Northwest Dive Club

So, I just finished a 6 month dry spell with a few tune up dives before a deep dive tomorrow. My fill station partner had warned me that the cost of HE had gone way up, but I don't pay much attention to gas costs. It's always been quite reasonable w my ccr. So, I blended up a fresh dil tank of 10/60 just now, punched it in to our calculator, and promptly had a stroke. A fill that cost me about 6 bucks last summer is now $22.76.

Oh well. I mean, that's not so bad in the grand scheme of things, but my first thought was "can anyone afford to do OC tech diving these days? That cost was for an almost empty steel 22. I just checked what a 10/60 fill would cost in db 130s, and came up with $257.14. We're paying $1.49/cf for HE. Keep in mind that I'm only going to use 30-40% of my fill on this dive, whereas an OC diver will use more like 60% of theirs.

My helium is around half that per cf, 1.49 is more like a retail price

Who's your supplier? And what grade of HE?

23 bucks sounds like a good fill to me .... also a good reason to buy a Rebreather

Joshua Smith wrote:Who's your supplier? And what grade of HE?

I'd like to know that as well. I certainly can't afford retail helium fills these days.

Joshua Smith wrote:Who's your supplier? And what grade of HE?

Uhp, from Pacific welding in tacoma

my helium has gone up about 10%

OC trimix is not a problem at $0.45 per cft.. regular helium is just fine for me.

but, UHP Is about $0.65

You'd think there'd be a little more economies of scale in the universe's second most abundant element.

While Helium is indeed plentiful in the grand scheme, most of it is extraterrestrial and locked inside those big thermonuclear reactors. Terrestrial Helium mostly comes from pockets on top of oil deposits.

I thought it came from balloons.

Linedog wrote:I thought it came from balloons.

that's methane, you silly ninny

The supplier I use for O2 and He just had a 21 percent price increase Feb 1st, 2014. 99.9999 now costs $195 for a 244 cuft and $245 for UHP 244 cuft cylinder - ouch!

Just keep in mind that the folks who are describing helium valhalla also spend a pretty penny on a booster (often in addition to a compressor) their own time filling, and then maintenance on said booster & compressor. What they say they gain is 'fill whenever they want" but last time i checked, Scott was pretty damn flexible.

What would be good is a realistic cost of Helium across the board as opposed to a discussion that could theoretically imply that people are getting hosed by their dive shop selling helium. Only based on personal experience having a shop and maintaining everything, but I'm fine with buying helium from T-scuba at whatever price they sell it to me at (for a single 80 and my CCR Bottles) so that i can spend more time diving and less wanking with gear.

Laura is completely right, these are whole sale helium pricing.

Retail is around $0.80 - $1.00 at the shops around here and over $1.00 per cft being on the higher end of the scale for PNW, but not unheard of. Shops also probably use UHP and thats quite a bit more than regular helium.

The last time I paid retail pricing up north in BC, we paid about $1.20 per cft on Vancouver Island and that was 3 years ago.

And agreed, a booster and compressor system is required to pump your own trimix, which is mostly a convenience and not by any means a cost saver.. I dont think I could breathe enough helium in a lifetime to make up for that investment in savings of $0.20 per cft over retail..

I think the moral of the story from Josh's post is that Helium prices have sky rocketed.. My wholesale price has gone up in the past 4 years by about 45 - 50%

For me, its not price, its time...If I lived right near a shop, it'd be different, but I have a 1hr round trip to Tacoma, and that's two trips, one to drop off, the other to go get it. Plus I don't get back down south during the week till after they close, so only day I can get tanks is saturday (dive day, so that wont work), or sunday (clean gear day, spend some time with the dive widow, spousal harmony threatened otherwise). So that doesn't work out well either.

I already have a big compressor for my machine shop, so my only expense was bottles and booster. In return I can mix whatever gas I want/need, whenever I want to.

So its not always about convenience either, but its a nice side benefit.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of driving to the local dive shop. At $.44 a mile, travel costs can add up quickly. So for example, the nearest shop that has trimix is in Tacoma about 20 miles. Round trip that's $17.60 in vehicle costs. $.44 per mile is on the low side. Most vehicle per mile costs are up in the $.60 - $.70 range.

That said, cost pay back is still a lot of He to breathe. The biggest factor for me is convenience. Plus I can take the booster with me for a weekend dive and boost from a 80cuft tank into my RB bottles at remote sites - lake Crescent for example.

Out here in paradise, a bottle of UHP is $500. Industrial is $400.

We used to have a shop out here that sold helium for 1 buck a cubic foot. Unfortunately, they lost their base contract and had to close up.

The remaining shop that does trimix can't find their ass with 2 hands and a map.

If you are not self sufficient out here, you don't dive deep... Or you do it on air.

Pensacoladiver,
I feel your pain. Living in Portland OR, I don't believe there is a single LDS that has He, and few know what He is used for! Of course trimix is the "real" voodoo gas! After hearing about the price you pay for He I'll not complain so loudly.

pensacoladiver wrote:Out here in paradise, a bottle of UHP is $500. Industrial is $400.

We used to have a shop out here that sold helium for 1 buck a cubic foot. Unfortunately, they lost their base contract and had to close up.

The remaining shop that does trimix can't find their ass with 2 hands and a map.

If you are not self sufficient out here, you don't dive deep... Or you do it on air.

jeffgerritsen wrote:The supplier I use for O2 and He just had a 21 percent price increase Feb 1st, 2014. 99.9999 now costs $195 for a 244 cuft and $245 for UHP 244 cuft cylinder - ouch!

What supplier do you use here in PDX, Jeff?

He gets it up here through the shop

Ehhhh, being on a rEvo now, I can't bitch about much at all.

I guess I could bitch about ABO. What used to cost me $45 for a big bottle is now $150 out here in Oahu.

It's good to have friends in low places!

ouch!

I purchase through Northwest welding supply in Kent, close to where I work part time.

spatman wrote:

jeffgerritsen wrote:The supplier I use for O2 and He just had a 21 percent price increase Feb 1st, 2014. 99.9999 now costs $195 for a 244 cuft and $245 for UHP 244 cuft cylinder - ouch!

What supplier do you use here in PDX, Jeff?

Double ouch.

pensacoladiver wrote:Ehhhh, being on a rEvo now, I can't bitch about much at all.

I guess I could bitch about ABO. What used to cost me $45 for a big bottle is now $150 out here in Oahu.

It's good to have friends in low places!