Recreational rebreathers - what is holding them back?

[DennisS]

I never followed up on the accident report, I just read the original post

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s050509b.html

I'd like to talk myself into one but they are not fool proof and I am not a meticulous person.

I tend to be a "that's good enough" type of person, not a good prerequisite for a rebreather diver.

 

[Hoosier]

I think it is a definately cost matter. Why not if the price is affordable? Don't you want to get out of a sick and tired of LDS threats, such as regulator service, air threats, and any warranty issues?

 

[caveseeker7]

Hi Jason, long time, good to see you again. Liked your post.

I know others will and do say your unit will try and kill you at every opportunity and you should not trust it.

Others are wrong and you should trust your rebreather to some extend.
Rebreathers will try to keep you alive. Sometimes, unfortunately, they fail. Hence the diver can't be complacent. When your rebreather signals problems and gives you an alarm, trust it.

You can die on the sofa, breathing off of one, while you watch TV.

Then again, you can die on the sofa not breathing off of one, while you watch TV.

Cost per dive ... the economics just are not there.

That again depends where you are, I guess.
Locally an 80 cf nitrox fill costs me $10, so that's $30 - $40 per day.
I get about 40 min/tank, so we're talking about $15/hr.

20 cf O2 cost $10. $2 for the air dil. That easily lasts 6 hrs, so $2/hr. A 6 lbs Sodasorb fill costs $16, at the manufacturer's rating that'll do for 5 hrs. $3.20/hr. $4 battery good for 40 hrs, 10¢/hr. 3 SMS202 sensors for $75/each, 100 hrs, add $2.25/hr.
The grand total is $7.55/hr, about half what I pay for OC.

The $12 for gas and $16 for absorbant tranlate into at least 5 hrs of diving, wether I do it in one day or two. On OC, I get between 2 hrs and 2 hrs 40 mins per trip in the water.

Maintainance we talking about more O-rings and O2 compatible lube, two first and a second stage, two tanks ... most divers considering CCRs dive twins, so there is not that much difference.

Not enough savings to justify the purchase price, but certainly not an argument for me against either.

 

[jepuskar]

:sofa:

Hey Stefan,

I haven't gone anywhere....been lurking in the background. Feel kind of silly posting on here until I get experience on a unit so I don't...but I ALWAYS pay attention to what's going on.

I felt I had a decent POV on this thread so I chimed in. I see you're doing your part to keep things aligned properly....nice to see.

 

[caveseeker7]

It wasn't a rubbish post

I'm with Chris on that one. It is rubbish.
How exactly do you think a rebreather is gonna kill you on your couch?

I made it clear I knew nothing about rebreathers. I posted some of my misgivings.

You misgiving should be the same as Chris' and mine:
You know nothing about rebreather yet have misgivings about them.

There are questions about the safety of rebreathers.

Sure there are. And there are answers to most of them. All you gotta do is ask.

... but they are not fool proof

What is fool proof? OC gear?
Ever jumped into the water with a near empty tank, nicely overweighted?
Ever jumped off the boat without your fins on or your drysuit zipped?
I've seen all three.

There is no such thing as fool proof. Idiots beat engineers every time.

 

[DiveTub]

I'm with Chris on that one. It is rubbish.
How exactly do you think a rebreather is gonna kill you on your couch?

Stefan mine tried to kill me the other day on the couch, I was watching TV, (a good doco on Truk Lagoon) with a Sport Kiss next to me, the PRISM was in the corner and must have got jealous :1poke: cause the next thing I know it is on me, beating me round the face with the Inhale and Exhale hoses :hurt:, as the scrubber spewed :sick: a caustic cocktail of half used sorb down my throat and into my lungs, oh how it burned. I am very lucky to be alive

Overall it was a sobering experience and I know now never to sit on the couch with another CCR whilst another is in the room.

Cheers
Chris

 

[caveseeker7]

Yeah, gotta be carefull with both of them in the same room.
Make sure to keep the PRISM away from the little Kiss when the scrubber is in heat after a dive.
They are Perverted Randy Indiscriminate Sex Machines that'll bang that little box so hard it'll be dented. :11:

 

[dive]

Stefan mine tried to kill me the other day on the couch, I was watching TV, (a good doco on Truk Lagoon) with a Sport Kiss next to me, the PRISM was in the corner and must have got jealous :1poke: cause the next thing I know it is on me, beating me round the face with the Inhale and Exhale hoses :hurt:, as the scrubber spewed :sick: a caustic cocktail of half used sorb down my throat and into my lungs, oh how it burned. I am very lucky to be alive

Overall it was a sobering experience and I know now never to sit on the couch with another CCR whilst another is in the room.

Cheers
Chris

:rofl:

 

[padiscubapro]

just the addition of two valves (doubles) to my gas supply trying to kill me has been enlightening enough. i really think that people going with reabreathers need to have a good reason and they need to be very experienced. diving doubles and stages would seem to me to be a good prequisite to rebreathers since it builds up the task loading slowly with simple mechanical devices first, before adding chemical reactions to the mix...

I have been teaching all levels of ccr for several years now, and I would rather train a diver with 50 dives than someone with 1000 dives.. Its much easier to train the diver who hasnt developed many years of bad habits..

Plus the very experienced divers tend to think they are better than they really are..

 

[padiscubapro]

I never followed up on the accident report, I just read the original post

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s050509b.html

I'd like to talk myself into one but they are not fool proof and I am not a meticulous person.

I tend to be a "that's good enough" type of person, not a good prerequisite for a rebreather diver.

first the rb in question was an SCR..
second it was said the diver was having tbl with the unit and was trying to "fix" it.. (definately should not have been alone, especially with the limited experience he had).. I also heard (but still havent been able to confirm) that his RB had no means of monitoring his po2. This breaks the # one rule of RB diving - ALWAYS KNOW YOUR PO2!

I didn't know the person first hand (I do know people that had experience with him), but reports of his abilites were greatly overstated..