Can spare air reg be threaded on a larger tank?
- Thread starter fisherdvm
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
MSilvia
Contributor
Why throw it away? Spare Air is a great safety device... just not for scuba divers. Find a forum for jet-boat racing or helicopter pilots and sell it there. If I was still commercial fishing, I wouldn't at all mind having a spare air in the duffel bag under my rack. It could be a lifesaver if there was any delay in getting off the ship after grabbing a survival suit.fisherdvm:
IMHO, it's the wrong tool for scuba diving, but you have to be scuba certified to use one in other applications where it might actually be handy.
Heck, I've occasionally thought it would be a nice thing to have under the seat of my car if the Big Dig tunnel happend to collapse.
Flatliner
Contributor
I am not a troll honest but I have to ask... For someone who ALWAYS dives shallow (20-30 ft) and travels it seems like a pretty good solution. I have considered getting one for my son who is a pre-teen and limited to shallow dives by his overprotective father. Why is it a bad solution for this type of diver?
Flatliner
aka Robert
Flatliner
aka Robert
Basically, SpareAir systems are a technological dead end. There are similar concepts for "real" scuba cylinders -- they're first-stage regulators that screw directly in like a valve -- but they don't have a second stage built into the regulator. H2Odyssey has theirs that can have a short swivel joint between the first and second stages, and both theirs and Zeagle's cylinder-mounted first-stage regulators can be paired with a standard LP hose and second-stage regulator, as I understand it.
I thought about a "pony reg" system (with a cylinder-mounted reg), but I decided the benefits were too small to be worthwhile compared to the flexibility and usefulness of simply having an additional "normal" regulator to use with auxilliary scuba. I've used my backup reg for an AL19, and recently I bought a used AL30, too. I can use either cylinder (or even bring both, just in case), and I've even used it with a "stage" cylinder (AL80 or AL100) for some *very* long and shallow recreational no-deco dives.
(Basically, if I had a SpareAir, I'd use it for kayaking and emergency free-diving bailout, but that's about all that'd keep it off eBay.)
Flatliner: Although it doesn't give you much air to work with, for a shallow no-deco rec diver, it could be adequate (if you get the "big" tiny one). That said, the main thing would be to realize that you'll need to know when it's no longer adequate. If you're planning 25' dives, but you really end up deeper, you'd have to be proactive enough to realize the point at which it is no longer capable of serving its intended purpose, and then you'd have to retire it and start over if you still wanted redundancy.
Frankly, a little 6cf pony and reg are likely small enough, and you can swing the reg over to a 13cf, 19cf, or larger as required later. If you don't dive dry, you can sell the small tanks to someone who does, too. Oh, but I'd highly recommend getting the pony reg in DIN -- without the yoke and yoke screw, it can be a bit nicer to sling (or at least, I found the yoke screw annoying).
I thought about a "pony reg" system (with a cylinder-mounted reg), but I decided the benefits were too small to be worthwhile compared to the flexibility and usefulness of simply having an additional "normal" regulator to use with auxilliary scuba. I've used my backup reg for an AL19, and recently I bought a used AL30, too. I can use either cylinder (or even bring both, just in case), and I've even used it with a "stage" cylinder (AL80 or AL100) for some *very* long and shallow recreational no-deco dives.
(Basically, if I had a SpareAir, I'd use it for kayaking and emergency free-diving bailout, but that's about all that'd keep it off eBay.)
Flatliner: Although it doesn't give you much air to work with, for a shallow no-deco rec diver, it could be adequate (if you get the "big" tiny one). That said, the main thing would be to realize that you'll need to know when it's no longer adequate. If you're planning 25' dives, but you really end up deeper, you'd have to be proactive enough to realize the point at which it is no longer capable of serving its intended purpose, and then you'd have to retire it and start over if you still wanted redundancy.
Frankly, a little 6cf pony and reg are likely small enough, and you can swing the reg over to a 13cf, 19cf, or larger as required later. If you don't dive dry, you can sell the small tanks to someone who does, too. Oh, but I'd highly recommend getting the pony reg in DIN -- without the yoke and yoke screw, it can be a bit nicer to sling (or at least, I found the yoke screw annoying).
Flatliner:
For dives that shallow, I'm not sure why anything is needed. You could even make the argument (is that what I'm doing?) that using one of these contraptions from 20-30' is actually more dangerous than a CESA from that shallow.
- Messages
- 54,350
- Reaction score
- 8,475
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
Thats' right, you have no need for it - and a Cesa probly would be safer, probly accomplished in the time it'd take to deploy the Spare Air.Flatliner:
mike_s
Contributor
If you want a bigger tank, but a lower profile pony, look at one of the systems by H2Oydessy or the Zeagle Razor. They are lower profile with an integrated valve/first-stage than a regular pony. You can also add a pressure gauge.
Personally I wouldn't give a spare air to my son. No air pressure gauge on it and when he runs out of air, he has to make an ascent to the surface. If he holds his breath while doing the ascent, you've got other medical issues to deal with on possbile lung damage. (In my opinion, a spare air for a child at shallow depth is not worth the risks involved).
Personally I wouldn't give a spare air to my son. No air pressure gauge on it and when he runs out of air, he has to make an ascent to the surface. If he holds his breath while doing the ascent, you've got other medical issues to deal with on possbile lung damage. (In my opinion, a spare air for a child at shallow depth is not worth the risks involved).
Randy43068
Guest
- Messages
- 5,461
- Reaction score
- 135
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Spare are is a substitute for poor planning, lack of training and for not paying attention to your dive.
Bottom line, you really don't need the contraption and gives a false sense of security.
Bottom line, you really don't need the contraption and gives a false sense of security.
MacGyverGTP
Registered
Have you guys read all of the accolades people have given to the spare air when it saved their bacon? I really doubt these are all lies. It shows pretty conclusively that the thing does serve it's purpose on occasion. Main question I have, is if you are at 80' (my normal dive depth) and you have a problem, (especially on an already exhaled breath) wouldn't you be wishing you had a spare breath or two to make it to the surface? I know I would, considering most people diving in Cozumel have no backup bottles. I don't understand why everyone badmouths this product, its certainly better than hoping nothing goes wrong with your primary system. It could give you enough time to get to your buddy!
Similar threads
