Are rebreathers safe to dive with

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>>Originally Posted by caveseeker7
A complete replacement scrubber and insert? Poor mole, now he has to decide on a new scrubber for the Molespiration or a souped up diesel for the Mole Hill Rover. <<

The diesel already is souped up!!!, winch and extra side and underside armour fitted etc. She even is going to be sporting a snorkel after this weekend so Landy can go diving!!! (mmmm, wonder if I could rig original Inspiration as 10 hour gas supply to Landy for those deep river crossings, and scrubber on the exhaust to remove more polution, would I have to paint the roof yellow??). Never seen a vehicle that has so many mods and parts available for it, and she is bloody good off road as well, funnily enough I've hardly used her for transporting diving kit and towing the RIB which is what I bought her for.

Now to start saving for a new scrubber, especially as been told I finish in Scotland at the end June !!!! So back to diving and maintaning the web site
 
As for rebreathers and are they safe? always makes me laugh that most of the experts saying they are deadly are not actually trained nor have they dived one. Bit like your mum lecturing you on open circuit, you'd laugh at that and ignore her

What kills rebreather divers is inatention, complacency, failure to follow basic safety proceedures, lack of training and bad diving practice, funnilly enough these are exactly the same things that kill OC divers as well!!!!

As for SCR v CCR. SCR's are not always simpler and most of them can and do fail much more easily than an CCR, what compounds this is that most SCR users do not have PO2 monitoring systems which breaks the fundamantal #1 rebreather rule "Allways know your PO2"

The big difference between RB/OC is that on OC if something goes wrong it normally shows as your gas cutting off and so you instantly know and can do something about it

On a rebreather most faults dont cut off the gas (OK RB-80 users I know thats not always true on yours for some of its failure modes), but just change it to a gas that wont support life. This normally will not have any physical sign before unconsciousness!!!! so on a rebreather your dilligence in monitoring the PO2 and gas in the loop and the unit is what keeps you alive. Its not hard to do

If you trust a rebreather with your life, then you shouldn't be diving it. If you mistrust a rebreather with your life then you will get on fine and in safety
 
madmole:
If you trust a rebreather with your life, then you shouldn't be diving it. If you mistrust a rebreather with your life then you will get on fine and in safety!

Madmole,

Outstanding quote, sir, just bloody outstanding!!! :wink:
 
"I like computers but not to bet my life on."

Lets hope you never need health care given all the computers used in that field. Or drive a modern car, or fly, or etc.. And I assume you only dive with analogue gauges.

You may not care for the complex nature of a CCR, but computer technology is not the problem.
 
A good book to check out is "Mastering Rebreathers" by Jeffery Bozanic. A good primer is your interested on the subject. You should be able to find it at most of the decent online distributors of dive related books. I got lucky, my local public library carries a copy.
 
I think breather are a tool and should not be a gadget.
And like you use a hammer for differnt purposes than a wrench (usualy at least) you use a breather as a gas-extension-tool if it´s advantages outweighs its disadvantages.

3 weeks ago a well know polnish cavediver died in shallow water (less than 30ft) in germany with his eccr, another german diver almost died in Egypt and was rescued, while he passed out beeing on the loop of his eccr when clipping on a stage-tank.
So, better be careful with all breathers...

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary Fourth Edition, a gadget is "a small specialized mechanical or electronic device". In no way does that definition imply that a gadget is not a tool or that it could be taken for granted or treated nonchalantly. However, I would say that a recreational diver probably shouldn't be using a "tool" to dive since there is not a "job" to be done other than the pursuit of one's enjoyment. Perhaps a commercial diver could be said to use any SCUBA equipment as a tool. Also, when any of us take our OW classes we are introduced to the dangers of SCUBA diving. Rebreathers are no different. When a person recieves training they are taught the risks inherent to their participation. However, I take serious exception to the implication that rebreather diving (for those who are qualified) is any more dangerous than any other form of diving. If any one can remember, Nitrox was a voodoo gas when it started to gain popularity and everyone was warned that it would cause serious injuries and death.... we are still waiting for all that to happen. Do some divers get injured and do some die every year? Of course, my aunt was killed in a car accident too, that doesn't mean that I will quit riding in cars. Acceptable levels of risk is what this sport is all about, by training, experience, and careful habits we can all pursue it safely, even when diving on a rebreather.
 
BigJetDriver69:
What a question! I always wonder about questions like this!!

If it looks like a troll, walks like a troll, smells like a troll, it is a troll!

Big fish get that size because they dont get taught up in Trolls!
 
madmole:
>>Now to start saving for a new scrubber, especially as been told I finish in Scotland at the end June !!!! So back to diving and maintaining the web site

Yay!!! Call Tracy at Divematics and have him crank out a larger scrubber for you! Cheers!
 
JPBECK:
If it looks like a troll, walks like a troll, smells like a troll, it is a troll!

Big fish get that size because they dont get caught up by Trolls!

You are right! I need to keep the Board's "No trolls allowed!" smilie handy! :wink:
 
SamDiver14:
When a person receives training they are taught the risks inherent to their participation. However, I take serious exception to the implication that rebreather diving (for those who are qualified) is any more dangerous than any other form of diving.

Acceptable levels of risk is what this sport is all about, by training, experience, and careful habits we can all pursue it safely, even when diving on a rebreather.

Sam,

I heartily agree with all of your points! I would only like to add that the dangers inherent in re-breather diving are no greater, just more subtle. A higher level of training is required because of this.

As for acceptable levels of risk, I always like what the head of my training agency says: "Once intelligently informed of the risks, every person has the right to risk his or her life as he or she sees fit!" :crossbone

P.S.---I should have added that his phraseology is somewhat more pungent, but you get the gist of it. :wink:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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