Technical Questions

[rainreg]

Welcome to the Equipment Technicians Forum, The goal of this forum is to bring to light a better understanding of Diving Equipment Operation, Maintenance, and additional safety issues.

 

[Flipper]

Well, I've always wondered--exactly how does a rebreather work? I mean, how does it take oxygen-depleated air and infuse it with oxygen? And how does it know how much oxygen to infuse? Is it really true that "love is like oxygen, you get too much, you get too much?????"

I've always wondered about that last one.

Flipper

 

[King_Neptune]

Hello Flipper,

Here is a quick rundown on how rebreathers work.

A rebreather gets rid of the need to exhaust the gas, instead the exhaled gas goes into a loop where it is pushed through a chemical absorbent (the scrubber) to get rid of any harmful CO2. Then it gets put back into a flexible membrane (the counterlung) for the diver to "rebreath", thus the name Rebreather.

Replacement of metabolic oxygen consumption is the idea behind every rebreather. All the body requires to sustain it is a certain amount of oxygen to burn in order to produce energy for the body to use.

Sounds easy, right? Well, it's not quite that simple. The catch is that oxygen consumption is not a constant, it is actually dependent on our workrate or activity level.

For a more detailed explanation (including pictures) click on the link below which will send you to where I have borrowed the info from, hehe. The word I received from those I asked all pointed to this site and sure enough they have some good info there. From what I am told they make some of the best rigs around.

http://www.steammachines.com/rebreathers.html


Let me know if this helps.

 

[lady - gadiver]

King N:

And I thought you were just brilliant and came up with all this techy stuff on your own....hehe

gadiver

 

[King_Neptune]

Ok, I'm busted!

hehe, I do have a basic knowledge of rebreathers and have been trained in their use. But I like to be able to send people somewhere that they can do some of their own research on.

I would love to think my advice or "word" is enough that they dont need anything more but that is a scarry thought.

 

[DEEP SEA]

Rainone, I have a MK-15.5 rebreather and have a problem. I changed my set point from .75 to 1.4 to give me a better profile at 60 fsw. It is great but the O2 keeps pumping out when I go shawllow. How come and what can I do about it? It seems like a waist of gas!

 

[rainreg]

Hey DEEP SEA first sorry to hear about your problem, yes it is a waste of gas, a few questions for you first how modified is your rig?? because of the extremely limited number of original repair parts many owners of these old style military rigs have had them modified time and time again by so called rig experts. this tends to be a big problem because after numerous modifications by different people or by the same guy the rig now has lost all contract to the original rig. explain in a chart diagram if you can the electronic package that is attached to your rig. you can fax this info and any other pertinent information on the rig to 850-913-0888 this is my fax number. then I will review the information and give you proper feedback to rectify your problem. thank you for your questions and if you wish tyo talk about these issues over the phone you can contact me at 850-230-3100 friday night after 6pm Panama City Florida time.

rainreg

 

[DEEP SEA]

Rainone, thanks for the information. Sounds like you have been around. Keep up the good work.

 

[King_Neptune]

hehe ...

"old style military rigs ...."

That sounds like some of the divers I know ...

hehe

=-)

 

[ScubaBaby]

Do you have a web-page that basically gives information on rebreathers - so i can show it to my mother to tell her that a rebreather is not a deadly weapon that will kill me when I am diving!

Also, changing slightly, but any information to prove to my mum that night dives are safe!!!!! She doesnt like me diving too much!