Bubble_blower87
Contributor
Just curious about whether sidemount rigs use power inflation? If so what happens when one tank runs out? Obviously you could manually do it but is that the only option?
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Sorry and yes I am new to diving in general. I am just kind of addicted all of a sudden and letting my curiosity get to me. I wasn't thinking but yes I remember that we keep 500psi minimum in our tank during back mount, I should have assumed the same for sidemount. I guess then that only one tank is used as the inflator?I assume from your question that you're new to Sidemount... or just enquiring without any experience in it as yet?
Your cylinders should never run out...... when sidemounting, the diver does not breath one cylinder to empty then start on the other.... the 2nd stage regulators are swapped throughout the dive such that the gas is used across both cylinders and they are kept at very similar levels at all points throughout the dive.....
I hope this helps you to understand?
Well that clears it up for me thanks man.Yes one for wing inflate the other for Drysuit inflate.
unless you use the weird UTD Z-system which is an equipment solution to a skills problem. Inflating BC's doesn't take all that much air.
Let's think about it this way.
1cf of water weighs 63/64lbs.
We'll look at worst case scenario, so say you're using one of the big wings, so the Nomad XT with 50lbs of lift. You should be orally inflating at the surface, but even if you power inflated it at the surface you are using .8cf of air. Now you meander down to 100ft and you still need all of that lift so your .8 now becomes .2. You are at 4ata so 4*.6=2.4 for a total of 3.2cf used. You use another 2cf of air because you have a somewhat sawtooth profile, and then you fail to dump properly and have to mostly fill the wing at the surface, for a total of 6cf used for inflation. 6cf is about 250psi out of an AL80 for your inflation gas, really not all that much to worry about. This is really a worst case scenario because you would never really use that much gas on a 100ft dive.
We can talk about some of this in person if you want when you peruse thru some of the gear I'll show you.
Tbone has been awesome offering to show me stuff and help me in a few different ways. It's pretty nice to have people around that enjoy helping others. With the many options and configurations out there, it can really be confusing to a newb. I ask a lot of questions but only because I want to learn!This explanation is awesome! Of course most side mount divers never use more than a few "puffs" of gas for inflation. I further reduce that by orally inflating in the event I need floatation on the surface, and occasionally orally inflating during the dive to adjust buoyancy. It's just part of my regular skill routine.
Most SM divers set up their regulators so that there is an inflator hose on each regulator that is long enough to reach both the BC inflator and the dry suit inflator, so that if you lose all the gas in either tank (blown burst disc or extruded neck o-ring) you can still use the other tank to run the DS and/or the BC.I assume from your question that you're new to Sidemount... or just enquiring without any experience in it as yet?
Your cylinders should never run out...... when sidemounting, the diver does not breath one cylinder to empty then start on the other.... the 2nd stage regulators are swapped throughout the dive such that the gas is used across both cylinders and they are kept at very similar levels at all points throughout the dive.....
I hope this helps you to understand?
what happens when one tank runs out? Obviously you could manually do it but is that the only option?