Hypothetical Accident Help

[Doc]

First you would have to get past the compressor operator. He might be the picky type who would take your activities the wrong way, since his reputation, freedom and bank account depends on keeping the divers alive by supplying them with clean air, and throw you overboard, beat you to a pulp or have you chained up below. It would probably be simpler to screw up the engines with some sugar or anti-freeze which wouldn't have a tendency to main any of your fellow divers and piss people off.

The saboteur looks like :gorgeous:

 

[Hickdive]

If the compressor is on a boat then it will be powered by either it's own or the boats' internal combustion engine.

It would be a simple matter for the compressor intake to become 'accidentally' too close to the exhaust and contaminate the air with Carbon Monoxide (CO).

The really nasty thing about underwater CO poisoning is that the victim can remain conscious longer at depth than they could if exposed to the same concentration of CO on the surface. This is because the elevated ppO2 underwater means more oxygen is carried in solution in the plasma thereby sustaining consciousness beyond the point at which there would be insufficient hemoglobin to carry enough oxygen to keep you awake on the surface. In other words; the casualty might realise they have a problem but the ascent to the surface and consequent drop in dissolved O2 might actually cause them to black out and drown.

A further problem is that CO is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Checking the 'taste' of your air is really only checking for particulates, lubricants and unburnt fuel from the compressor. A poorly maintained/sited compressor might suffer from 'dieseling' or might draw in exhaust from its own or the boat's poorly maintained engine and therefore draw in these indicators. But, if the compressor and nearby engines are efficient and well-maintained, they might not give off too many of those indicators whilst still putting loads of CO into the compressor. So, 'tasting' your air isn't a guarantee.

I believe DandyDon has some kind of CO detector system he uses to detect the problem - so best not write him into your novel!

 

[Doc Intrepid]

If you do some research here, I suspect you may find some of it useful:

The Deco Stop

Keyword = Toluene

Just for your information, Mike Barnette is a member here on SB (also). He may be PM'd at "AUEMike". You may want to conduct further discussions via PMs.

Its a real problem, under the correct circumstances.

Doc

 

[victor]

Since they be using rebreathers, nitrox or other mixed gasses they could have banked O2 on board.
Now you could contaminate that with CO (carbon monoxide).
There is no obvious test for this. It would impact re-breather divers as they would top up from the bank and it would contaminate the sorb. Nitrox users would be similarly affected as they blend. Of course no one would check the O2 supply, well it is a book.
If the compressor is in the engine room with ducting for fresh air then that will be the initial suspicions.

 

[Cave Bum]

I am posting in this thread because I don't know where else to post, so Mod if you need to move me no problem. I am a writer and am working on a novel. I decided for this one to mix my love of diving with my love of writing. But I need some help.

Great! I'm working on a dive novel also. Mine takes the form of a mystery/action adventure with the protaganist trying to figure out why an open water diver died in a cave (the mystery part) and pushing that cave to find out what the diver was trying to find (the adventure part). Unlike Cussler's work my antagonist is Mother Nature, who is passive but the hero has to figure out what her rules are! Okay, now on to your question...

In the story line, a person is trying to stop work being done on a wreck by messing with their on board air compressor, resulting in bad air for a group of divers. For those of you with much more experience than myself:

1. What could someone do to an air compressor that would allow it to still run, but would result in contaminated air. (I don't need enough details so that someone could actually do this, but enough so that my writing isn't technically incorrect)

This actually happened to me in a fill station I worked in but by accident, not with the intervention of a person. There is a part of the compressor called the coalescer, which separates the oil & water from the gas being compressed after the final (4th) stage. I had a sintered filter self destruct and plug the drain line so the oil & water was being pushed into the filter stack and so contaminate the breathing gas. You could have your antagonist rig some kind of drain plug that would only block the drain when the system was pressurized. That would make it hard to find because when you opened up the coalescer it would appear to function normally.

2. What would the contaminated air taste like? (I know we're trained that if air tastes "funny" to not use it. But can anyone describe "funny?"

A slightly oily taste.

3. How soon would a diver feel physical effects?

Immediately at depth but it's hard to tell if something is really wrong or you're just having a bad day.

4. How severe would the physical effects be?

Oil & water in the breathing mix, under high pressure, can cause pneumonia, severe enough to put you in the hospital. It would also numb the lips and might make thinking sluggish.

5. At what range to shore and what severity does the Coast Guard get involved in something like this?

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one.

 

[Solly]

After you make your mind, would you let us know what will the bad guy do? :cool2:

 

[Guba]

Assuming that one is using tanks and not rebreathers (and that the dives would be to "significant" depths), another pretty effective poison would be plain ol' oxygen. The tough part would be to introduce it at high enough concentration to cause problems for the divers. An additional benefit to your plotline would be that it IS detectable after the fact (makes it easy on the hero character), and the divers (or some of them) might survive the incident.

 

[Guba]

Wups, sorry, Kingpatzer...just re-read the posts and saw your suggestion. I apologize for the redundancy.

 

[Rick Inman]

Argon. Enough to make the gas hypoxic, which would also make the divers narked out of their gourd. Some would be paranoid, some full of bravado, some silly, some unaware... Until they fell asleep from lack of O2. Fun stuff!

 

[Web Monkey]

I am posting in this thread because I don't know where else to post, so Mod if you need to move me no problem. I am a writer and am working on a novel. I decided for this one to mix my love of diving with my love of writing. But I need some help.

In the story line, a person is trying to stop work being done on a wreck by messing with their on board air compressor, resulting in bad air for a group of divers. For those of you with much more experience than myself:

1. What could someone do to an air compressor that would allow it to still run, but would result in contaminated air. (I don't need enough details so that someone could actually do this, but enough so that my writing isn't technically incorrect)

It's already been done:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...-bad-air-diver-death-thread-split-thread.html

Terry