Surface oxygen / safety oxygen regulator

[1atm]

I have a question for those of you that keep extra O2 around in case something happens. Do you use a scuba regulator for that, or do you have a dedicated medical regulator with face mask, constant flow etc?

Wondering if I should buy a medical type reg and adapter to use on a spare oxygen scuba tank (with DIN valve). So far the worst case solution has been to use a scuba reg (luckily never needed it).

 

[rjack321]

You dont have a "Both" answer.
1) Have enough in a deco bottle to do as much IWR as anyone could realistically want to do here. Going back down for an extra 15-30+mins @ 20ft on O2 *may* fix lots of minor issues before they become major (or it could be the wrong choice, but deciding how to proceed isnt for this thread).

2) Have a separate medical O2 bottle and reg with demand mask.

 

[abnfrog]

dan kit + deco if doing a deco dive

 

[1atm]

You dont have a "Both" answer.
1) Have enough in a deco bottle to do as much IWR as anyone could realistically want to do here. Going back down for an extra 15-30+mins @ 20ft on O2 *may* fix lots of minor issues before they become major (or it could be the wrong choice, but deciding how to proceed isnt for this thread).

2) Have a separate medical O2 bottle and reg with demand mask.

Good point. I have added the “both” option.

Yesterday I found the RescEAN online for the first time. This looks like a clever idea. Any pros/cons or other considerations for getting this vs a conventional medical reg? I am talking about these two:

RescEAN, connects to a scuba LP hose

(Picture from rescuean.co.uk)

Conventional one with female 3/4 O2 threads, plus adapter to scuba DIN

Druckminderer 25 O2 D Mediselect 3/4- für Sauerstoff Flaschen online bestellen bei Ihrem Fachhändler für Medizintechnik - MEDPlus24

 

[happy-diver]

The Renaissance

 

[tbone1004]

I voted other.
I have a Rescuean like @1atm posted. It has two downsides to a normal regulator. First one is it doesn't have a DISS port so you can't use a MTV-100 if the patient isn't breathing. Second is it only has 2 sets of flow which means it won't be as efficient as an adjustable regulator. Does that matter? Not in my opinion. The pros are that it can connect to anything with a bc inflator hose on it and nitrox is better than air, so whatever you've got, you can plug in. For technical diving where you are already bringing lots of O2 with you anyway, it's brilliant. It comes with me everywhere, including on boats.
I also have dedicated medical bottles with Walk-O2-Bout regulators on them that have DISS ports for my MTV-100. I take that when I'm teaching or if I have the space to pack one/them, but it's lower priority than the RescuEAN.

 

[1atm]

I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the RescuEAN, but then it got me thinking about the regs that I would use it with ...

I dive OC, so the only regs that I maintain oxygen clean are deco regs, and these dont have an LP inflator hose. One could work around this, by moving an inflator hose from the back gas reg to the O2 clean stage reg in an emergency, but I'd think that in the heat of the moment there's danger of grabbing the wrong (non-O2 clean reg). And I wouldnt want to faff with assembling stuff. Same goes for their adapter that allows connecting it to a 2nd stage hose ... too much assembling/disassembling and danger to pick the wrong reg. I certainly wont equip all deco regs with LP hoses only because of the rescuean. Last option would be to make all regs O2 clean, but not sure the effort would be a good trade off vs a dedicated O2 clean medical reg?

The RescuEAN seems awesome to use with Nitrox, and as much as I like the small form factor, it using regs I already have (and thus dont have to pay extra for), robustness etc, it doesnt seem to be ideal for use with 100% O2. Am I missing something?

 

[1atm]

The Renaissance

Interesting perspective, and definitely useful to have some knowledge on this handy. For the diving I am thinking about, ie local shore dives in cold water (ie 4degC or 39F), I'd think it's not so ideal. Different story on a boat where you have no easy way to get to a chamber. Then it would be much more applicable, I'd think.

 

[RyanT]

it's brilliant. It comes with me everywhere, including on boats.

+1

 

[tbone1004]

@1atm I O2 clean all of my first stages for a myriad of reasons, I also have LP inflator hoses on all of my stage/deco bottles for a bunch of other reasons. It's certainly not DIR, but it doesn't hurt to be able to use it for inflation if you had to, make analyzing easier, connect to a rebreather if diving in mixed teams, etc etc.
No downside to O2 cleaning all first stages and second stages don't have to be O2 clean.