Info Are Pony Bottles Dangerous?

[billgraham]

A pony bottle can be dangerous and I have had the experience to prove it. But I still think it would be more dangerous to have a full primary failure at depth with no pony...... and most definitely the case if diving solo.

Tried to Kill Myself but Failed!

So I’ve been on the fence on whether or not to post this……because it’s really hard to openly and publicly admit when you do something totally stupid. But then I thought more about it last night and figure that if it might provide some productive and positive food for thought and discussion…..or...

scubaboard.com

A friend and legendary wreck diver told me a similar story except he took the reg out of his mouth and looked at it, and realized he had been breathing his 50% deco gas for 20 minutes at 120 feet.

 

[SlugLife]

A friend and legendary wreck diver told me a similar story except he took the reg out of his mouth and looked at it, and realized he had been breathing his 50% deco gas for 20 minutes at 120 feet.

Breathing the wrong gas can obviously be extremely dangerous, and sometimes deadly. I'm glad your friend is still alive and able to tell that story though.

On the topic of this thread, I would classify that as being different from pony bottles. A pony-bottle is meant to only act as a redundancy device. It would typically contain a gas that can be safely used at any point in the dive, usually just air or occasionally nitrox.

With technical/deco diving, and dealing with mixes of air (beyond nitrox), that typically requires specialized training, and the tank is usually called a "stage bottle" (or occasionally "bailout") and used quite differently from a pony bottle. These gasses are also part of the dive-plan, even if that bottle is intended only for redundancy or emergencies. Since I don't have technical-dive training, I'm going to be careful to not step too far outside my areas of knowledge.

The danger of using the wrong gas isn't "pony" related, because we're instead talking about divers with more specialized training and equipment, being used for a different purpose. That includes the divers being trained on how to manage multiple bottles and regulators, with multiple gasses.

 

[SlugLife]

Dang it!!! Musta been a rookie poster yer quoting there! Totally forgot the MOST telling factor: SCHNORKELS !!! Dang it man! Everybody knows that anybody with a schnorkel is a bad/inexperienced/uninformed diver! Or anybody that has anything except a Shearwater DC!

Snorkels can be dangerous. But only in the right hands.

 

[billgraham]

Breathing the wrong gas can obviously be extremely dangerous, and sometimes deadly. I'm glad your friend is still alive and able to tell that story though.

On the topic of this thread, I would classify that as being different from pony bottles. A pony-bottle is meant to only act as a redundancy device. It would typically contain a gas that can be safely used at any point in the dive, usually just air or occasionally nitrox.

With technical/deco diving, and dealing with mixes of air (beyond nitrox), that typically requires specialized training, and the tank is usually called a "stage bottle" (or occasionally "bailout") and used quite differently from a pony bottle. These gasses are also part of the dive-plan, even if that bottle is intended only for redundancy or emergencies. Since I don't have technical-dive training, I'm going to be careful to not step too far outside my areas of knowledge.

The danger of using the wrong gas isn't "pony" related, because we're instead talking about divers with more specialized training and equipment, being used for a different purpose. That includes the divers being trained on how to manage multiple bottles and regulators, with multiple gasses.

This was in the infancy of mixed gas diving. The point is also that if you've got a pony bottle mounted to a bracket on a single tank behind you, you'd better be sure you know which regulator is in your mouth.

 

[billgraham]

Another good one that I did, also deco gas but relevant: I had a single tank with an H-valve and a slung 30 with O-2. I got to my 20 foot stop and grabbed the O-2 reg with my free hand, pulled it out and the first stage (yoke) was just hanging there. Doh! Depressurized and fell off so I got rid of that the same week in favor of a din reg and valve.

 

[grantmac]

Serious question. If someone was interested in trying sidemount and already had regulators what would be the investment in gear enough to fly to a destination to use it?

Buying everything new maybe $800? But I'm into my latest setup for $200.
Just research anything you look at since some of it is junk.

 

[Angelo Farina]

i dont know any agencies who will let you dive with double in regard of obtaining a open water certification for recreational diving from 0 to 42m. If you know one let me know.

So in that sense no matter what, you need to go to some sort of technical diving in order to dive with double. (if i am wrong let me know but far as i am concern this how it goes).

In my case i did intro to cave diving both with IATD and NACD but didn't finish the full course will i did practice a lot after that with double.

I think padi offer the tech 40 course in order to use double. prerequisite is AOE if i am not wrong.


Personally i find that double are not for everyone anyway.. Unless you are very skills and complete diver.

No "agencies", but no profit organization, such as CMAS and BSAC, routinely use compact doubles for recreational diving, even at first level.
These organisations also teach "light deco" (no gas switching), within their recreational program, at 2nd or 3rd level.

 

[Angelo Farina]

The only real difference is twice the weight and gas. If your dive plan uses a lot of gas, there's little reason one cannot use doubles.

???
My single tank is a 15 liters Faber at 232 bars
My twin tanks are Technisub Aralu, 9+9 liters at 200 bars. Both tanks contain the same amount of gas (roughly 3600 liters) and weight almost the same.
The twin tank is more stable on your back and the trim is easier.
Twin tanks do not need to be very large, they are often small and compact..Here in Europe for rec diving currently the preferred size is 7+7 liters...
Only problem is that they are more expensive.
When I needed more air, I also used a pony: it is perfectly compatible with twin tanks, you attach it easily in the center of them.

 

[billgraham]

If you're looking to save money, this is the wrong sport, check out bird watching!

 

[jborg]

When I needed more air, I also used a pony: it is perfectly compatible with twin tanks, you attach it easily in the center of them.

I was 100% with you up until this point, given that I’m usually a double-7 diver. However, when you’re already diving doubles and find that you need more gas, that’s the point where a bigger double set is appropriate. The D12 being the standard for anything slightly deeper or more complicated than the usual rec dive.

(More gas than that and a stage, I guess it’s rebreather territory.)