Do I want a Spare Air

[CHSDiver]

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?

 

[BrackaFish]

No, not really. I believe SpareAir was originally developed to aid helicopter pilots that had to ditch their craft in water. It doesn’t have enough gas to safely bring you up from those depths. You would be better off carrying a 13 or 19 cuft tank IMHO or get better dive buddies.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

No, the Spare Air is not a good option for diving to 70-90 feet. It has a capacity of 3 cubic feet of air, which is not nearly enough to handle an emergency.

You need time to figure out/solve the problem, get your buddy's attention, ascend at a safe rate, and make a safety stop (in an ideal world). Some people breathe more than 1.5 cuft/min (1 ATA) under stress. Three cubic feet is definitely not enough to get you to the surface from almost 4 ATA.

Consider getting a 19 cuft or a 30 cuft pony bottle with a dedicated regulator. These tanks are fairly inexpensive, light, small, easy to swim with, and have enough air for a safe ascent from recreational depths.

 

[bletso]

No, get a pony bottle, i.e. 13cf or 19 cf It will give you more than enough time to get out of a situation in a calm, timely manner, not OH s... I have to get out of here moment.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Kevin Donlon

This topic has been discussed many times on SB. You could find some of these discussions by using search

You could probably not do a normal ascent from 90 ft on a 3 cu ft Spare Air, especially with increased gas consumption in an emergency. Do the math, calculate your gas needs for an ascent from various depths, at various speeds. That being said, some gas is better than no gas.

Most divers who are serious about having a redundant gas supply, choose a pony of appropriate size

 

[Divin'Papaw]

No.

Equipment failures at depth are incredibly uncommon. In my 600 dives I've seen or been involved with 3 out of air situations. All were man-made and not due to equipment failure. They were the result of divers (not myself!) that simply did not monitor their gas supply.

I do alot of solo diving and when solo I almost always carry an adequate pony bottle. For me that is an AL40. The only exception is when diving very shallow (20' or less) where surfacing in an emergency is easy and of very low risk. When diving with a competent buddy I typically forego the pony bottle as my buddy is my backup air source in case of a failure.

 

[tbone1004]

short answer no.
long answer, you don't want a pony bottle either. You want to plan your dive properly so you don't have to worry about such things.
If you are not going to want to rely on a buddy, then there are other options out there for proper redundant air, but I don't think pony bottles are the answer and a spare air certainly isn't.

 

[divad]

The only person I know who owns one keeps it in his helicopter. (non-diver)

 

[rhwestfall]

They do have a use outside of helicopters. They are useful at the launch ramp if you forget to set the parking brake....

 

[wstorms]

Like everybody so far, I would advise against getting a spare air for your wishes. For a similar amount of money, you can get a serious alternate air source (40 or even 80 cuft stage for example, with proper rigging and dedicated regulator) that can be used for more serious diving in the future (think self reliant / solo diving, tec diving etc.
40 cuft might seem excessive now, but under water you don't really notice it, provides more than enough gas to get you out of trouble and can even be used for some (entry level) tec dives.