Nitrox Spare Air

[Snowbear]

So when they have the trimix Spare Air, and you're transfilling it after loading up on bean burritos at Taco Bell, are they going to have a quadmix sticker option?

:rofl: Thanks for the chuckle, Tom

 

[miketsp]

The first one is quite wierd, I saw it happen to someone on a saefty stop, and he just bolted for the surface, at the time i thought it was pretty stupid. Then I had it happen to me whilst on the surface as I was swimming back to the boat. I still had the mouthpiece in my mouth and so I just sucked in a load of water without realising. Its actually more disconcerting than not being able to draw in any air through the second stage.

Not advocating that a spare air will be a good solution to the problem here



Im not advocating

Maybe it's my snorkelling reactions, 35 years of them, but if I draw in water through the mouthpiece I immediately stop inhaling and pause. It would then be no great deal to recover the 2nd stage and breathe right off the plastic tube, or just grab the alternate. The mouthpiece is just there for comfort.
I've lost count of the number of times I've started a dive with my snorkel in my mouth and when I get to about 2m and start to take my first breath I just get a mouthful of water. I simply change to my reg with no stress whatsoever.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

After long thought, I have decided to sling my SpareAir like a Deco bottle. The only trouble is I'm having trouble finding webbing for it. Does anyone know if SpareAir makes a sling kit?

I've also decided to go with the Argon SpareAir, since the gas is so dense, it warms your lungs up very quickly, no more worrying about those pesky chilly dives.

Whadda ya mean it doesn't come in DIN ?

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Some of the above posts have been really entertaining.

Now don't get all excited, I'm not advocating use of the Spare Air, but wouldn't it make sense that the Nitrox sticker stems from the fact that the primary method of the filling the Spare Air is transfilling from your main tank?

I mean, if you're diving Nitrox, and transfilling your Spare Air, shouldn't it be labeled as to it's contents?

[Academic Exercise]
I'm not Nitrox trained, but I don't think I would worry to much about labeling it, since it seems to me Nitrox or air wouldn't make a whole lot of difference in the 15-20 breaths you get off of the thing on an emergency ascent.

Shoot, since it has a practical depth limit of about 40', and only used in an emergency ascent, let's fill the darned thing with O2 and get max offgassing during that 20 breaths to the surface! (I know, no pure O2 below 20', but I've read that Navy divers are trained to go to 45' on O2 for short duration when absolutly necessary).[/Academic Exercise]

 

[Mako Mark]

Hmmm... I'm a Naval Aviator, active duty from '69-'91; never saw a spare air there.
Rick

I guess I stand corrected, I must have been a victim of an urban diving legend. I promise to visit snopes first next time.

OTOH, I do know that Mitch from Baywatch uses one on a regular basis to swim to 120' for 20 minutes while fighting giant electric moray eels, and to burrow through the sand under a beach pylon to defuse a bomb.....

so they must be good..

Maybe it's my snorkelling reactions, 35 years of them, but if I draw in water through the mouthpiece I immediately stop inhaling and pause. .

I switch to my backup snorkle...

.

 

[jonnythan]

Some of the above posts have been really entertaining.

Now don't get all excited, I'm not advocating use of the Spare Air, but wouldn't it make sense that the Nitrox sticker stems from the fact that the primary method of the filling the Spare Air is transfilling from your main tank?

I mean, if you're diving Nitrox, and transfilling your Spare Air, shouldn't it be labeled as to it's contents?

It's not like the green sticker and higher price tag label the contents.

When transfilling off a main tank that has less than 40% O2, there are no issues of nitrox vs not nitrox.

If you want to label the contents of your Spare Air, slap some masking tape on and write the contents on the bottle just like you would with any other nitrox cylinder. You'd have to label it anyway, even if there's a green Nitrox sticker on it.

The dumb part about the whole thing is that they charge more for it.

 

[lamont]

i want a spare air filled with 50/50 O2/N2O...

for those dives when you just aren't narc'd enough...

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

It's not like the green sticker and higher price tag label the contents.
//snip//
The dumb part about the whole thing is that they charge more for it.

Good points. I guess this special version must be for those 'special' divers who want to partial-pressure blend into a 3 cu. ft. tank...

 

[wedivebc]

i want a spare air filled with 50/50 O2/N2O...

for those dives when you just aren't narc'd enough...

Hmmm, I would think 50% would keep me well above any depth narcosis is a problem :06:

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Here I have worked my fingers to the bone trying to make myself comfortable in my old years, and someone is getting rich selling negligence in a can.

Sheesh.