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The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

atlasobscura.com

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Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#41

Post by zackbloom »

5DFractalTetris wrote: post #37
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but how far down could you dive?

It depends on the tables and physiology, because you need to safely oxygenate all the body's tissues with regular breathing at depth. He could probably dive [edit: said Nitrox, I'd learned non-air Nitrox increases maximum depth but it increases time-at-depth] Trimix until about 100m, deeper might need a different mix.

I think he means trimix, not nitrox. Nitrox reduces the maximum depth of the dive vs air, doesn't increase it.

- Oxygen 0-20 ft

- Nitrox in-between depending on % oxygen

- Air 0-200 ft

- Trimix 0-250 ft

- Hypoxic Trimix up to 500 ft, minimum depending on % oxygen

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#42

Post by chaosite »

joeguilmette wrote: post #38
5DFractalTetris wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the tables and physiology, because you need to safely oxygenate all the body's tissues with regular breathing at depth. He could probably dive [edit: said Nitrox, I'd learned non-air Nitrox increases maximum depth but it increases time-at-depth] Trimix until about 100m, deeper might need a different mix.

Nitrox’s maximum operating depth is ~32m at 32%. Oxygen toxicity is a quick death. To go deeper you need to add helium and actually reduce the amount of oxygen in the gas.

When you add helium to your tank on a dive, the resulting mix is usually called "Trimix".

When you get to technical dives requiring Trimix, one often dives with several different gasses. The gas you breathe at the deepest point of the dive would be toxic if you were to breathe it at a shallower depth.

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#43

Post by userbinator »

FabHK wrote: post #3

The decompression accident alluded to in the piece was the Byford Dolphin diving bell accident. The wikipedia description [1] contains this rather graphic paragraph: > [...] Hellevik, being exposed to the highest pressure gradient and in the process of moving to secure the inner door, was forced through the 60 centimetres (24 in) diameter opening created by the jammed interior trunk door by escaping air and violently…

That accident involved a pressure difference of 8 atmospheres. For comparison, when a plane explosively decompresses, the pressure difference is much less than 1 atmosphere, and that is enough to cause some pretty severe damage, so you can imagine just how much more violent an 8atm decompression is.

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#44

Post by fjsolwmv »

GordonS wrote: post #39
yardie wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who works in the North Sea and I envy his life. We met and sailed the Mediterranean together. I took 2 years off to go sailing full time while he managed to work it into his schedule. He is 3 on, 2 off or 2 on, 3 off the rig. While I’m back in the office he can continue to sail indefinitely. You can accomplish so much with a job that gives you plenty of time off every month.

It's not so romantic if you have a family - and from the other side, as a kid, it wasn't nice for us having my dad away for weeks at a time.

The tragic longing is part of the romance.

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#45

Post by crispyporkbites »

technofiend wrote: post #33
gaius wrote: post #24

I know so many guys who planned to do this for 2-3 years to make some money and 20+ years later they’re still doing it, they (or their wives) spend the money faster than they make it, and their bones are getting brittle from the nitrogen... (Former professional diver but I never did North Sea etc)

The unfortunate truth for some people is unless they are very careful, spending money behaves like a gas and expands to take all available volume.

Sure what is money for but to be spent

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#46

Post by fjsolwmv »

piker wrote: post #5
japhyr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article was fascinating. It never mentioned pay, though. Do these people get paid really well after all this specialized training, and commitment?

> They needed his salary (not surprisingly, saturation divers are well-compensated, up to $1,400 per day), so his wife told him to finish the job.

Great money but assuming that's not a 250+ day/yr billable utilization it's not substantially better than working for a major webtech company, and a lot more grueling and dangerous.

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#47

Post by fjsolwmv »

Retric wrote: post #6
DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #2

been there. done that :) not as dangerous as the article says. at least not the diving part. most of the injuries are people mishandling high-pressure systems (valves, plumbing), electrical hazards (water+electricity), gas leaks, burns ... basically anything that can go wrong on construction sites, but only you're out at sea exposed to the elements. those few times that accidents do happen with divers in a saturation…

The population is tiny which means even if the accident rate is low per time, the risk per diver is extremely high. It depends on you benchmark, but people think of police officer as a dangerous job and they mostly die in car accidents.

Isn't there something about how general aviation pilots mostly die flying if they don't retire from it young?

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#48

Post by fjsolwmv »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #36
kk58 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What were you doing offshore? Commissioning for topsides is it? How did you pivot from field to coding job?

I was a Commercial Diver moving into Life Support Technician/ Superviser work. Then got a lot of free time (the mentioned boredom) so started getting into Linux, Scripting, C, ... then wrote a program that would implement the Oceaneering Manual in code (how much gas do you need for a 30 day job with 6 divers in a chamber, how much soda for the CO2 scrubbers, if they work on 500 ft and live at 470 ft and you do X numb…

You're in good company. Linus Torvalds wrote https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsurface_(software)

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#49

Post by fjsolwmv »

crispyporkbites wrote: post #45
technofiend wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The unfortunate truth for some people is unless they are very careful, spending money behaves like a gas and expands to take all available volume.

Sure what is money for but to be spent

What is air for but to breathe? Still don't want to breathe it faster than you can make it.

Re: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

#50

Post by WalterSear »

crististm wrote: post #22
Xylakant wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying this is politically correct. The contentious issue is the question of why this is so. Is it because society shapes us in such a way that men are more inclined to take risks for money and recognition. This would imply things can change and women can be excellent saturation divers. Or is it because our genes shape us in this way, making it impossible for women to excel at diving.

What about the society makes a compelling reason for either men or women to take high or low risks?

How much the opposite gender in their society values them vs. the resources they can acquire.
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