Integrated Alternate Air Source

[BDSC]

Question out of curiosity for integrated AAS owners: It is easy to share your primary with an OOA diver with a standard length primary hose? Or do you have a octo length primary hose to make it easier to share?

I've had no problems at all the times I have practiced air shares.

 

[mmadiver]

Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving | Global Underwater Explorers

Annnnddd.....you're welcome

 

[BDSC]

I can only assume that last post was a joke.

 

[mmadiver]

Not really, had I read that book when I first starting diving it would of saved me a lot of grief and $$.

 

[BDSC]

So what does the book say about an integrated AAS?

 

[mmadiver]

Well, that depends on what you mean by "integrated AAS." I think for your average rec diver alternate air sources are one of the most confusing aspects of equipment selection - conflicting procedures, lack of standardization, confusing terms. Couple all that with an intense marketing machine trying to sell you the latest and greatest AAS device and you end up with situations like the OPs.

As far as what the book says, as some have already pointed out: You can't go wrong with a true backup regulator that is the same type or quality as your primary.

 

[D_B]

Question out of curiosity for integrated AAS owners: It is easy to share your primary with an OOA diver with a standard length primary hose? Or do you have a octo length primary hose to make it easier to share?

I have an AIR2 .. it breathes fine, but the slightly longer corrugated hose and it's being heavier than a standard inflator buggs me as it hangs down, even with a restraining bungee , enough so that I dive with one hand over it holding it to my chest
and this .. a far more serious issue is that most standard length regulator hoses are too short for comfortable air sharing (you donate your primary reg if you have an integrated octo/inflator) if you straighten your arm while holding an OOA divers webbing, you will be pulling the reg out of his mouth ... I got a 52" hose on my primary now

not that you can't share with the stock length hose, I became concerned after doing drills with someone that I cared for and found I was pulling on the reg hose while holding on to her BC straps and looking around for boats/whatever as we came up (and my arm was bent, just straightened a little and unintentionally)

 

[eelnoraa]

#1 The corrugated hose is always the right length unless the user has specifically changed it. "Head movement" isn't a problem since the only direction they're going is "up" and it's easy enough to look up when using it.

What is the right length? What is the length in your BC with your Atomic SS1? My guess is that in order to be able to breath the SS1 with full head movement, your corrogated hose needs to be at least 18-20" if not longer. Now, have someone take a picture of yourself in trim, and see how long that 18-20" corrogated hose is dangling below you. Just for reference, my corrogated hose is 12", it is long enough to operature while not dangle significantly. And no way, I can breath SS1 at the end of it and still move my head.

---------- Post added August 24th, 2013 at 11:39 PM ----------

#2 I don't know of any recreational dive boats that carry spare inflators of either style for customers or would be willing to have any boat crew disassemble customer equipment. If you need a spare of anything, you should bring your own. In fact, if you plan on using this argument, the Atomic SS1 is actually better than a normal inflator since it comes with a screw-on fitting. If you have a spare, it can be changed with no tools.

Boat crews are not what I am refering too. But don't you think you are more likely get find spare parts for standard inflator and SS1? And further, carrying an spare inflator is a lot more economic than carrying a spare SS1.

You can say this doesn't happen often enough, but more than once, I have seen people with inflator issues when doing gear check pior to entering water and asking around for spare parts. Myself have had leaky inflators, so now I carry spare. And my team needs it, I will be more than happy to donate it so that we can do diving.

To be fair, I prefer standard inflator myself. So anything that use a propietary connection for corrogated hose, I will try to avoid. I guess if one day, AAS is the majority, then I may change my opinion.

---------- Post added August 24th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ----------

#3 OW divers are taught that a failed component means the dive is over. It doesn't matter if it's a reg or an inflator.

Dive is over, but if you are at 100ft at that time, you are still 5 or 6 minutes from the surface. We usually plan to handle one major failure, it is also why we try to avoid any one failure turning into multiple failure.

#4 They're specifically designed to not freeflow. The only time you'll see this is if they haven't been serviced in a really long time or are damaged.

"design to not freeflow" mean de-tuned??? at the expense of breahting effort??

Let's take one step back, why do you prefer AAS? What is the advantage? I think one less hose/streamline is definitely not a valide point. People using long hose and bungee look a lot more tidy than convention primary+AAS

 

[Dr. Lecter]

"design to not freeflow" mean de-tuned??? at the expense of breahting effort??

Speaking as a former SS1 user and current long hose primary/bungied backup user, you obviously have no clue what you're talking about. The SS1 breathes better than most primary regs, and I took mine (and used it) well past 200'. A large part of the anti-free flow design has to do with the size and formation of the mouthpiece.

Consider, too, that the SS1 is a Hell of a lot better built than the disposable $35 wonders most people use as inflators. It's no wonder you see them frequently looking for a way to fix the POS they've chosen to dive as an inflator. It's why I prefer my SS precision inflators: they can actually be maintained and rebuilt, rather than thrown away and replaced.

 

[BDSC]

Well, that depends on what you mean by "integrated AAS."

I did not know there was more than one meaning of what an integrated AAS was. Besides the usual idea of it being an octo/inflator combo, what else does it mean?