Nitrox Spare Air

[MSilvia]

I'd think that if you really needed "one more breath" during a CSA from 140', there'd probably be one by the time you got to <60' or so... even without the spare air. I'd think that either you're shallow enough to make a CSA without a spare air, or deep enough that the expanding air in your tank as you accend would give you an additional breath.

In any case, if you want one of those things, I've got a nitrox-compatable bridge to sell you.

 

[sprange]

Hmmm, I would think 50% would keep me well above any depth narcosis is a problem :06:

Certainly, but the 50% nitrous oxide might affect your concentration -slightly-. I suppose that if you were going to die anyway this would be the way to do it!

Sean

 

[SeanQ]

i want a spare air filled with 50/50 O2/N2O...

for those dives when you just aren't narc'd enough...

As an added bonus you can use it in your car for those times when you need "just a little more power".

 

[wedivebc]

Certainly, but the 50% nitrous oxide might affect your concentration -slightly-. I suppose that if you were going to die anyway this would be the way to do it!

Sean

Don't know I have never dove with nitrous oxide before (laughing gas) Might be fun though.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

for those dives when you just aren't narc'd enough...

Have you had one of those yet?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

and someone is getting rich selling negligence in a can.

Apt description ... given some excerpts from the "testimonials" page on the Spare Air web site ...

"Out of air at 140', with no back-up air system, and his buddy was too far away."

"I was given a newly serviced tank. Someone had used the wrong size o-ring for the valve. The result was that after a few minutes, and at 95', the O-ring blew, emptying my tank in seconds. The young lady that I was asked by the local school to supervise did not have an Octopus and was on her third dive!"

“I had just begun to head for the surface and my dive computer was signaling for me to slow my descent. Right then I felt myself take my last breathe of air from the tank. It was empty, I was at 75 feet, and my dive buddy was nowhere to be seen."

“I went out on the boat without checking the rental tank. I didn’t have a full tank of air and ended up at 60 ft. without air. I gave my dive buddy the out of air sign, he didn’t know what it was and he didn’t have an octopus either." (this one was from a DM)

“I have to share my experience with you. I am a newly certified diver. I went to Cozumel with friends; on my 8th dive I had a tank failure at about 28 ft. No air and my dive buddy was not paying attention to me. So I ditched weights, pulled out Spare Air and made an easy ascent to the surface.”

"I ran out of air at 75 ft. It was the second dive of the day, during the surface interval I swapped out tanks. My greatest mistake was that I never looked at the gauge. To my surprise, the second tank was never filled completely; it only had about 1000 psi."

"My dive buddy showed me his gauge, it read '0'!! I attempted to get my octopus to him but because of the strong current it was extremely difficult."

"When my son, an athletic 16 year old, came out of the ship, his pressure gauge showed 300 lbs and we began to ascend. He quickly in the excitement ran out of air"

"We were at approximately 120 feet when my one friend signaled he was low on air. I noticed my other diving buddy signaling he was having problems with his air supply. We noticed he had a partial opening of his DIN valve. I now was faced with two problems; the first was a diver with less than 300 psi in his cylinder, and another diver with an intermittent supply of air." (this diver is an instructor!)

All of these situations are a result of not following the training protocols you're supposed to learn as part of your Basic Open Water training.

I guess it's slightly better than not having a redundant air source ... but these quotes from the Spare Air web site are all examples of situations that could have been easily avoided with the application of a little common sense.

Seems like they're just promoting stupid insurance ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[spyder]

Flame pants on... I actually own one of the originals (early 80's). I don't carry it diving but use it for working on the pool drain. Just enough air to get the job done without getting all my gear out.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

Flame pants on... I actually own one of the originals (early 80's). I don't carry it diving but use it for working on the pool drain. Just enough air to get the job done without getting all my gear out.

That had to be one small pool.

 

[liberato]

Don't know I have never dove with nitrous oxide before...

Where have you been? Didn't you know it is used all the time in diver training to prepare divers for deep dives? :11ztongue Nitrous In Diving :11ztongue

 

[lamont]

Have you had one of those yet?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I'm narc'd enough at 1 ATA...