Do I want a Spare Air

[tursiops]

I have watched a person go from 1600lb to zero while they were looking at the gauge.

With an 80? I'm skeptical...that's about 40 cuft, which even at 4 cuft/min would take 10 mins...so you might get 4 cuft/min at 5 ATM (full recreational depth) with a normal SAC/RMV, or moderate depths from someone super excited.....but 10 minutes staring at an SPG?

 

[shoredivr]

is that relevant to basic scuba diving or is that an exception to the rule? literally no mention of cold water until now. You can find all sorts of ways to justify them, but none have yet to be appropriate to the context of this subforum which is basic scuba diving

Well, basic OW and AOW divers here in the Great Lakes and other cold water locations don’t find them themselves an exception. Warm water isn’t the only kind of water to dive in.

And do you think that OW AOW divers are not doing cold water diving? That’s the only kind of local diving done here.

 

[wstorms]

A couple of breaths? You must only get 50 breaths out of an al80.

Within the recreational diving envelop 3 cuft gets you about 1 minute at depth (5 ata) if you remain calm. Some people might do better, some will do worse. regardless of what you consider "a couple" this is not even close of being sufficient to do a safe ascent, and therefor at best it helps in making a less safe, emergency style, last resort ascent.
Why would you choose that when similar money gets you options that are far more usable in a diving career?

The only argument that really holds up in favor of a spare air is that it's easy to travel with. It is also really easy to travel with a reg and a rigging kit, and rent a 40 cuft alu stage...

 

[chillyinCanada]

Well, basic OW and AOW divers here in the Great Lakes and other cold water locations don’t find them themselves an exception. Warm water isn’t the only kind of water to dive in.

And do you think that OW AOW divers are not doing cold water diving? That’s the only kind of local diving done here.

Yeppers! That's how I started, freezing in a mountain lake

 

[W W Meixner]

There are several comments from people that I have come to have tremendous respect for, that don't believe that independent air sources are appropriate in "basic" diving. IMO, while buddy-diving is the "basic" standard, the reality is more complex and peoples views are colored by their environment.

Personal, anecdotal results from my admittedly very limited experience ... in about 15% of 'buddy' dives I've been effectively a solo diver.

- Buddy just swam off and never looked back (actually that time I was having issues, fortunately only equalizing on a sawtooth tour dive.)

- Buddy separation in the murk several times, once surprisingly, a couple not. All to easy in the fall at Dutch where viz in the training area is terrible at baseline and goes to hell when it is packed like a Manhattan sidewalk at rush hour.

- Got tired of chasing an otherwise competent instabuddy flying high in the Coz current and chasing underwater squirrels ... (I did not ignore, but rather monitored her closely and positioned myself to be available to respond quickly.)

- Lake diving this last Monday - my buddy was bumping into me and I couldn't even see him (Ironic WRT this discussion - I was not actually carrying my pony since it was a < 20' bottom, CESA was a practical, "safe" option)

So now I carry a pony which gives me full redundancy of gas, valve, & 1st/hose/2nd. And additional time to sort out a problem for myself or others.

I have a 19cu.ft. for air travel or shallow dives and a 40cu.ft. for deeper stuff. My pony reg set is from the same family/performance as my main regs so acts as a backup/parts when traveling - I'd rather rent/borrow a reg for pony use. The 19cu.ft. was not that big a deal going to Cozumel and back - Bled it and removed the valve, rubber banded a plastic bag over it, shoved it checked-baggage. I asked before booking and the shop had no issue filling it for me.

JD...

There in lies the problem...when does basic drop off and start becoming something else...

It's like ''technical diver''...pretty broad term...technically speaking...any NITROX certified diver is a ''technical diver''...a prime example of ''basic'' dropping off and becoming something else...

Going back to the OP's initial post...is a dive in the neighbourhood of 90 ft basic...some people may argue that point...especially in light of the fact that ''if'' the OP is only OW certified...diving with bailout...at 90 ft... is well beyond the scope of his ''basic'' training...

W...

 

[Marie13]

Well, basic OW and AOW divers here in the Great Lakes and other cold water locations don’t find them themselves an exception. Warm water isn’t the only kind of water to dive in.

And do you think that OW AOW divers are not doing cold water diving? That’s the only kind of local diving done here.

There’s a quarry in OH (Gilboa) that goes down to 130ft on the deep side. 39-40F once you get below 100ft or so. AOW and Deep classes are done there. People who aren’t tech dive deep there for fun. Heck, I’ve had 41F at 60ft.

Plenty of OW and AOW who dive cold water for the fun of it. That’s what our local diving is.

 

[BRT]

I do that quite often as well but as much because I've just checked as anything else.

I prefer it when they figure it out and quit asking me.

When I tell them without looking I've never had one ask me again. They must either decide I know where my air is or I'm beyond help.

 

[chillyinCanada]

When I tell them without looking I've never had one ask me again. They must either decide I know where my air is or I'm beyond help.

Exactly

But since you're carrying around a spare air, you might have to forgive them for not knowing what to think

 

[johndiver999]

I am soliciting opinions on carrying a Spate Air secondary air source for emergencies. I am a relatively new diver that is starting to dive down 70 to 90 feet. My primary fear is equipment failure and needing to rely on a buddy. How common are equipment failures at depth? Is the Spare Air a good option for deeper dives?

People on this forum will strongly suggest that you spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than necessary to address the need for a basic, recreational computer, but when a new diver asks if they should consider spending $500 or so on an independent, redundant piece of life support equipment (in order to address the divers "greatest fears") the inquiry is rebuked. The whole concept of being entirely self sufficient in order to enhance comfort and enjoyment is denigrated for the new diver.

People argue that they have done hundreds of dives and never needed this piece of safety device, yet I have driven THOUSANDS of times more trips in a motor vehicle without needing a seat belt, yet I still feel better when I buckle up.

I personally would not want to use any device with a capacity of less than about 6 cu-ft for that application (which a spare air provides - and ignorant people will ignore), but I have no working knowledge of the spare air system, so I won't recommend for or against it.

There are few good arguments for why NOT to take a sufficiently sized back up system, and the only one that really makes sense to me is that it potentially adds confusion and complexity to the gear - which I would argue can be effectively offset by a little training, practice and education.

If a diver wants to carry around an extra 7 or 30 lbs of extra "gear" on a recreational dive, why criticize them? I commonly see divers who carry around an extra 40 or 70 lbs of extra weight (composed primarily of blubber), yet those divers are rarely subjected to ridicule or attacks.

I'm only half kidding on this rant.

 

[agilis]

I have watched a person go from 1600lb to zero while they were looking at the gauge.

A radical new way of dieting? Were they looking at the SPG fixedly for 45 minutes? Was it a busted gauge or a piece of crud blocking the valve? Since the SPG measures more or less directly from the tank's valve, there are not too many other possibilities, excepting a blown valve o ring, but even that's not instantaneous and it's quite noticeable. My money is on staring at the SPG for a long time. Second choice is a badly maintained tank that produced a big rust flake. I'm assuming the gauge was not some sort of worthless remote electronic gizmo.