It finally happened - my CCR tried to kill me

[rjack321]

I don't necessarily agree with this. I've got no issue recognizing a problem bailing out, mentally going through the list of causes, and if I feel it safe attempting to go back on the loop.

Think about this. Unless the original cause is 100% rectified "oh crap my dil rolled off, no worries its on now and I'm fine" don't go diving a compromised machine. If you wouldn't get in the water with the broken thing, then you are almost always going to be safer bailing out. The numbers of divers dying on OC bailout is infinitesimally small. The numbers dying on a broken, leaking, problematic CCR is basically all of them that aren't medical issues.

Plus chances are very good (Stewart's case is a good one) that what you think the cause is and what the actual problem is are not the same. And that the unit is in worse condition than you realize - not better. There is an internet "advanced" CCR culture of staying on or trying to stay on the loop and its killing people. Bring more BO, bring the right gases for the dive, and don't be afraid to use them to stay alive and dive another day.

 

[wedivebc]

I don't necessarily agree with this. I've got no issue recognizing a problem bailing out, mentally going through the list of causes, and if I feel it safe attempting to go back on the loop.

.

At about 45 minutes in, I felt like it wasn't breathing right, but I wasn't sure if that was just in my head or not. I switched to BO and obviously that felt much better. I went back on the loop and it was the same, but I stayed on it

My post was responding to this comment. Do you still feel you don't agree with me?

 

[rddvet]

Think about this. Unless the original cause is 100% rectified "oh crap my dil rolled off, no worries its on now and I'm fine" don't go diving a compromised machine. If you wouldn't get in the water with the broken thing, then you are almost always going to be safer bailing out. The numbers of divers dying on OC bailout is infinitesimally small. The numbers dying on a broken, leaking, problematic CCR is basically all of them that aren't medical issues.

Plus chances are very good (Stewart's case is a good one) that what you think the cause is and what the actual problem is are not the same. And that the unit is in worse condition than you realize - not better. There is an internet "advanced" CCR culture of staying on or trying to stay on the loop and its killing people. Bring more BO, bring the right gases for the dive, and don't be afraid to use them to stay alive and dive another day.

My post was responding to this comment. Do you still feel you don't agree with me?

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear enough. I was generalizing that it's not always a bad choice to go back on the loop. In the context of Stuart's high WOB, yes agree it's not a good choice. My thoughts weren't properly reflected in what I wrote

 

[OceanEyes]

Are you currently still in Pompano? Maybe you should hook up with Alec Hutchinson for a day or two, he lives and teaches in Boca and is a Revo instructor and is a guy I would send my children to (if I had children) for revo training.

What he said. Another vote of confidence for Alec.

 

[stuartv]

Are you currently still in Pompano? Maybe you should hook up with Alec Hutchinson for a day or two, he lives and teaches in Boca and is a Revo instructor and is a guy I would send my children to (if I had children) for revo training.

I'm home now. But, I have already been talking to Alec about doing my MOD2, as my original instructor has not been able to schedule me.

I met up with Alec while I was there because my rEvo battery box was flooded, which I discovered when I first arrived. He was able to get me a replacement part the next morning. He was awesome! Though I will say that your endorsement definitely elevates him even more, in my eyes.

 

[Dusty123]

how did that flood?

 

[Wibble]

Note on bailout on decompression dives... whilst a deco bailout is good, it's not always needed, especially on moderate depths. What is needed is a safe amount of bailout sufficient to get you to the surface with plenty to spare and within your max dive time. Or proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.

 

[stuartv]

how did that flood?

I don't know. I talked to my rEvo tech and he could only speculate that I got something on the O-rings the last time I changed the 9V battery. My last dive prior to this FL trip was 4 weeks prior. I only did about an hour then, and then it sat for 4 weeks. It was working fine during the dive, so I had no idea it had flooded.

 

[Divermikey]

To all of you that have taken the time to post in this thread, I thank you. Both for your contribution and for keeping things so civil.

I felt like I learned a lot from what happened. I feel like I have learned even more from this discussion. I will definitely be doing some things differently in the future.

Thank you for sharing. I, like most of us enjoy reading and learning.
Also, rEvo does make a spacer that clips on the battery box to space it out a little, R593 part number i believe. its not perfect, but with a rubber band around the all-thread post it does help.
Very glad you are OK.

 

[Divermikey]

I hope @Dsix36 pipes in as he has a lot of hours on the Revo.

My takes on this. Lady Luck is a ~100ft wreck and I don't disagree with 18/45 as a bailout gas if it was also dil, but would probably have used 30/30. Either way if you had planned deco a 40 of O2 or 50% would probably have been a good idea, but low priority.

Staying on the loop matters in a cave, and it matters when you are doing deep expedition/project diving where you really don't want to bail out if you don't have to due to limited filling resources. For normal open water diving, it's not a priority to figure out and you haven't been trained on what to do to stay on the loop yet, so I'd hold out on that.

I disagree that positive and negative checks won't ID small leaks. They can and will, but ONLY if you have an ambient pressure sensor. Thankfully your unit has 5 of them, and normal rebreathers have 3. When you do your positive and negative checks, watch the mV or ppO2 and you can see what the internal pressure is doing. I bet that it would have caught that leak, small though it was. I would recommend adding that in to your pre dive checklist

T Bone, I always read what you post. Thank you for all the info that I have learned from your unselfish posts and replys to posts. I will definitly ad the Millivolt check on the Petrel to my positive and negative checks to my machine.