???Future of Open Circuit Mixed Gas and Rebreather Diving???

[kensuf]

You can do the same while driving.

In one case your risking killing yourself, in the other yourself and someone else.

OK, I'll bite. How does having a beer while emptying a scrubber bucket and cleaning a loop cause death?

 

[kensuf]

Personally, that's my own opinion, is that I'd rather get the unit sorted out the day before I dive.

Take last week; a whole week of wreck diving to MOD2 depths. When the boat ties up, I'll get the box off to the drying room, remove the loop, open the case, remove the scrubbers and clean out the lungs with the cloths (Revo thinks of everything ;-)) then take them to my room so I can rinse them through. Then back down to the unit to cycle the scrubbers (dump and fill one scrubber) and generally stroke and fettle the unit, maybe charge the Nerd. Get the gas sorted if required (in reality this means doing 3 two plus hour dives on the gas I brought). Assemble the unit -- using the written checklists -- and make sure it's tucked up happily in bed for the night.

Then go for a beer.

Fettling and stroking the unit is all part of the diving. As it happened I had a few issues. A cell was getting out of specification so was changed. The drysuit inflator regulator (Apeks DS4) blew its OPV, so removed and cleaned the OPV just to discover the damn regulator's running a very high IP, so swapped the whole reg for a spare and marked it up.

Doing the fettling this way around means peace and love for the unit, and no grief the next day.

Except for changing the dryglove which had a small hole. Some Muppet managed to change the wrong glove, so ended up with two RH gloves, only discovered after kitting up and just before jumping! Unkit and change the correct glove over. Re-kit, then jump in for a lovely dive on the Pathfinder.

Rushing your build is a sure-fire way of causing the wrath of Hades to befall your unit whilst on the bottom.

And personally, aside from repacking a scrubber, I like to let my rebreather dry out between dive days. Clean the lung butter out, wash and rinse the loop and CL's, bring the head inside to dry. Re-assembly the next morning takes all of about 10 minutes.

 

[Wibble]

And personally, aside from repacking a scrubber, I like to let my rebreather dry out between dive days. Clean the lung butter out, wash and rinse the loop and CL's, bring the head inside to dry. Re-assembly the next morning takes all of about 10 minutes.

Absolutely. Just 10 minutes.

And no contingency for any issues? Do you get up early?

We obviously work in different ways. I'd much prefer to have a good night's sleep and no-hassle morning with simple tasks; abluting, eating breakfast, carrying stuff to the boat, tying the unit on. I don't want hassle.

 

[kensuf]

I'm up every morning by 6 whether I like it or not. But seriously, how long does it take to drop a scrubber in the can, put a head on, stereo check mushroom valves, put counterlungs back on, put loop on? That can all be done while drinking a cup of coffee.

 

[Wibble]

Absolutely. However some people prefer to have it all ready the night before so there's no trouble sleeping with that niggling worry about...

BTW I still use written checklists. It's a record of the cells, gasses, etc., and a reminder to not skip anything.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

OK, I'll bite. How does having a beer while emptying a scrubber bucket and cleaning a loop cause death?

You could accidentally fill your beer with sof and get a caustic cocktail! Or something. Yeah I dunno.

 

[kensuf]

Absolutely. However some people prefer to have it all ready the night before so there's no trouble sleeping with that niggling worry about...

BTW I still use written checklists. It's a record of the cells, gasses, etc., and a reminder to not skip anything.

Written checklists are great. They also help keep you straight if someone comes up and talks/distracts you while you're doing a build.

Unfortunately, I've seen units fail pos/negative because of something that happened in transport, and cells fail after spending a night in a high O2 environment so I'm going to spend some time each morning before the dive regardless. My pre-splash includes Pos/Negs, O2 cell linearity/calibrate, battery and pre-breath checks. Adding ~10 minutes for basic loop assembly doesn't add a significant amount of additional time to that process; backplate, wing, and cylinders are something that can be left attached the night before.

To bring this back full circle, if having a beer while analyzing two 3L cylinders and putting them on a rebreather, and cleaning a loop to let it hang and dry is something that is going to cause someone problems then I'm not sure what to say.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

Unfortunately, I've seen units fail pos/negative because of something that happened in transport, and cells fail after spending a night in a high O2 environment

Transport: yeah, **** happens, you could take a massive digger on your way down the beach and murder your unit too.
Cells: I'm not sure if its just me but I usually purge my dil into the loop after pre-breathing the night before and bring it down to around ambient. I mean the cells work by consuming O2, and I've always heard it's not great to leave them in an O2 rich environment. Sooooo

 

[rddvet]

OK, I'll bite. How does having a beer while emptying a scrubber bucket and cleaning a loop cause death?

This is why.

 

[inquis]

You could accidentally fill your beer with sof and get a caustic cocktail!

You should ALWAYS have access to a bailout bottle.