Trimix Diving

Trimix diving is a form of scuba diving that relies on the use of a special mixture of different gases including nitrogen, helium, and oxygen. Roughly fifteen percent of the gas nitrogen is also added to trimix: a three gas mixture, so that a diver can successfully go diving in deep waters without an increased risk of having to deal with nitrogen narcosis or oxygen toxicity during the dive. The trimix scuba diving gas mixture is most ideal for dives that go beyond four hundred feet in terms of depth, and this type of gas is offered for divers that are involved in commercial diving, scientific diving endeavors, and for military purposes as well as technical diving tasks.

Trimix diving requires special training and every mixture will differ depending upon the details of the actual dive. The deeper the waters are associated with a dive the more helium that is mixed in with the trimix scuba diving gas and the less nitrogen and oxygen there will be. The first notion of using a trimix scuba diving gas for deep diving was developed by Elihu Thompson, a professor, who began to theorize that helium could prove beneficial to divers in deep waters: the theory was developed in the early 1900s. By the 1920s, the United States Military began conducting experiments to see the outcome of using helium in diving, and in the late 1930s, the United States Navy was using a trimix scuba diving mixture. It wasn’t until the late 1980s, however that this scuba diving gas was used for mass purposes. Finally, in the early 1990s, the very first standards for diver training for the use of trimix diving gas was developed by Tom Mount.

Trimix diving is considered safer for divers in deep waters because nitrogen has a narcotic effect whereas helium does not. A diminished amount of oxygen in the trimix gas mixture ensures that divers do not face complications associated with toxicity of oxygen levels in the body too. The process of filling up gas tanks with the Trimix scuba diving mixture is something that one must be fully trained for, but the basics of the application include the filling up of the diver’s cylinders with some helium, and topping off the tanks with nitrox or air. The exact amount of nitrogen and oxygen that is added to the tanks must be fully determined and calculated based on the depth of the dive in question.

It is imperative that a diver receive full blender training in order to ensure that the trimix scuba diving mixture is absolutely perfect for the dive undertaken. Full training for trimix scuba diving endeavors are offered by organizations like IANTD, the NAUI, the TDI, the Global Underwater Explorers organization, the World Confederation of Underwater Activities, and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.

Many of the latter organizations have special diving centers where a diver can receive advanced training in trimix scuba diving practices and methods.