intothemurk
Registered
Thanks -- that makes sense.
Z-system advantages
- Thread starter MichaelMc
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Thanks -- that makes sense.
If you lose a hose from the block you can lose all your gas through it unless you have a way to isolate.
This is where the manifold comes in. You could achieve the same by connecting the one half of the QC directly into the block like many CCR gas add blocks do.
Dan_P
Contributor
I think it's important to establish a perspective beyond simply stating whether there are more or less failure points.
Elevating an evaluation beyond that simple observation, we might look at what it means;
I.e. rather than focusing on the frequency of failure, we might take into account the consequence of a failure.
The core of one such evaluation will be a sacrifice between increased frequency but reduced impact of failure.
That is, there are more o-rings which may fail - but each of them may fail with less significance.
At the same time, I find it prudent to note in such evaluation that the OOG donation procedure is consistant.
For a diver who sees a benefit in that, there is legitimacy in pointing out that quality.
That said, a distribution block system failure will have a relatively larger impact on the team in the event of a failure - a manifold less so.
Elevating an evaluation beyond that simple observation, we might look at what it means;
I.e. rather than focusing on the frequency of failure, we might take into account the consequence of a failure.
The core of one such evaluation will be a sacrifice between increased frequency but reduced impact of failure.
That is, there are more o-rings which may fail - but each of them may fail with less significance.
At the same time, I find it prudent to note in such evaluation that the OOG donation procedure is consistant.
For a diver who sees a benefit in that, there is legitimacy in pointing out that quality.
That said, a distribution block system failure will have a relatively larger impact on the team in the event of a failure - a manifold less so.
intothemurk
Registered
Thanks everyone -- you've cleared up my (mis)understanding.
Another tidbit missing from both the Z and block approach is that its very challenging for a buddy to figure out where the gas feeding the regulator in your mouth is coming from. While I suspect the Z has had a comparatively limited distribution/use so the track record is slimmer, gas block switches have been around for a long time and definitely have been implicated in more than one death, even amongst the "highly trained". There are gas block switch protocols (for instance with the RB80) but they are not something beginning tech divers really should be trying doing, the risks are notably greater than OC reg switch buddy checks.
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