Hookah's first stage, what is different in it?

[Texasguy]

Does anyone know how hookah's first stages differ from regular ones used under the surface?

 

[BRT]

Does anyone know how hookah's first stages differ from regular ones used under the surface?

Are you talking about a first stage or the stage you breath out of? Hookahs only use the second stage. Air pressure is already at a low enough pressure for that.

 

[iain/hsm]

Does anyone know how hookah's first stages differ from regular ones used under the surface?

Yes, but first It depends on what you intend smoking in it.
Used under the surface it adds tremendously to the cooling.
But be careful only to get the cooling hose component (or Bong) wet and not it's contents.

 

[Texasguy]

Hookahs only use the second stage.

So, do you feed 3000psi to the second stage? Interesting, I'll be right back.

[joke]

Are you talking about a first stage or the stage you breath out of?

Yes, the first stage. The dry first stage vs a first stage scuba divers normally use under the surface.

 

[iain/hsm]

If your requirement is surface supplied scuba its a slightly different approach.
From a safety standpoint the critical component is a non return valve in the air umbilical
fitted at the divers mouthpiece 2nd stage end. This saves you from a presure vacuum injury
in the event of a hose burst at the surface especially when your 60 foot down.

If your air supply is from a HP cylinder/s and you intend using a scuba 1st stage to reduce the flow
then depending on the depth you intend to dive umbilical attached then you may consider having to use
an industrial hand adjustable regulator and high flow if you require deeper dives.

If not and your mosly shallow then the average scuba 1st stage regulator has a discharge pressure of around 140 psi.
Normally as you decend the pressure (relevent to atmospheric) increases as you decend. However as its suface supplied its now tied off on the deck and it cannot (sense) the increase in water columb pressure as you dive and delivers only 140 psi (relevent to atmospheric) regardless of your swimming about.

Further on the second stage (the demand valve) part this component requires a "drive pressure" to operate and deliver your air (on demand) as you dive the flow is reduced and the inhalation effort increases. To overcome this a weaker spring can be substituted in the second stage if you know what your doing, failing that a 2nd stage with a dial a breath adjusting knob helps a little or the real alternative is to crank the drive pressure up on the suface pressure reducing regulator (or as in your case the 1st stage regulator) as you dive deeper and that requires someone on deck who knows the difference between turning the knob right hand to increase pressure and turning left hand to decrease the pressure. So your wife or girlfriend is out of the question for that task.

From here on the choice of direction is dependant on how deep you intend diving.
0-30 FSW a scuba 1st Stage
0-60 FSW you need to increase the drive pressure
0-100 FSW you need a small industrial hand crank regulator high flow
0-165 FSW you need a larger two stage hand crank regulator and a 3/8" bore umbilical

But there are still a number of other options

 

[BRT]

So, do you feed 3000psi to the second stage? Interesting, I'll be right back.

[joke]



Yes, the first stage. The dry first stage vs a first stage scuba divers normally use under the surface.

Hookah Diving System

This is typically what is known as a Hookah

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Hookah Diving System

This is typically what is known as a Hookah

Interesting that you now need proof of certification in order to buy a hookah system.

 

[Texasguy]

Hookah Diving System

This is typically what is known as a Hookah

Hookah Systems - ALL SCUBA GEAR

 

[Ghost95]

I don'k know about the exact regulator that you're talking about but a standard first stage works fine. I don't think there is really a difference. You can make your own hookah setup by replacing your 36" second stage hose with a 30' hose and leaving your tank on the boat/float/dock or wherever.

 

[halocline]

Hookah Systems - ALL SCUBA GEAR

That set up you linked to has a 25' hose, meaning you're never going to be more than around 20ft in depth. At that depth the pressure is about 2/3 bar (10 PSI?) more than at the surface, so the relative drop in IP would be about 10 PSI. Since unbalanced piston 1st stages drop at least 10 PSI from 3000 to 500 PSI tank pressure, and they work absolutely fine, my guess (this is all a guess as I've never done any hookah or snuba diving) is that you just don't notice much difference in breathing on the surface or at 20 ft. I'm sure these things are not high performance regs to begin with.

Now, I suspect you asked this question because you want to know if you could just stick a 25' hose on a normal regulator and use it for snuba, is that correct? I don't see any major problems with that, although I would use an unbalanced piston 1st and unbalanced 2nd because you won't be carrying a SPG, and the unbalanced system will start to get harder to breathe as you get close to empty, so you'll have enough warning to surface slowly.

And I would give some thought to the idea of a check valve at the hose-2nd stage connection as suggested by an earlier response. If there was a big leak in the hose at the surface, I could see some serious suction being created.