Had my Gemini for about 9 months now, recently completed MOD2. I've had a persistent issue with WOB when doing more than one dive on the same exhale scrubber. If I do, say, a 90 min dive on two fresh scrubbers, WOB is always great. Even at the end of a normal dive, it is still breathing beautifully. If I then leave the unit untouched for 24 hours and then do a pre breathe on it, the WOB often becomes noticeably worse to an unacceptable level.
On one of my MOD2 training dives that involved bailout practice, the WOB deteriorated when I went back on the loop. I suspect this was because the water you get trapped in the mouthpiece when you put the loop back in your mouth, affected the lime. Water getting in through the dump valve when I was dumping gas from the lung, was probably also a factor. At the end of a normal dive, there's normally a bit of water that can be drained from the dump valve on the lung. Is this to be expected?
If I bin the exhale scrubber and rotate the inhale scrubber to the exhale side, it fixes the problem but it also means I'm getting through a lot of lime as I'd like to get at least 2h 30m runtime before I bin the exhale lime. My suspicion is that the exhale scrubber is getting overly damp, as since there is no water trap, any saliva, water ingress from the mouthpiece, condensation from your breath, inevitably finds itself in the exhale scrubber.
At the moment, I leave the scrubbers in the unit between dives as I normally dive a couple of times a week. There isn't anything I can do about the design of the unit, but what do you suggest I try to fix the problem? Is it worth removing the offending scrubber after a dive, and leaving it to stand in my apartment for a day or two to let it dry? Putting it in a sealed container with silica gel, in an attempt to draw out the moisture? Tipping out the lime into a tray and letting it dry in the window for an hour or two before repacking it in the canister?
On one of my MOD2 training dives that involved bailout practice, the WOB deteriorated when I went back on the loop. I suspect this was because the water you get trapped in the mouthpiece when you put the loop back in your mouth, affected the lime. Water getting in through the dump valve when I was dumping gas from the lung, was probably also a factor. At the end of a normal dive, there's normally a bit of water that can be drained from the dump valve on the lung. Is this to be expected?
If I bin the exhale scrubber and rotate the inhale scrubber to the exhale side, it fixes the problem but it also means I'm getting through a lot of lime as I'd like to get at least 2h 30m runtime before I bin the exhale lime. My suspicion is that the exhale scrubber is getting overly damp, as since there is no water trap, any saliva, water ingress from the mouthpiece, condensation from your breath, inevitably finds itself in the exhale scrubber.
At the moment, I leave the scrubbers in the unit between dives as I normally dive a couple of times a week. There isn't anything I can do about the design of the unit, but what do you suggest I try to fix the problem? Is it worth removing the offending scrubber after a dive, and leaving it to stand in my apartment for a day or two to let it dry? Putting it in a sealed container with silica gel, in an attempt to draw out the moisture? Tipping out the lime into a tray and letting it dry in the window for an hour or two before repacking it in the canister?
