Emergency O2 When Diving On Your Own

[t-mac]

I've asked DAN about this and some other folks, but haven't posted here before and I'm curious what people think because I don't really have any satisfactory solutions.

My wife and like to sail and dive. We will fly somewhere, charter a sailboat and use it as a platform to dive on our own. We are pretty conservative, staying well within NDLs and never go below 60ft or so when we do this. If we want to be more adventurous, we'll find a local charter and do a dive or two with them. We have a full complement of safety equipment, first aid, etc., but one thing I have not yet figured out is emergency O2. It's not really something you can rent from a local dive shop. Gee, do you mind if I run off with your emergency O2 for a week or two?! The only thing DAN was able to tell me is that perhaps I could carry an empty tank on the plane and then have it refilled locally. My instructor suggested that we could seek out local tec shops and rent stage cylinders with 100% O2 from them, but I have no tec certs and I'm not sure what it would take to get a local shop to do this. Some kind of tec cert? Advanced O2 provider?

Has anyone else out there dealt with this? Obviously there isn't enough demand for this type of thing for a rental business to grow up around it.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Tom

 

[Teller]

If you take O2 provider it qualifies you to get O2 fills for first aid but it maybe hard to get fills out of town. You would need to probaly call ahead. Taking advance nitrox qualifies you to get O2 in a scuba cylinder. The only downside I would see about using the stage full of O2 for first aid is I am not sure if you can use a demand valve with it. Basically the injured diver would have to breath from a normal regulator. I dont think its a deal breaker though. I have seen divers sucking on deco gas on their tailgates after dives before. Same concept.

 

[Rhone Man]

Anyone can buy a O2 kit for use on the surface - you can buy them over the counter - but if you are travelling you would need to drain it down and get it refilled at your destination.

I have never heard of anyone renting O2 kites locally, but I am sure you could probably talk a local dive operator into renting you one if necessary. I am guessing that you would, ahem, have to pay a premium.

 

[t-mac]

Thanks. If I travel with my own kit, I obviously have to empty the bottle and according to TSA, it needs to travel with the valve removed. Even if I find a willing shop on the other end to fill it, wouldn't they be concerned about its compatibility with 100% O2 after that? Wouldn't it need to be cleaned now? Regarding using a 100% O2 stage, yeah, it would have to be a normal regulator, but from the incidents I've read about most of them seem to leave the diver in a condition to do this. We are very conservative when alone, so needing this is highly unlikely, and if it was needed it would be only for mild DCS where the demand valve is not an issue.

 

[knotical]

Another route, with its own set of trade-offs, is oxygen concentrators.

 

[ianr33]

My instructor suggested that we could seek out local tec shops and rent stage cylinders with 100% O2 from them, but I have no tec certs and I'm not sure what it would take to get a local shop to do this. Some kind of tec cert? Advanced O2 provider?

The Advanced Nitrox course gets you a card good for 100% O2. Typically done with doubles and involves a modest amount of deco.

Tec shops are not that common in the Caribbean,probably even less so in the Pacific, even with a card you might still have a hard time finding someone with 100% O2.

Another thing to think about is that an Al 80 full of O2 (larger than most O2 deco tanks) will only give you around 3 hours of O2 on the surface. Better than nothing to be sure,but not that much help if you are days away from a chamber.

I will often take an extra O2 tank as a First Aid Kit on local dives.

 

[Bob DBF]

If you are just looking for surface emergency O2 you might check around for hospital suppliers. I don't know all the ins and outs, especially in a foriegn land, but here, when it was necessary for my Mother in Law, it was delivered and I got a 15 minute checkout on it's use and I was an instant O2 provider. Also I like the small bottles, the smaller the bottle the smaller the problem if the s**t hit the fan.


Bob
--------------------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[Dive-aholic]

If you take O2 provider it qualifies you to get O2 fills for first aid but it maybe hard to get fills out of town. You would need to probaly call ahead. Taking advance nitrox qualifies you to get O2 in a scuba cylinder. The only downside I would see about using the stage full of O2 for first aid is I am not sure if you can use a demand valve with it. Basically the injured diver would have to breath froma regulat a normal regulator. I dont think its a deal breaker though. I have seen divers sucking on deco gas on their tailgates after dives before. Same concept.

A medical regulator can be configured to fit on a scuba valve. It just takes a few extra parts.

 

[Griffo]

Check out this link for the "Rescue EAN" device. (http://www.rescuean.com)

It connects to a scuba reg via LP hose. So you could just rent a scuba O2 cylinder and use a standard O2 clean 1st stage. Looks pretty portable too

 

[DevonDiver]

For surface oxygen, just forget about 'advanced nitrox' qualifications etc. Buy an appropriately sized bottle from a medical supplier, along with a medical regulator. Constant flow systems are very cheap and easy to use.

A medical O2 regulator will cost about $40.

Ali cylinder...about the same cost as a similar sized scuba cylinder (can get cheaper/heavier ones). Luxfer even make them.

Non-rebreather delivery mask with tubing is about $5

If you're thinking about equipping O2 onto your yacht, then constant flow is fine... just get a cylinder big enough to ensure you can get to medical attention before it runs out.

Before I moved to Asia, I used to keep a 10L O2 cylinder in my house. I never got bent then... but the supply was great for sunday morning hangovers