cave fills....

[ianr33]

Why not just get a big high pressure steel tank? Can get that filled "legally"

A HP 130 holds tons of gas at its rated pressure of 3442 psi. Still holds lots if only filled to 3000 psi

 

[MichaelBaranows]

JahJah,
Very well said.

Culcuhain,
I see that you are a new diver so I understand that your SAC rate is probably not the latest like most of ours was when we were new divers. Understand that it will get better with more experience. There is nothing wrong with short dives as a new diver. If you are wanting to make longer divers I suggest that you get larger tanks. You are going to find very few people that are going to give you #3000 fills with old 72s. Many shops wont even fill HP(3442) more than #3000.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

. Many shops wont even fill HP(3442) more than #3000.

I've never found a shop in my area that does this, and if I ever do, I'll make it clear to them that I'll take my business elsewhere, if there is any other good shop in town.

What you do find a lot of is shops filling tanks very fast (another reason why I am wary of 6351 tanks.) and only filling them to rated fill pressure, so the tanks cool and end up at a lower fill pressure. Always a good idea to grab a pressure gauge and check your tanks before you leave.

 

[Mack Diver]

Michael is right when he says that dive experience will help with the SAC rate. The more comfortable you are in the water, the slower you breathe. If you jump in and buy a big steel tank, you are going to excerpt yourself getting in and out of the water. Stick with the AL 80s or ST 72s and get in some some dives. Time yourself every few dives so you can monitor your progress. Then, if you need the gas for an extra long dive, you can make a wiser investment.

BTW, the policy at my shop is to fill to the rated pressure. Tanks are filled extra slow and allowed to cool before topping off.

 

[In10se]

JahJah,
Very well said.

Culcuhain,
I see that you are a new diver so I understand that your SAC rate is probably not the latest like most of ours was when we were new divers. Understand that it will get better with more experience. There is nothing wrong with short dives as a new diver. If you are wanting to make longer divers I suggest that you get larger tanks.

+1

Getting larger capacity HP tanks does a few things for those of us that chow down AL80's with haste at depth.

When we look at the math, consider our responsibilities to our dive buddies, and plan out each dive with the objective of getting the most out of every moment then HP tanks become very sexy.

AL80's with an average weight of 33LBS empty requires for many of us that we strap on an additional 10ish LBS on to get neg'. With Faber 133's weighing in at 42LBS empty much of that weight is transferred from the weight belt to the tank ... with the BONUS of additional capacity from 45-60 CU. FT. of gas ... or more ... depending on the fill.

For those of us with a poor SAC rate, if we're at depth for 30 minutes and get that OOA hand sign from our dive buddy we go from having just enough gas in an AL80 to finish our dives safely to not enough at all ... no safety stop, and no room for panicked divers with stressed physiology sucking down gas from our almost empty tanks. A ton of divers do dive this way, and it makes that insta-dive buddy concept a tad discomforting.

So yes .. I lug around a ginormous tank, but hey ... if my dive buddy has some kind of catastrophic eq' failure and suddenly acquires the need to share my gas at 80 feet when we're close to ending our dive we'll still have plenty of what we need for a safe ascent. If no issue pops up then my dive buddy and I get a nice loooooong dive with my poor SAC rate and my bigassedtanks

 

[electrix]

Since you are just getting started go out to Clearsprings ( where you got certified ? ) and spend time in the water until you get comfortable breathing underwater and you are not struggling to stay neutral. It may take 20-30 dives before you feel relaxed but just spend some time on one of the training platforms and it will come around and then you wont be breathing so hard.

Check with Blue Sea Adventures in Rockwall last year if you bought a new Al 80 you got 20 free airfills which makes the tank free.