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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.