When a diver descends to lower pressure than the ambient, it is called decompression. During ascent from deep, the body of the diver undergoes decompression. This can be dangerous, so it is important to do decompression dives correctly. You can read more about decompression diving or decompression syndrome. Find out more about the decompression sick penalties and standard treatment. Below are some of the common questions that a decompression diver may have.
Deco dives
You will need to go through the V-planner's basic program before you plan a deco dive. This will allow you to see the amount of deco required to reach the desired visibility and depth. A V-planner can be used to plan a dive up to 35m. Otherwise, you'll need to calculate deco manually, if possible.
Minimum deco refers to a slow ascent at half the average depth. The name is misleading because it takes more than a minute. You will usually ascend 10ft/3m in 30 secs, then stop and recover for 30 secs before you repeat the process. You may want to make sure that you've decompressed fully before attempting to ascend. The best way to do that is to have sufficient air in the tank.
Planned dives
A computer-generated decompression plan can be a useful tool for divers. The computer generates deco lists according to the diver's choice of gases, decompression methods, and conservatism settings. Divers can create dive plans using this software. They can choose a decompression period, OTU and CNS loadings, and the gas requirements for each depth. Divers can use the PC planning software to avoid common mistakes made when planning a dive manually.
A decompression stopping is a series if stops that occur during an ascent. This allows the body and its helium to escape. To adjust to the pressure of the surrounding environment, a lengthy decompression break is required. The profile of the diver as well as the maximum depth reached will affect the length of the decompression breaks. You should plan multiple stops to ensure you can reach the deepest depths.
Standard treatment for decompression illness
The standard treatment for decompression illness is to breathe 100% oxygen through the mask, maintain blood pressure and administer fluids to prevent oxygen from being lost. A hyperbaric oxygen chamber is used to reverse blood pressure changes and turn nitrogen into liquid. The body can then clear the matter in a matter of hours. Divers should not dive if they are suffering from severe decompression sickness.
In severe cases, oxygen supplementation is administered to the diver. It should be maintained until help arrives. Sometimes, decompression sickness can be hard to diagnose because symptoms may not appear immediately. However, decompression sickness should be treated as an emergency and the diver should be kept warm until medical assistance arrives. You should monitor your diver's condition closely and rule out any neurological signs. If symptoms don't appear after a few moments, it could indicate air embolism.
Penalties for decompression diving
Penalties for diving under pressure can cause loss of consciousness, insufficient air supply to the lungs, and even death. There are many options to prevent these issues and minimize the risk of suffering from decompression. While diving, make sure you know what you're doing. Dive without the correct equipment can lead to decompression illness. Avoid these common mistakes when diving.
The first mistake to avoid is to underestimate the decompression time. Recreational diving's NDLs or depth limits are more concerned with fast tissues. Maximum ascent rates are set to allow for the direct ascent from the surface. Decompression diving is more complicated than any other tank. Buhlmann ZH-16 algorithm fixes nitrogen halftimes at 2.65x longer than helium's. It also adds an increasing amount of time for decompression when the helium fraction exceeds expectations.