Helium is a significant investment, both for the diver and for the shop! We want to provide the most helium and at the lowest price. To accomplish this, we use the following process:
The least expensive way to purchase helium and to guarantee availability is to purchase allocated helium. With this, you are buying pure helium for your own custom usage. There are no storage or blending costs: you just pay for the helium, and you can get whatever blend you want with that helium at no additional cost, including for the additional O2, EAN or air to create that blend (20% He minimum). The price you pay is based on the current price of helium at time of purchase, and that volume of helium is reserved only for you.
To manage the risk and to maximize the value for you, that helium is guaranteed to be available to you until September 31 of the following year, giving you up to two full dive seasons in which to use the helium! At the end of that time, in the unlikely event that you have some remaining helium, it can be moved into any SCUBA cylinder you wish, as blended gas ready to dive, or even as pure helium for long-term storage and we can blend it for you at a later date!
You can also purchase ready-to-dive blended helium. This is available on a best-effort basis and will be priced based on the current price of helium. Helium can be a very volatile commodity: most of it comes from natural gas production in only a few places on earth, and things like conflict and petroleum volatility will directly affect not only the price but also the availability. At times, it may simply not be possible to purchase additional helium at any price.
Once blended helium is put into SCUBA tanks the transaction is complete and will be invoiced at that time. If this gas is put into your own cylinders, then you are all set. Thank you! If this gas is put into FTS cylinders, you have 60 days in which to use them. After that, the gas will either need to be moved into your cylinders or will be returned to FTS without credit. Please make sure you have a plan for this if you wish to use FTS cylinders.
Helium, both allocated and blended, can be moved into different cylinders if needed. We will be happy to do this for you a single time without cost. However, please note that there is always some loss in this process. Helium is a very “leaky” gas, and will even leak out of actual hard-air-tight connections, let alone typical compressed gas fittings. That means you will end up with less gas than you start with. We will do our best to minimize this, but it is unavoidable.
Gas movements will be done based on source gas pressure change. If you've purchased a certain amount of helium, that amount will be calculated based on source cylinder starting and ending pressures, not destination cylinder. It will be lower than you might expect simply based on calculations with 100% gas movements that assume zero leakage.
The same is true when blending helium. Breathing air compressors are just that: air compressors. They are not designed to be sealed against helium. It will take more helium than a simple calculation that assumes zero gas loss will show. Keep this in mind when determining your needs and expectations.
In addition, please note that the compressor used for transferring gas is both very slow (roughly a liter a minute) and has a maximum output pressure of 3000 PSI. That means that if you want to move gas that has a starting pressure of 3600 PSI into a destination that is the same size, the fill will have to end at 3000 PSI, not 3600 PSI. That means that you will either need to accept that you will lose that small amount of starting pressure, or you will need to transfer the remaining gas into either larger or multiple cylinders.
We strive to give you the best options for your needs. If you aren't sure just how much helium diving you're going to be doing, or only want to pay for the helium you're ready to use immediately, simply select blended helium. This will likely give you what you want and when you want it. The unknowns here are simply price and availability. If, however, you're making trip plans in advance that will require helium, you may not want to risk not having a very expensive trip ruined because you simply cannot get the helium you need at a reasonable price – or even at any price. In that case, allocated helium may be the right choice for you.
FTS has the right option for you. We look forward to meeting your technical diving needs.