BC screw in CO2 canister.

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fisherdvm

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As I was taking apart an old BC, I found a corroded CO2 canister in the pocket, with a lever that apparently would activate it.

I imagine that it was back in the old day, before the SPG, it might have been a handy device. Are they the same as what they have in the airliner's life jackets??

Are they a relic of the old day, or is it just a gadget that came and went.
 
In '85 when I bought my 1st 2 BC's, one for the wife & one for me, Dacor's, they each had one......dove with them for many years(mine had over 700 dives on it, wife's about 200) till I pulled the cord on both just to get rid of the air.......Used both BC's till 2 years ago when they finally went ka-poot.....
 
It's a relic of the old days - you could inflate your BC at depth using the CO2 if needed. The danger from them (and the reason that they are probably not used anymore) was unintended inflation at depth - that could really ruin your day if you were puttering around at 100 feet. This system is still used for low profile life jackets, etc.
 
Definitely an obsolete relic. While fine for an emergency life jacket that will stay dry until the one time it is needed, a co2 detonator that is subject to regular immersion in saltwater is prone to corrosion which may cause either unwanted detonation or failure to detonate when needed. The detonator assembly is usually threaded on so it can be removed and the port sealed with a regulator port plug.
 
They actually don't do much at depth. the ambient pressure is such that a 16 gram CO2 cart just can't do much. Some models used a 25 gram cartridge.

Pre-BC's, we all wore a CO2 powered safety vest. At shallow depths, say to 30 FSW or so, you could pop one & it would provide a fair bit of lift. Less so as depth increased.

We used to pop them occasionally just so we'd have to replace the cartridge with a fresh one.
 
I'm still diving with my old Seaquest Seavest from the early 80's that has such a device. My wife's old Dacor had one too. Back in the day the first thing we did when those bc's were new was take out the co2 cannisters for just the reason Chris is talking about. I did pop one on the surface once just for yucks. Woah, with no water pressure on your bc that thing inflated right now - like an air bag.
 
chrispete:
It's a relic of the old days - you could inflate your BC at depth using the CO2 if needed. The danger from them (and the reason that they are probably not used anymore) was unintended inflation at depth - that could really ruin your day if you were puttering around at 100 feet. This system is still used for low profile life jackets, etc.
They didn't do much at all at depth but just add a small bubble that would ASSIST your assent. If you sat at a hundred feet and popped it you would very slowly or gradually start to rise. One would have to be a total buffoon to lose control of it at depth.

The military style was a different story. They were about 3 or 4X the size of the ones offered to the public. Still they would not send one on an uncontrolled assent.

The triggers are not all that easy to pull so unintentional activation was very rare. Like anything else being poorly maintained was the reason for most if not all of the failures, not the device.

Gary D. :wink:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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