Spare Air equipment questions

[agstreet]

5615mike once bubbled...


Alan..........I'm just razzin Mike for the fun of it.

Oh, I knew what you were doing ;-). I just figured Mike's response wouldn't be appropriate for a G-rated forum like SB and should automatically be forwarded to a place better suited for astristicks and exclaimation points!

 

[Murat]

I have spare air 3.0 and I really don't think it is really usefull. At first you think that it is a good idea to have an alternate air source but then u see that it will not be any use if you try it below 30 meters. :mean:

 

[agstreet]

Murat once bubbled...
I have spare air 3.0 and I really don't think it is really usefull. At first you think that it is a good idea to have an alternate air source but then u see that it will not be any use if you try it below 30 meters. :mean:

Gee, imagine that. Try it under emergency conditions and you'll probably find the useful depth even less.

 

[IzzyTahil]

If you want peace of mind, get rid of the spare air and replace it with a 30cf tank or larger as an alternative air supply.

 

[Murat]

agstreet once bubbled...


Gee, imagine that. Try it under emergency conditions and you'll probably find the useful depth even less.

Really? maybe you should try it in an emergency situation at 100 feet and see how many breaths you can suck in out of it. What I am trying to say is Spare Air is not the ultimate alternate air source. It may be usefull at lower depths but not below a certain range.:boom:

 

[agstreet]

Murat once bubbled...




Really? maybe you should try it in an emergency situation at 100 feet and see how many breaths you can suck in out of it. What I am trying to say is Spare Air is not the ultimate alternate air source. It may be usefull at lower depths but not below a certain range.:boom:

Relax Murat, I'm agreeing with you. I think the SpareAir is a terrible "band-aid" approach to OOA emergencies and is in many ways worse than having no alternate air sorce at all.

Your first post showed that the SpareAir was only marginally useful at ~100 ft under calm conditions. What I was trying to say, perhaps not clearly enough, was that under *real* emergency conditions, when a person's SAC rate goes from ~0.5 cu ft/min to 1.5+ cu ft/min, the useful depth of the SpareAir is going to be much, much less.

Alan

 

[Sean326]

I bought a 3 cuft. spare air and tried it last weekend....

My buddy and I went down to 95' and I simulated an OOA situation. I exhaled, took out my primary, took 20 seconds to simulate messing with my reg brought my backup reg to my mouth (but i didn't inhale). then i pulled out my spare air and started a CSA.

I tried to control my breathing safely, I didn't add air to my BC, and I kept an eye on my computer and kept my ascent rate at 100% to 120% I ran out of air at 35'.... good for about 4 breaths

If I was really out of air I probably would have been more agressive and dropped my belt but I also would have been more panicked. (it was just a fun test I wasn't going to risk getting hurt)

In summery I have turned my spare air over to my kids as a really cool pool toy and will be getting a 13 cuft pony bottle.

For those of you who say having a backup does more harm than good...

1, most NJ dive boats require a completely seperate and redundant source, so it's either dive doubles with an isolation valve or have a pony.

2, In my life experience having a spare anything is better than not. a poster once wrote that having a backup makes you more likely to have an OOA situation well... I never thought that having a spare tire in my car made it more likely for me to get a flat

 

[KrisB]

Sean326 once bubbled...
In my life experience having a spare anything is better than not. a poster once wrote that having a backup makes you more likely to have an OOA situation well... I never thought that having a spare tire in my car made it more likely for me to get a flat

True... but it does give you added piece of mind that if you see a board with nails sticking up in the middle of the road, and you can either hit it or ditch, that hitting it and popping a tire is a better solution.

The issue that others have commented on is that a person with a redundant air supply may be more likely to say "oh, I still have 500 psi here... I can stay down a little longer" than someone without. In order for a redundant air supply to be effective, the individual *must* not rely on it. It must be there in case of emergency, and not as a way to increase bottom time by a few minutes...

 

[Diver0001]

beachguitars once bubbled...
I'm new to diving and treated myself to a Spare Air 3.0 unit for a little extra piece of mind. I've carefully read the directions and I understand that the filler adapter gets placed in between your first stage regulator and the hose for your gauge console and stays there as a one time installation. It has a plug with two rubber o rings that seal the opening when you are not re-filling and this plug is held in with a very light weight clip and a lanyard. I'm a little uncomfortable with the thought of having a small lightweight pin keeping the plug in place since the high pressure line could dump alot of air very quickly if the plug were to come out. I may be overly paranoid but I'd appreciate any feedback from more experience divers or those familiar with the Spare Air refill adapter. Perhaps there's never been a leakage problem but I wanted to ask. Thanks for reading, please let me know if you have any pertinant info. Regards, Dave

Take it off. Sounds too dodgy to me. It's not like you refill your spare-air every dive but it *is* like you trust your life to a properly functioning reg every time you're in the water. Don't be lazy.

R..

 

[Sean326]

KrisB once bubbled...

The issue that others have commented on is that a person with a redundant air supply may be more likely to say "oh, I still have 500 psi here... I can stay down a little longer" than someone without. In order for a redundant air supply to be effective, the individual *must* not rely on it. It must be there in case of emergency, and not as a way to increase bottom time by a few minutes...

I think you will find it difficult to get on NJ dive boat without a redundant / independant system. It's not the law but as i understand it the NJ dive boat assoc. has addopted it as policy for it's members.