Hawaii & rebreathers ?

[zoezione]

Hi everybody,

Is anyone could tell me if it's really dangerous to dive with a rebreather. I read different articles on this issue but it's difficult to have a clear and fair opinion on it.

Thank you for your answers !

Laurent

 

[sunkmail]

That's a big question!

I would seggest reading up at Rebreather World - Rebreathers for Scuba Diving - the next step - it has a lot of info, most of it fairly accurate. Just keep your BS radar running for some of it.

What part of canada are you in?

I'd be happy to give you as unbiased an opionionn as I can about CCRs, if your interested. I've been diving one for over a year and am full trimix certified.

PM me if you're interested.

S

 

[smellzlikefish]

Hey Zoe,

I know a lot of people who have logged many hundreds of hours on rebreathers and have been fine. I have also heard the stories of untrained people dying because they didn't know the equipment. As one instructor tells it, the different between SCUBA and rebreathers is like the difference between driving a car and flying a plane. Flying a plane (rebreathers) is all about the instrumentation. When you are driving a car (SCUBA) you hear the flat tire or feel the brakes breaking down and can pull over and fix them. On a rebreather, you may not feel something go wrong until you are dead.

 

[Garrobo]

A quality rebreather, maintained correctly, and a qualified rebreather-diver equals a safe environment for diving. Minus any of these factors could result in an untimely death.

 

[Thalassamania]

A quality rebreather, maintained correctly, and a qualified rebreather-diver equals a safe environment for diving. Minus any of these factors could result in an untimely death.

I find that a bit Pollyanna, there have been well qualified divers who used quality rebreathers that were maintained correctly who still bought the farm. All things being equal rebreathers have a higher level of risk that open circuit and closed circuit rebreathers have more risk than semi-closed. But things are changing. I'm very impressed with the latest generation of gear, they are very different from the older rebreathers that many of us grew up on and still base our gut feelings on.

 

[smellzlikefish]

Rebreathers are also much more experimental. If you are worried about the risk, give the industry 5-10 years to catch up with the technology. There is a new model being developed by Dr. Rich Pyle in Hawaii that he claims will be considerable step in that direction. It utilizes two oxygen sensors instead of three. When you have three sensors, you can figure out which is working based on voting logic. The problem arises when you lose two sensors simultaneously, which he claims has happened to him before. In the case of his rebreather, however, one is hit with a known percentage of oxygen every so often. If you get a discrepancy between the two and the known sensor is reading the known gas correctly, you know its the other sensor. Anyway, if its not on the market yet, it will be in the next year.