Should I get a Second stage alt or air2

[rx7diver]

I used to own a Pioneer, it will dump plenty of air at the inflator if vertical or the back dump valve if horizontal. But the real solution is being able to disconnect the inflator hose at a moments notice. It's a good drill to practice.

Speaking of practice, it's well worth practicing breathing off that Air2 while managing your ascent, since the inflator/deflator are coupled with the second stage.

John_B,

My post described the scenario wherein a (new-ish) rec diver wearing a singles wing and ascending vertically (as rec divers do) discovers that his/her power inflator (or AIR 2-like combination inflator) has malfunctioned and now will *not* vent gas from his inflated wing.

I will initiate another thread so this scenario can be discussed further (to aviod hijacking the current thread).

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[XJJoe01]

My wife and I swapped from Air 2 setups to a standard regulator octopus after we were doing accent drills while using our octos. It was super hard to look around, watch your dive computer and control accent when breathing from the air 2. We were not sharing air, just using the backup.

If this has stated earlier, then forget it, as I didn't read the entire thread.

Sent from my LG-P710 using Tapatalk

 

[fnfalman]

If you don't know how to deal with your equipment when they fail, then it's YOU the operator/owner who is the problem and not the gears.

Any gear can fail, and a smart diver would practice failure drills with his or her gear configuration.

A couple of months back, a dive buddy's regular power inflator failed at 90-ft. Won't inflate, not even when I mashed the hell out of the inflator button. And then when I signaled for oral inflation, the deflate button didn't work either. And yes, I tried to blow into it as well. It's one of those KISS-type power inflators that tech divers love so much.

Not a big deal because we were close to the anchor line and I simply had the person walked her way up the anchor line. At the surface, I towed her back using my BC though she probably could have floated on her own by then with the 7mm wetsuit. Got back on the boat and guess what? The power inflator started working on its own. Naturally we didn't trust it to work again underwater, so she used my spare BPW that I brought along for her to try anyway.

Apropos of nothing, my Atomic inline octo had been good for me through well over 300-dives now.

For the people that dive single tank wing BPW, they need to learn how to use the butt dump for just in case the power inflator, be it the KISS kind or inline octo, fail to perform.

Personally I have very little patience for people who don't practice emergency drill with their gears and don't know all the functions and features of their gears then come to Scubaboard to whine about how this didn't work and that didn't work.

 

[simonru]

Seems like for both functions to fail there would have to be a large hole in the wing, inflator, or hose leading from the inflator to the wing. I'm curious what they say was wrong with it.

No holes anywhere else. The failure was simply this. Added air using power inflate button and it came straight out of the unit... as if the deflate button was stuck.... but it didn't appear to be

 

[barefootek]

I only read the first 10 posts and since there are 50 something now the horse is probably a bloody pulp. I have both since I put my octo back on for teaching purposes. The only thing I would really add is that manually blowing up your BC can be a real pain in the butt with an AIR2 or at least is with my Oceanic version (if you are the one OOA you will have to when you surface). You have to cover the purge with your hand and still lose a lot of the air. My real recommendation is to do what you are comfortable and make sure you keep your equipment serviced. In my opinion comfort equals safety and you are likely to have a 1000 other problems than an OOA.

I don't mean to downplay the importance of being prepared for an OOA but they are very rare and generally are caused by equipment failure of poorly maintained equipment. Therefore your best preparation for an OOA might be to avoid one. One of the bigger problems that I am aware of (that can cause a catastrophic loss of air) is worn hoses particularly around where it connects into the first stage. Checking your hoses and a $2 hose protector can almost eliminate the problem of a hose blow out that could cause an OOA. Sorry if I repeated a lot of the last 40 posts, but I really don't see which one you choose as being as big a deal as how you take care of it.

 

[John_B]

One of the bigger problems that I am aware of (that can cause a catastrophic loss of air) is worn hoses particularly around where it connects into the first stage. Checking your hoses and a $2 hose protector can almost eliminate the problem of a hose blow out that could cause an OOA.

$2 hose protectors can also cover the visible signs of a worn hose.

 

[redacted]

No holes anywhere else. The failure was simply this. Added air using power inflate button and it came straight out of the unit... as if the deflate button was stuck.... but it didn't appear to be

Sounds like a problem with the exhaust seal. Could be a defective seal or just debris keeping it from sealing. That would effect both power and manual inflate. It would also keep your BCD from holding pressure.

 

[Okidiver]

... I must say that we did find doing a horizontal swim while sharing air on a standard length primary hose to be difficult. Before the end of the class we had 7ft hoses and some instruction on how use them. Now swimming while sharing air is easy and fun.

Parasite breathing. Need to communicate in advance with buddy, but easy as pie with standard hose lengths.
1. Diver needing air positions themselves behind donator and grabs hold of 1st stage/tank valve.
2. Donator passes up primary to parasite.
3. Donator plugs Air2 in and go for a nice long horizontal swim.
Done it a couple times with a steel 120 on my back on shallow Okinawa dives with a buddy with a smaller tank. His skills were as good--probably better--than mine and a total piece of cake. Advantage to the donator is he gets to keep the shells you come across. Taught in Deep air class.
Just reading this tread, so apologize if someone covered before I got to it.

Okidiver

---------- Post added May 28th, 2014 at 06:53 PM ----------

I have had a recent issue with the Air 2.... just for information....I have posted it in the Scubapro section. But in essence.... my Air2 failed and it would not deliver air to my BCD, nor could I oral inflate.I was not in a happy place at the end of that dive!!

Good hear you were cool enough to get through it and sheitze happens, eh?

At the other end of the spectrum, I bought my Air2 used from my dive buddy (instructor) circa 1999 and installed it on my Knighthawk and it is still there. Serviced it maybe twice? Breathes just fine at 100' -- little wet and the exhaust out the bottom sucks, but nothing a little tilt of the head won't cure. Will most likely keep it until it disintegrates...

 

[Father]

I used an octo when I was borrowing gear. I wanted to get rid of that extra hose and reg so I went with an Edge Egress Octo Inflator. No regrest whatsoever. I bought a used rig on eBay that has a ScubaPro Air2 and hose connection is the same so I'll be keeping that.

I would say a lot of it depends on your comfort zone. If your dive buddy is pretty squared away and won't make stupid mistakes like not check how much gas they have in their tank before jumping in, they take care of their gear, and you practice sharing air and breathing off your seafe-second, the go for it. Make sure you have enough hose on your primary to give what you consider a comfortable distance from whoever might be breathing off your reg. Most of the people I dive with have 7' hoses and their secondary on a necklace. I use a 5' with the safe second.

If you know anyone that has one, I would recommend trying it first. It might not be for everyone. I dive with pretty competent people so I generally don't stress the possibility of having to use it.

 

[keyshunter]

$2 hose protectors can also cover the visible signs of a worn hose.

Or a corroded fitting. A large percentage of very experienced divers do not use hose protectors.