HELIUM PRICES $$$$

[OutlawCaver]

Well after just paying $0.36/cf for helium at Airgas I may be ready for a rebreather. It just cost me $210 to get my two T (291cf) bottles filled with low grade helium. I remember when it was $50 a bottle and oxygen was $15. At least I have access to a Haskel booster to get most every molecule of gas from the tanks. Anyone able to comment on recent costs for gases (outside of dive shops)?

[Miner]

Helium prices are definitely going up. My last purchase for prepure He cost me $85 a T from TriTec. They tell me that every quarter, their purchase price is going up, but that they're only raising customer prices every 6 months. It will probably be $100 bucks a T the next time I need gas. How much open circuit He diving do I want to really do?

Dave
www.divingindepth.com

[aw]

$90 for UHP He per T bottle from Lindegas. $27 per T bottle for ABO.

[andrebasso]

I've often wondered - why not use Neon instead? Fairly low narcotic index, totally inert gas, not that heavy of a molecule and probably a cheaper gas. There has got to be a reason no one uses it though, anyone know why??

Also, if you stick a D-cell battery in your ass you'll glow...
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[FloridaCaveDiver]

I've often wondered - why not use Neon instead? Fairly low narcotic index, totally inert gas, not that heavy of a molecule and probably a cheaper gas. There has got to be a reason no one uses it though, anyone know why??

Also, if you stick a D-cell battery in your ass you'll glow...
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Do you want your doubles to cost $1024.00 a fill? If so, use Neon -- it is far from cheaper than Helium.

[aw]

I've often wondered - why not use Neon instead? Fairly low narcotic index, totally inert gas, not that heavy of a molecule and probably a cheaper gas. There has got to be a reason no one uses it though, anyone know why??

Also, if you stick a D-cell battery in your ass you'll glow...
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Found this on the web . .

"3.2 Neon (Ne), neox and neoquad:
Neon is less absorbed by body tissues than helium or nitrogen due to it's greater density, but it's also very expensive gas compared even to expensive helium. Instead of pure neon, there has also been use for crude neon mix, which is a mixture of 75% neon and 25% helium (crude neon is a by-product in air distillation). Neon as an inert gas seems not to have any narcotic effects in a dives less than 360 m depth, and it does not cause the distortion of voice like helium or hydrogen does. The density of neon limits it still mainly to depths less than 180 m, because neon is so slowly released from body tissues causing long decompression times. This is the reason why neon is mostly used in a short bounce-dives. Neon is mostly used together with oxygen (NEon+OXygen = "neox"), or with trimix (trimix = helium + oxygen + nitrogen) to make neoquad mix. DCS cases, where diver has breathed neon as an inert gas, are very hard to treat because of complex recompression schedules."

[andrebasso]

Found this on the web . . 3.2 Neon (Ne), neox and neoquad

Very interesting. Do you have the URL, I'd love to read more... Thanks!
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[OutlawCaver]

Neon has a thermal conductivity that is about 1/3 that of helium so you would loose less heat during respiration. I suspect that any deco tables for neon are empirically formulated using a relatively small sample space.

[aw]

Found this on the web . . 3.2 Neon (Ne), neox and neoquad

Very interesting. Do you have the URL, I'd love to read more... Thanks!
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Here's where I found it. Don't know that it says much more about neon though.

http://www.techdiver.ws/exotic_gases.shtml

[zippthorne]

Are we reaching peak helium? or is this a blip? Perhaps we should advocate more drilling in the gulf?