Rebreather - Cost of Ownership

[Chanly83]

The Truth Behind What Caused Paul Walker's Fatal Crash
I am a complete novice with ZERO technical training, but eventually I would like to get a rebreather and I do have a lead foot so I figured I would roll the dice and put my 2 cents in.
Rebreather and training=$15,000
New cells $300
Porsche Carrera GT $500,000 MSRP
New tires $2,000 to $4,000
Average cost of a funeral in the US in 2019 $6,500
His tires could of probably taken him to the local Starbucks for coffee while traveling at the posted speed limit but they decided to push their luck.
When I was younger my grandfather taught me a few things.
-“It takes money to make money.”
-“You have to pay to play.”
Take my post for what it’s worth, an open water diver with a pension for knowledge. I see both sides of the argument and when my time comes to worry about exp dates on O2 cells I will do my do diligence and investigate both sides of this coin. But knowing that my HOBBY could eventually leave my wife footing the bill for my funeral, I will probably eliminate as many factors as I can.

 

[Chanly83]

50 cal Ricochet, That Smarts!
another reason rolling the dice makes my butt cheeks pucker

 

[rjack321]

I never thought I would hear someone on SB advocate for waiting for cells to fail before replacing them... Full disclosure I have heard the argument about "testing them by spiking them throughout every dive" on other forums which never appealed to me.

I get mine from ISC, they are usually manufactured within about 6-8 weeks of the date they get to me. They are sealed in inert gas so that month+ doesn't really matter to me. I date them with a sharpie and replace them at 12 months +/- a week no matter how "good" they might seem even in a pressure pot. I have had a couple partial floods and after one the cells dried out and seemed fine. Replaced those the next week anyway.

 

[rddvet]

I never thought I would hear someone on SB advocate for waiting for cells to fail before replacing them... Full disclosure I have heard the argument about "testing them by spiking them throughout every dive" on other forums which never appealed to me.

I get mine from ISC, they are usually manufactured within about 6-8 weeks of the date they get to me. They are sealed in inert gas so that month+ doesn't really matter to me. I date them with a sharpie and replace them at 12 months +/- a week no matter how "good" they might seem even in a pressure pot. I have had a couple partial floods and after one the cells dried out and seemed fine. Replaced those the next week anyway.

It’s more common than you realize. When I got my rb I was told by many people don’t replace at 12 months. I asked about it here a few months back at the 1 year anniversary of having a ccr. Here, everybody said change at 12 months. At dive sites and from people I know, the overwhelming majority were against 12 month changes.

 

[rjack321]

It’s more common than you realize. When I got my rb I was told by many people don’t replace at 12 months. I asked about it here a few months back at the 1 year anniversary of having a ccr. Here, everybody said change at 12 months. At dive sites and from people I know, the overwhelming majority were against 12 month changes.

Not my job to fix the stupid - in runs pretty deep in FL amongst divers in particular.

 

[PfcAJ]

I never thought I would hear someone on SB advocate for waiting for cells to fail before replacing them... Full disclosure I have heard the argument about "testing them by spiking them throughout every dive" on other forums which never appealed to me.

I get mine from ISC, they are usually manufactured within about 6-8 weeks of the date they get to me. They are sealed in inert gas so that month+ doesn't really matter to me. I date them with a sharpie and replace them at 12 months +/- a week no matter how "good" they might seem even in a pressure pot. I have had a couple partial floods and after one the cells dried out and seemed fine. Replaced those the next week anyway.

What are these "cells" you speak of?

 

[rjack321]

What are these "cells" you speak of?

Those doohickies that avoid making the most basic dive into a 6 bottle 5 gas dive

 

[lermontov]

@tbone1004 - I understand that you monitor cell deterioration but the must be a point in time that you decide that a particular cell is too old? do you throw then out at 'x' point regardless eg if a cell is still working perfectly well after 15months do you still use 18 months? 24 months? or do you as others are pointing at wait until it starts showing signs of fatigue

 

[tbone1004]

@tbone1004 - I understand that you monitor cell deterioration but the must be a point in time that you decide that a particular cell is too old? do you throw then out at 'x' point regardless eg if a cell is still working perfectly well after 15months do you still use 18 months? 24 months? or do you as others are pointing at wait until it starts showing signs of fatigue

short answer is no. I track linearity and current limiting on every dive. I check linearity from .21-1.0 at the surface, then check it again during my 20ft 1.6 check. At the end of the dive, I was taught to O2 flush on your way from 30ft to 20ft which will get the cell to somewhere between 1.6-2.0. If it fails any one of those tests, it gets binned. Most of the cells that I have had have "died young", but one or two have gone a bit over a year before they started going sideways. Contrary to what it may have sounded, I am actually quite a chicken when it comes to how my cells are performing and my tolerance for current limiting is 0, and I have a very conservative tolerance for how much linear deviation I'm willing to accept.

 

[bletso]

Cell life is dependent of its O2 cycle life. At atmosphere air, I have had cells last more than 3 years in O2 analysers. In a rebreather you are subjecting the cells to higher PO2's. The fuel in the cell is thus depleted much faster. So, the time you can expect a cell to last is a function of the hours you spend on the rebreather, the PO2 you run on the dive, the PO2 at high values such as 1.4 - 1.6 at deco, and finally the manufacturer. Some are better than others.

If you dive a lot with high set points and long decos, a year may be pushing it. As tbone1004 pointed out it is a good habit to regularly check there functionality before set up if you have a cell checker or during the phases of a dive.