forth between air and nitrox fills with CB or banked? Thanks!
So, we used to use *Partial* Blending at the dive center. PB uses pure Oxygen to fill your cylinder first with the required amount of oxygen and then you top it up with air to get the desired pressure. Using pure O2 fills the cylinder with much higher amounts of O2 and can easily go over that 40% threshold. It takes some calculations to work out but, it's not that tricky and we have calculators to work out the target pressures. It can be slow though because if you rush it, you'll ruin the mix.
*Banked* will be large cylinders of pre-mixed Nitrox (32% for example) and they fill the cylinder with your chosen amount. It's not very flexible and if you already have a different mix in the cylinder it can dilute the mix. And unless they have a method of safely pumping the gas into your cylinder, once their bank is down to equal what's in your cylinder that's the pressure they can reach.
*Continuous* is an unusual technique today but, it does have its merits. Similar to PB, you have pure O2 and air in bank or compressor. But the difference is that you have a blending chamber outside of the cylinder for the air and O2 to mix before it enters your cylinder and you control the O2% by the amount that you open the O2 valve.
There's also *Membrane* Nitrox method where the compressed gas is basically put through a filter that separates some of the Nitrogen which, in turn, increases the amount of O2 in the final mix. There's a valve at one end of the filter that lets you adjust the amount of N2 that's lost and change the O2%.
why aren't all tanks able to accept din or yolk(a frame). i have din and was under the impression that every tank was designed with a din fitting and an adapter was used to fit yoke with an allan key.
Those are modern Pro valves(they are marketed as that but basically they are just DIN valves sold with a inset to convert to yoke) . Every DIN Valve can be fitted for Yoke with a little insert adapter, but a Pure Yoke valve can't be made to fit a DIN regulator. Those pro valves, which become more and more common nowadays, are the reason why a lot of yoke regions have DIN taking over.
A pro valve is the best for a manufacturer because he can deliver every consumer with one product and the versatility is a great argument to buy your product. Some manufacturers only offer pro valves nowadays so Yoke tanks get less and less common.
DIN valves are relatively new, when the DIN fitting was introduced, most cylinders and regulators were yoke only and the only reason to replace the cylinder valve was if it failed a test. So, if most divers had yoke regs and a yoke cylinder, then there wasn't much need for them to change their cylinder valve.
Now that more divers are using DIN, the only cylinders that have yoke-only valves are either quite old or in a region that hasn't adopted DIN. Most tourist spots are using DIN valves today but, as you've discovered, some areas still only have yoke valves and you need to bring an a-clamp adaptor on your travels with a DIN regulator.
Is this potentially an issue in the Caribbean?
Din is rarely seen in the Caribbean for recreational diving.
I was talking to a couple lds in ohio. They said many to most use yoke in the states, Mexico the Caribbean. Many only travel with a yoke.
@@MysticalDragon73 You can get tank valves that are din but have an insert you can screw in to the tank valve to make it yoke. You see a few of these in the Egypt also.
@markweaver3458 yep those would be the pro valves which are becoming more common and make sense. Easier and more compact than putting an adapter on the din regulator.
yoke is common here in North America
#askmark
My secould question, I just wonder why does a cylinder need to be air cleaned, if I switch from air to nitrox, I mean at the end, both is just air.
Why don't we just dive with EAN22?
I guess it wouldn't be a big deal to got 21% or 22% O2, so I guess not evern a certification would be needed, but we may could save the money for air cleaning, I guess.
The reason for O2 Cleaning is due to the different ways an EAN (Nx) mix can be blended, and the O2 content within it. If one uses the "Continuous" blending method for mixes of up to Nx40, or uses banked e.g. Nx32 (preblended Nx mix stored in large higher pressure cylinders that just get decanted into your dive cylinder when needed), then O2 cleaning is not essential; but would still be recommend.
BUT, if using the "Partial Pressure" blending method, or using mixes of over Nx40, O2 cleaning is essential due to the potential for carbons being present in the dive cylinder that can react with the higher concentrations of O2. For partial pressure blending, this is a significant risk as you "partially" fill the cylinder with an amount of 100% O2 first (quantity depends on the final Nx mix required) and then top it up to full with air to achieve the required Nx blend.
And in answer to why don't we just dive with Nx22? Sometimes we do. One should use the best mix for the planned depth of the dive. Sometimes that will be Nx22, sometimes Nx40. But using Nx22 when the best mix for the dive is Nx40 will offer no significant advantage over Nx21 (air).
This issue re: 02 cleaning is safety - especially for the people filling the thanks. When blending for nitrox, a calculated amount of pure oxygen is put into the cylinder first and then regular air is added to achieve the desired blend. Pure oxygen under pressure is a fire risk in the presence of hydrocarbons. 02 cleaned tanks remove the hydrocarbons.
Am I the only one who thinks that it's absurd the Europeans nitrox regs can't fit air tanks? So you need two regs with you if you dive a tank of air the first dive, followed by nitrox on subsequent dives.
If the O2 is 40% or under why do you need nitrox regs? If you mean deco oxygen maybe having O2 safe stuff separately isn't such a bad idea
@tomtom4405 he said at the 5:30ish mark the European nitrox regs can't fit air tanks. This makes no sense if that's the case. Especially recreational levels.
I've even seen guys run air in a nitrox tank.
An additional consideration to the different DIN first stage thread count, is the tank valve thread count. In an effort to ensure that all my sidemount equipment works seamlessly at my dive destination, I brought my own modular right and left tank valves to swap-out when I arrive. I was recently on a trip to Mallorca (coming from Canada) and when I tried to install my tank valves into the shop aluminum 80’s the thread was different. No big deal, I just had to use their standard DIN values for right and left for the duration of my trip. It was an inconvenience that I will try to be prepared for during my next European dive trip.
strange the dive shop would let you change their tank valves - but you most likely encountered 3/4 bsp thread there which is just slightly off the M25 that is common now
Funny Story time:
About one month ago I went diving in a dive pool. I was there two years before and used 4kg of lead. I only wore a shorty (the water had 28°C), so I was way to heavy. This time I asked for 1kg. I ended up with two because they had no 500g weights (they used to have but they kept mysteriously disappearing) and I thought it would be better to be just a bit owerweighted than too buoyant.
I got in the water and realised immediantly that I was to heavy. (I wore the same shorty than last time) I decided to remove both weight pockets. After that, I still was extremely overweighted.
It made me a bit sad because I planned to practice buoyancy and frog-kicking.
Does somebody have an idea what I can do about that?
For those who want to know:
- 3mm Shorty
- 10L Steel tank
- No lead
- Standard Jacket-Style BSD
PS:
It's quite funny that the DIN (German Institute for Standards) tecnically controlls about a third (at least I think it's that much) of the diving marked.
And Mark: That was a really good pronunciation of "Deutsches Institut für Normung". Especially the "eu" in "Deutsches"
maybe your bones are "heavy built"? but jokes aside, steel tank (especially at the begin of the dive), BCD and maybe your fins are heavy enough. A human body alone is usually only slightly positive buoyant (if you exhale you sink), so all those heavy items add up
In fresh water you’re better off using aluminum tanks otherwise the average person is going to sink with steel tanks. For salt water steel will do fine and will almost cancel out the extra buoyancy you get.
@@ccreevan depending on tank size (and salt- or freshwater) he might get too light / positive buoyant by the end of the dive with an aluminium tank. And alu tanks are not available everywhere...
@@djenn30 have you lost weight? Fat people are quite floaty when fully exhaled but very thin people (like my 17 year old son) will sink hard without air in lungs
@@tomtom4405 I actually gained weight by greweing up in height. But it wasn't more than 2-3kg. But I understand, what you mean.
The M25 is the thread form for the cylinder valve fitting into the cylinder, the old one was the British 3/4 bsp size so that is what you show when depicting the markings on the cylinder in your video. Unless you do service cylinders you won´t have to deal with those...
M26 is supposed to be the new connector for EAN gases in the EU, connecting the cylinder valve to your first stage. The "old" standards there were the G5/8 DIN connector and the clamp style.
Since "old" DIN connectors (sometimes after changing O-rings) can be used with EAN and the M26 is a local EU thing I´m not sure if they´ll ever get picked up worldwide, but EU-locally all new cylinders sold that are supposed to be filled with >22% O2 are required to have a M26 thread (which mostly concerns European rebreather divers).
Cost for an M26 male to G5/8 female adapter (so you can use EAN-gas EU bottles with standard DIN regulator) or the other way around (so you can use international used DIN-cylinders with your shiny new EAN first stage) is about 30€, with those you should be good to go up to EAN40 (and probably above, but that´s another topic).
Spread of M26 (especially for EAN40 and above) is mostly in France only - but that is based on my limited research in internet forums on that topic.