Noobish Question for Rebreather Users!

[Penguinboy]

Sorry for posting this, but I always wondered, do Rebreathers have anything like a conventional Octo on them? I've seen the twin-hose rebreathers with a backup mouthpiece attached to a necklace type item, but if your buddy is in trouble do you have an AAS you can easily give to them? Just curious - trouble is I don't know anyone who dives a CCR!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr.X]

Sorry for posting this, but I always wondered, do Rebreathers have anything like a conventional Octo on them? I've seen the twin-hose rebreathers with a backup mouthpiece attached to a necklace type item, but if your buddy is in trouble do you have an AAS you can easily give to them? Just curious - trouble is I don't know anyone who dives a CCR!

Thanks in advance!

It's very unlikely that you would get an immediate shutoff of breathing gas in an RB. The reg. attached to the mouthpiece/on a necklace is meant to bail the user out and provides an off-loop sanity check of the gas that is circulating in the loop. With a buddy you would hand off your slung bailout bottle. The slung bailout is something you should always carry when you are using a RB...unless you subscribe to the 'Alpinist' philosophy.

X

 

[Diver0001]

Sorry for posting this, but I always wondered, do Rebreathers have anything like a conventional Octo on them? I've seen the twin-hose rebreathers with a backup mouthpiece attached to a necklace type item, but if your buddy is in trouble do you have an AAS you can easily give to them? Just curious - trouble is I don't know anyone who dives a CCR!

Thanks in advance!

I don't know why you should be sorry for posting that. It's a great question.

I *think* my answer is the same as Mr. X but with a little less jargon factor. I have the unique advantage in this situation that I don't dive a RB but I dive with people who do....so I know just enough to answer your question from an open-circuit (OC) user's perspective without getting in to too much detail about what a rebreather can and can't do ...

That said, the answer to the first question is yes, but with a twist. A rebreather typically has small tanks, 3 or 5 litres, which are pretty small (read useless) as a bail out and often they're full of something that you might not want to breathe at just any old depth.... That comes from the fact that rebreathers sort of "mix" what you need on the fly but that's beyond the scope of the question.

However, rebreather divers need a bailout both for themselves and for their buddy so most carry one or more stage bottles full of somthing you can breathe at whatever depth you might be at. A "stage bottle" is just a fancy word for a loose hanging (typically) 7 or 10 litre tank with it's own (normal) open-circuit regulator. Usually they're carried clipped off left and right under your armpits. If you've seen pictures of technical divers you'll know what I mean. If you don't then google "technical diver" and take a look at the pictures it brings up.

These stage bottles are easy enough to hand off back and forth between divers if gas problems arise. Clearly, depending on how complex your dive becomes, the plans regarding how many stage bottles you need to take and what needs to be in them is an art in itself. Nevertheless, the principles remain the same.

Does that help?

R..

 

[caveseeker7]

Last but not least there is of course the option that not only the RB diver, but also his OC buddy has a redundant breathing system.

 

[Diver0001]

Last but not least there is of course the option that not only the RB diver, but also his OC buddy has a redundant breathing system.

This crossed my mind too but I didn't want to confuse him with the deepest anxieties of rebreather divers...

R..

 

[Mr.X]

I *think* my answer is the same as Mr. X but with a little less jargon factor. I have the unique advantage in this situation that I don't dive a RB but I dive with people who do....so I know just enough to answer your question from an open-circuit (OC) user's perspective without getting in to too much detail about what a rebreather can and can't do ...


Does that help?

R..

Thanks for the cheap shot...especially from someone who doesn't dive a RB.

X

 

[Diver0001]

Thanks for the cheap shot...especially from someone who doesn't dive a RB.

X

X, Chill dude. I was being sincere. The fact is, I could hardly understand what you wanted to say..... Re-read your original post. To an OC diver, especially an inexperienced one, it doesn't exactly read like a recipe for boiling water...

R..

 

[Warren_L]

That said, the answer to the first question is yes, but with a twist. A rebreather typically has small tanks, 3 or 5 litres, which are pretty small (read useless) as a bail out and often they're full of something that you might not want to breathe at just any old depth.... That comes from the fact that rebreathers sort of "mix" what you need on the fly but that's beyond the scope of the question.

Correct in a way, but it generally is possible to bail out to the diluent tank for a short while. Typically this serves as sanity breaths so that you can regain your thought process in an emergency. Diluent should be breathable down to your max depth, and it is really at the surface you need to be careful if you're using a hypoxic trimix, for example. One of the reasons for this is that the diluent needs to be able the flush the loop in the event of an oxygen spike and to be able to bring it down reasonably quick to safe levels. And realistically, you should be bailing out to a bailout bottle which you or your buddy could use.

However, rebreather divers need a bailout both for themselves and for their buddy so most carry one or more stage bottles full of somthing you can breathe at whatever depth you might be at.

For me, this is not usually the case. When we dive in a team (two or three divers) we each plan for the proper redundancy for open circuit bailout at the furthest point during our dives, plus contingency for ourselves. And this is usually enough for me to get myself back. The reason being is that the other team members will have redundant gas in the event that any one of the team members has a problem and has insufficient bailout for whatever reason, so bailout can be shared if the s h * t really hits the fan. So really, even in the event of a triple simultaneous failures, there is enough for everyone to get back, however, this is generally remote.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Sorry for posting this, but I always wondered, do Rebreathers have anything like a conventional Octo on them? I've seen the twin-hose rebreathers with a backup mouthpiece attached to a necklace type item, but if your buddy is in trouble do you have an AAS you can easily give to them? Just curious - trouble is I don't know anyone who dives a CCR!

Thanks in advance!

This is the way it's done on the RB80 utilizing DIR Principles (close to what you're describing): http://www.chaglandproductions.com/rb80_oog.htm

 

[Mr.X]

X, Chill dude. I was being sincere. The fact is, I could hardly understand what you wanted to say..... Re-read your original post. To an OC diver, especially an inexperienced one, it doesn't exactly read like a recipe for boiling water...

R..

Please step off your haughty horse. Let the SME's (subject matter experts) state their perspectives without editorializing, or interpreting learner needs.

X