DIY scuba Hookah

[gglockhart]

Go to the Keene Engineering website. Call them with questions, they are very helpful. They have info for building a hookah system. I built one and it has supplied two divers down too 45 feet. I believe it would have supplied air deeper but that was the max dept were I was diving. What ever you build use a air storage tank between you and your hookah system. I carry a pony bottle with me just in case. I see hookah regulators on eBay often. My home built unit is big and heavy. Keene Engineering has come out with a lighter compressor. Good Luck

 

[CommercialDiver671]

Corey,
If I may. The "Thomas Compressors 1020-T...." WORKS!! I used to clean boats in Hawaii for a living. I worked at one of the biggest/well known boat hull cleaning companies on island. We used Thomas Compressors and they work really well. The only issue I had was the noise. It's pretty noisy when you're not in the water. You can adjust the psi and add the micro filter thing on it. Buy a 100 ft hose and yes you can attach a scuba reg with the proper fittings. And no you shouldn't use a BCD...if you do, you might as well use a tank.

Hope I'm not too late.

Dive safely!

 

[J & B Boat cleaning]

shot in the dark but you may have some luck just doing a how to search through Google. There would be some safety concerns building your own so make sure you dig into specifications on air regulation at your prescribed depths

 

[danvolker]

Making the hooka yourself is crazy. There are far too many mistakes you can make which could either endanger your life, or just waste your money.

Brownies has been doing Hookas the longest , and better than anyone else....and they have a new floating electric model... see link
VS Floating Systems

The one I looked at at the shop in Lauderdale would allow 2 divers to go down to about 60 or 70 feet.....the thing about a hooka type rig, and depth, is that the depth rating is based on the breathing rate of the divers.....Two very good divers that breathe very slowly, may enjoy a 70 foot dive as long as no workload develops....and one or two divers that breathe like vacuums may not get enough volume of air to enjoy much below 40 feet....And obviously one diver will have much more depth than 2 ( no one to share the amount of air delivered with).

REgards,
DanV

DanV

 

[danvolker]

Making the hooka yourself is crazy. There are far too many mistakes you can make which could either endanger your life, or just waste your money.

Brownies has been doing Hookas the longest , and better than anyone else....and they have a new floating electric model... see link
VS Floating Systems

The one I looked at at the shop in Lauderdale would allow 2 divers to go down to about 60 or 70 feet.....the thing about a hooka type rig, and depth, is that the depth rating is based on the breathing rate of the divers.....Two very good divers that breathe very slowly, may enjoy a 70 foot dive as long as no workload develops....and one or two divers that breathe like vacuums may not get enough volume of air to enjoy much below 40 feet....And obviously one diver will have much more depth than 2 ( no one to share the amount of air delivered with).

REgards,
DanV

DanV

 

[fstbttms]

Making the hooka yourself is crazy. There are far too many mistakes you can make which could either endanger your life, or just waste your money.

Building your own hookah is neither crazy or dangerous. The hull cleaning industry has been working for decades primarily on home-made hookahs. It is quite simple to put together a safe, reliable hookah rig. The folks at Brownies and the other hookah vendors are not using some special parts for their products that you are unable to obtain. They use standard, commercially available compressors, regulators and hose assemblies. Anybody reading this could easily assemble identical components for their own hookah for much, much less. I've been doing it for 16 years.

But if you'd rather pay $1000-$2000 for a hookah rig that uses plastic fittings for important air hose connections, hey, knock yourself out.

 

[danvolker]

Building your own hookah is neither crazy or dangerous. The hull cleaning industry has been working for decades primarily on home-made hookahs. It is quite simple to put together a safe, reliable hookah rig. The folks at Brownies and the other hookah vendors are not using some special parts for their products that you are unable to obtain. They use standard, commercially available compressors, regulators and hose assemblies. Anybody reading this could easily assemble identical components for their own hookah for much, much less. I've been doing it for 16 years.

But if you'd rather pay $1000-$2000 for a hookah rig that uses plastic fittings for important air hose connections, hey, knock yourself out.

Abilities of "individuals" to do this safely will mean "some" can accomplish this safely, and some will fail badly. As general advice, to a person who has not shown himself to have an engineering background, or any specific knowledge of the iisues of CO and oil related to engine, compressor and the air going to the diver, I do not feel you can say this is NOT dangerous. Maybe the OP is a rocket scientist for Pratt Whitney, but as I did not pick up that feel, I'll err in the direction of the other side of the spectrum.

Also, $1000 for a rig you KNOW will be safe, does not sound like such a bad deal. IF the money is that much of a problem, he should just work on his freediving skills.....find some good freedivers to mentor him for free till he can do 2-3 minute bottom times on 45 to 60 foot reefs. That should take care of his goal perfectly, for a lot less money. **note** he is not cleaning hulls...



REgards,
DanV

 

[fstbttms]

As general advice, to a person who has not shown himself to have an engineering background, or any specific knowledge of the iisues of CO and oil related to engine, compressor and the air going to the diver, I do not feel you can say this is NOT dangerous. Maybe the OP is a rocket scientist for Pratt Whitney, but as I did not pick up that feel, I'll err in the direction of the other side of the spectrum.

The OP did not post about putting together a gas-powered hookah. He specifically asked about electric compressors. Further, it does not take a rocket scientist to put together any hookah. One simply has to inspect any commercially available unit to understand this. Hookahs are not complex machines. Yes, care should be used when assembling one and the components used should be appropriate for the task. But it is absolutely possible for the layman to build his own hookah that is every bit as safe to use as (and is, in fact, identical to) any commercially available rig.

 

[Akimbo]

hello im new to this site and i want some help on how to make scuba hooka i will be diving in about 30ft of water i just need some help on what kind of compressor i should buyt and fittings and what nots i found these compressors will and on these work….

Sorry if this has already been pointed out. Hookah/surface supplied diving can't be Scuba, which is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I have added a very long hose to a set of double Scuba tanks that were left outside a wreak that might stretch the definition, but a floating compressor never qualifies.

 

[oxyhacker]

I quite agree. Building a hookah is no more difficult than, say, installing a water system or rebuilding a carburettor, and can be a lot of fun if you have reasonable mechanical skills. You don't need to be an engineer, since rule of thumb or copycating will handle any calculations or sizing issues that need doing.

That said, I get a bit nervous when someone posts, often a bit petulantly, asking how to build or service life support gear like this, and it is clear they haven't made the least attempt to any homework first. The most halfassed google search will almost instantly find Keene Engineering, and their site is so thorough that it shows every necessary part and how they go - it even explains the difference between a scuba and a hookah reg and how to make the one into the other.

Oh, its worth noting that Hookahs, even commercial units, are not as benign as one might think:
Diving risks rise with hookah rigs

Building your own hookah is neither crazy or dangerous. The hull cleaning industry has been working for decades primarily on home-made hookahs. I