I have been using a hot water system that I was taught to make myself since I was 16 while diving in water from 34-60 degrees. I tried a drysuit one year and had a seal around my neck tear at 50 feet and nearly drown trying to get back to the surface with a suit full of 35 degree water. Needless to say hypothermia took its toll on that situation. Has anyone else ever used one of these and found it to be more comfortable than a dry suit like I have? I have redesigned mine and used more "state of the art rigging" to provide better working of the temperature control. Opinions, experiences, etc...
Hot water systems vs dry suit in cold water situations. (Surface Air Required)
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Rich Keller
Contributor
I have used a hot water system a few times and found it to be better then a drysuit. This was using a suit made to be used with a hot water system though not a home made suit. I have seen home made systems before and was not too impressed with how the water was distributed inside the suit. How do you have your system set up?
I use very small lines that run to my extremities and one that runs to my head. It doesn't take much water to keep you warm unless there are extreme currents. I used 4 vacuum T's that were sold at my local auto parts store to hook all the lines together. Hooked them together with 1/4 inch tubing and that goes inside suit and has a hose that comes out at neck of suit with quick disconnect. Wish I could just take a picture. Would make it a lot easier to explain. Anyway, I purchased a Propane RV hot water heater with auto ignition system as the water flows through. Operates on water pressure. The heater has safety auto ignition in case of flame out and shutoff in case of water flow stopage. Pump is a Surflow 1.8 gpm agricultural pump with pump pressure shutoff at 80 psi. The heater has built-in thermostat that regulates the output temperature. Hot output water flows into a holding tank which pumps water into the bottom and out near the top. To make sure you never get scalded the output is about 4 inches below top of holding tank. If all the safetys fail on the heater fail and water in heater steams, it must pass through the water in holding tank and cools before coming to me and you can tell the water flow stops when using these. There is a temperature gauge on the output side of heater. On the hose that brings the water to me is a valve that I can control the flow into my suit. If it is too cool close the valve a little and as water flow lessens, temp goes up and vise versa. Makes it easy for fine tuning while underwater. I also have quick disconnect on line for quick removal in case water gets too hot for me. I love it. Kinda like taking a warm bath. Diving in 34 degree water is no problem. I have actually dove with a 3mm suit for easy movement using this setup. I hope this isn't too confusing. Like I said this is a homemade unit. I believe if I had the money to build prototypes, I could design some great suits with lines automatically built in and a fully self contained water heater that would be economical and user friendly. I think it would make shallow water commercial diving with drysuits obsolete. Now deeper dives with long decompression times I think the drysuit option is more practical for safety in case of catastrophic failure of heater with loss of heat unless you have a decompression chamber immediately available.
Bombay High
Contributor
On Heliox you have got to have a hot water suit. The hot water is piped to you on a line that is a part of your umbilical.
Your system seems very innovative, but seems to add too much unnecessary task loading to a working diver. I guess its a good DIY solution for shallow short dives.
Be careful
Your system seems very innovative, but seems to add too much unnecessary task loading to a working diver. I guess its a good DIY solution for shallow short dives.
Be careful
Absolutely; and don't forget to heat the breathing mixture...
On Heliox you have got to have a hot water suit. The hot water is piped to you on a line that is a part of your umbilical.
Your system seems very innovative, but seems to add too much unnecessary task loading to a working diver. I guess its a good DIY solution for shallow short dives.
Be careful
Rich Keller
Contributor
The home made unit I saw was a foot diameter pipe, about two foot long sitting on end with a burner on the bottom, cover on the top and a coil of copper tubing inside. The water was heated in the copper tubing before being sent to the diver, no holding tank was used. The temperature was controlled by the rate of water being pumped through the tubbing. The rate of flow was adjusted by the tender as needed. This was being used in the winter, in shallow water for oyster diving.
If you make a homemade spider, make sure you can quick disconnect it or put a "Y" on it in the event the machine isn't working correctly, you may get a steam burn.
There are several different brands of dive or monkey heaters, the ones I have used (inland) use a standard well pump (driven by a 30 amp circuit) which sends the water in and out of the heater. You can adjust the tip, air and setpoints (similar to a thermostat) for the heat to run. (Temperature is dependant on water temp to pick the correct tip) This type of heater is similar to an oil based boiler in your home. They usually burn kero, offroad or diesel but some will only burn one type of fuel. I dont think I would dive a drysuit in the winter unless it was absolutely neccessary or potable water or contaminated and needed a mated up neckdam.
I have also dove a homemade setup which was kind of described above, a torpedo heater wrapped with copper tubing and a dimmer switch rigged in to act as a thermostat.... needless to say it often didn't work.
Last bit , if you spend more than 20$ to make a spider you probably went way overboard and will take forever to put in your suit or connect.
Monkey is an actual brand, but there are also electric driven heaters, and some yellow ones, (don't remember the brand) but were very fickle and will set of a CO alarm if anywhere near a compressor because they always seem to burn rich and smokey.
Thats what I know about heaters...
There are several different brands of dive or monkey heaters, the ones I have used (inland) use a standard well pump (driven by a 30 amp circuit) which sends the water in and out of the heater. You can adjust the tip, air and setpoints (similar to a thermostat) for the heat to run. (Temperature is dependant on water temp to pick the correct tip) This type of heater is similar to an oil based boiler in your home. They usually burn kero, offroad or diesel but some will only burn one type of fuel. I dont think I would dive a drysuit in the winter unless it was absolutely neccessary or potable water or contaminated and needed a mated up neckdam.
I have also dove a homemade setup which was kind of described above, a torpedo heater wrapped with copper tubing and a dimmer switch rigged in to act as a thermostat.... needless to say it often didn't work.
Last bit , if you spend more than 20$ to make a spider you probably went way overboard and will take forever to put in your suit or connect.
Monkey is an actual brand, but there are also electric driven heaters, and some yellow ones, (don't remember the brand) but were very fickle and will set of a CO alarm if anywhere near a compressor because they always seem to burn rich and smokey.
Thats what I know about heaters...
I spent about $30 for my spider rig. I like it alot. I used to use the copper tubing setup but found it very, very inefficient in its heating. I was burning propane excessively and was causing ash buildup on copper tubing reducing heating capabilities. I switched to the RV heater and have gotten 25-30 hours operational time out of a 20 lb propane tank. The way mine is setup, steaming is not possible without multiple failures. Not saying it couldnt happen, but just 1 in 1,000,000.
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