Pure Oxygen Scuba Tanks

Recreational scuba tanks are filled with compressed purified air.

Pure oxygen scuba tanks.

The dgx premium o2 valves are not any more so in those characteristics than any other scuba tank valves we sell. This air contains about 20 9 oxygen. Sherwood aluminum 100 cf scuba diving 3300 psi dive tank 2. Several risks are associated with the use of pure oxygen in diving.

Generic cylinder and valve maintenance guides rarely address the specific nature of the scuba industry especially in regards to nitrox applications. Just to be clear all the scuba tank valves sold by dive gear express incorporate oxygen compatible materials including fluorocarbon o rings and are oxygen cleaned by the factory. To understand why you need to go into some detail your lungs are basically a long series of tubes that branch out from your nose and mouth from trachea to bronchi to bronchioles and end in little thin walled air sacs called alveoli. These mixes are always blended into oxygen serviced cylinders.

Because the final mix in the cascade cylinders has an oxygen content of 40 percent or below a diver s scuba cylinder is not required to be oxygen serviced. These shops mix into oxygen serviced cascade cylinders. As a certified scuba diver i learned that breathing pressurized pure oxygen leads to oxygen toxicity which can be fatal. For deco mixes above 40 percent there is simply no choice.

So the short answer is pure oxygen is generally bad and sometimes toxic. However i m not anywhere near an expert on the mechanism of oxygen toxicity but i believe it has to do with resulting in a lot more reactive oxygen species which can cause oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. While oxygen compatible lubrication of the neck threads and o ring in scuba valves and cylinders is probably harmless under ideal conditions it also has no clear benefit. Diving with pure oxygen can kill a diver even at shallow depths.