Deco reg setups

[Jimmer]

I know the standard way is to use an SPG on a 6 inch hose, but aside from knowing that the cylinder is full, what is the point of having an SPG on a deco bottle? The way I look at it, if you haven't planned your gas properly, then what good is it going to do, to hang there on the line and watch yourself run out? Can anyone explain why an SPG on a deco bottle is that important?

 

[Diver0001]

I know the standard way is to use an SPG on a 6 inch hose, but aside from knowing that the cylinder is full, what is the point of having an SPG on a deco bottle? The way I look at it, if you haven't planned your gas properly, then what good is it going to do, to hang there on the line and watch yourself run out? Can anyone explain why an SPG on a deco bottle is that important?

1) you have to check the pressure before the dive. I guess you could do that with a separate pressure tester but doing so is somehow counter-intuitive (at least for me).

2) if, for some reason, you have to share deco-gas or you have a partial dump of your deco gas for any reason, it's a good idea to be able to monitor it so you can be ahead of the game in terms of working out your contingency.

3) if, for some reason, someone hands you off a deco/stage bottle it's nice to be able to check the pressure.

The main point being that while most of the time you don't look at it, there are situations where you might want to.

R..
P.S. oh. and the standard way to use the spg *on the internet* might be a 6 inch hose but hardly anyone I know actually does that. There are pros & cons for any setup but what's most common among my buddies (and what I use) is one of those little button type meters that screws right into the first stage. For me this works. YYMV

R..

 

[Jimmer]

P.S. oh. and the standard way to use the spg *on the internet* might be a 6 inch hose but hardly anyone I know actually does that. There are pros & cons for any setup but what's most common among my buddies (and what I use) is one of those little button type meters that screws right into the first stage. For me this works. YYMVR..

This is something I haven always wondered about. Seems to me that a button gauge would work fine to know if the cylinder is full, and to keep a check on it during the dive.

 

[Diver0001]

This is something I haven always wondered about. Seems to me that a button gauge would work fine to know if the cylinder is full, and to keep a check on it during the dive.

For many applications it does.

The DIR style, which to the best of my knowledge is where the 6 inch hose thing came from, has a different kind of context. Think about diving in cramped space with 2 or more stage bottles all slung on teh same side. In that context you might not be able to lift the stage bottle up to see what the spg says. Therefore, at least in that context, it makes your life easier to have a larger gauge prominently mounted...... and because it's DIR they want everyone to always do it the same way, even if it's effectively just a pony bottle.

I guess the main point is that you need to look at the context to understand the requirement.

R..

 

[Jimmer]

Well right now it would all be open lake diving, no issues reading my gauges, so I think I'll start off using the button gauge, and if I find it doesn't work, I'll switch over eventually. Thanks for the advice.

 

[texdiveguy]

I use a buttom gauge only on my 19cf rec pony bottle,,,,all my deco bottles have mid size gauges on 6" hoses.

 

[rjack321]

You have less than 100 dives and are considering a deco bottle???

 

[Jimmer]

I was wondering how long it would take someone to ask me that actually. I've been diving for 14 years and have several hundred, but I took about a 5 year break from diving to play baseball at the Provincial and National level, and when I got back into diving about a year and a half ago, I chose to consider myself as a newbie until I felt my skills came back. So those 80 odd dives I show on here are from the past year or so. Since my return to diving full time, I'm picked up rescue, and am working on my DM now, and have decided to start my tech training this year, since I feel my skills have caught up and exceeded where I left off, plus Lake Erie is in my backyard and I'm working on my shops boat all summer to help with my DM cert. so I figured I might as well get the training needed to enjoy those deeper wrecks we are around every weekend.

 

[texdiveguy]

Good luck on your training and persuit of tec level diving,,,,heck it must be nice with Lake Erie so close!!

 

[Jimmer]

Thanks, yeah it is quite nice, we have a fantastic selection of wrecks in our part of the lake. It just so happens where we run charters to is at the deepest part of Erie, so the vast majority of the really stellar wrecks are between 120 and 200 feet, with only a handful of really nice wrecks in less than 120, so I have plenty of incentive to get my training.