1,000 ways to die

SkipperJohn · Mar 23, 2009

Anyone familiar with that show on SPIKE? They show people who, in unusual ways, remove themselves from the gene pool. Then they recap with a sometimes clever/humorous tag line.
Last night I was watching it (one of those train wreck compulsions) and they had a woman on who had gotten bent. It seems she made it to the chamber and was decompressing when a maintenance man suddenly opened the door causing instant decompression and she, according to the show, exploded.
I thought I saw a few inconsistencies. First of all they said she was diving at 300 feet then due to a "tank failure" rushed up to the surface, then to a deco chamber. 300 feet? I'll be the first to admit I have a lot to learn, but I thought 300 feet was beyond SCUBA.
The second thing, I thought hyperbolic chambers were impossible to open when pressurized (like trying to remove your first stage with the tank pressurized and the valve open).

PScUba · Mar 23, 2009

I know nothing about the decompression chamber thing, but I am sure tech dives can get down to 300ft. Though with a valve failure at that depth, she does not have much time to get to the surface. I am surprised she even made it. Interested to see what more experienced members of this board have to say though....

tfsails · Mar 23, 2009

Sounds like caca del toro to me. I've never seen that show, but I would suspect that the hyperbaric chamber's door is like an airliner's door--it swings inside the chamber and closes by fitting into the frame in such a manner that the pressure inside the chamber keeps it closed. Either that or the door has many "dogs" on it that keep it in place and it would be impossible to unlatch the dogs while under pressure.

Either way, I doubt that the victim would explode, even if there were a sudden and complete drop in chamber pressure from whatever it was to ambient.

SteveAD · Mar 23, 2009

The most complementary thing I can say about the producers of that show is they exagerrate significantly.

NorthWoodsDiver · Mar 23, 2009

300ft is in no way outside scuba, a while back people were doing single tank bounce dives on air to 480ft and several divers have broken 1000ft and as far as I know those dives were all on open circuit scuba.

I know little about hyperbaric chambers though. I would imagine there would be some sort of pressure relief valve built into them though....

TMHeimer · Mar 23, 2009

Intersting show. That story does seem like BS. But thanks for the Spanish phrase tfsails. I speak some Espanol, but have a new one to use on a planned Panama trip!

Abidon · Mar 23, 2009

From what I've heard from the producers of this show, the stories are based on actual events, but details are changed, somewhat, to "protect" the deceased (and probably to sensationalize as well). A maintenance man probably did do something to accidently cause the chamber abruptly to shut-down, and the end result probably didn't look pleasant.
:furious:

bygolly · Mar 23, 2009

SkipperJohn:
Anyone familiar with that show on SPIKE? They show people who, in unusual ways, remove themselves from the gene pool. Then they recap with a sometimes clever/humorous tag line.
Last night I was watching it (one of those train wreck compulsions) and they had a woman on who had gotten bent. It seems she made it to the chamber and was decompressing when a maintenance man suddenly opened the door causing instant decompression and she, according to the show, exploded.
I thought I saw a few inconsistencies. First of all they said she was diving at 300 feet then due to a "tank failure" rushed up to the surface, then to a deco chamber. 300 feet? I'll be the first to admit I have a lot to learn, but I thought 300 feet was beyond SCUBA.
The second thing, I thought hyperbolic chambers were impossible to open when pressurized (like trying to remove your first stage with the tank pressurized and the valve open).

Yup...TV is certainly a wasteland these days and SPIKE doesn't help much. But that channel sure has that trainwreck siren song to it :popcorn:

(like Springer :rofl3:

). 1000 ways to die is Urban Legends rolled up with Darwin Awards with the liberal dose of natural fertilizer.

So even in the bad ole days the chambers had the door on the inside:

Diver Equipment - Recompression Chamber

He had to be a pretty thorough janitor to want to clean in there.

I agree with tfsails....caca del toro!!!

rstofer · Mar 23, 2009

I thought when Jacques Costeau found the HMHS Brittanic, they were diving to 390 fsw for 15 minutes and spending 3 hours on deco stops. I believe the team was using the DW Mistral single stage double hose regulator. It was selected because of it's simple construction and easy repair.

Richard

Blackwood · Mar 23, 2009

hyperbolic chamber? Sounds extravagant.

Seriously, though, this thread makes me want to watch Licence To Kill.

1,000 ways to die

Please register or login

SkipperJohn

Contributor

PScUba

Registered

tfsails

Contributor

SteveAD

Contributor

NorthWoodsDiver

Contributor

TMHeimer

Contributor

Abidon

Contributor

bygolly

ScubaBoard Supporter

rstofer

Contributor

Blackwood

Contributor

Similar threads