Making a homemade shallow water dive hookah

[dead dog]

The obvious, and safest method is as you say, to take a 3000psi tank, float it on the surface with a 1st stage regulator connected to a 2nd stage some distance away. That way, you have control over the gas you breathe - which is one of the challenges of a traditional remote compressor that is drawing air in from the surface.

Carry a small pony bottle for safety.

 

[happy-diver]

You can just about use any shop type air compressor pumping unit provided it is cleaned internally beforehand and a suitable oil is used.

this is a pretty dangerous statement

You missed this bit chief

Where it gets complicated and expensive is the other parts you may not be aware of. Breathing air hose, tema fittings for the hose, relief valve, water seperator, filtration unit, some kind of reciever

and you could perhaps expand your reference material to include oil filled breathing air pumps

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

A diaphragm style compressor would be the style appropriate for breathable air. Basically it’s a largish flexible reinforced round rubber diaphragm that has a chamber on each side. On one side you have the mechanics with the motor and an arm similar to a piston rod that is attached to one side of the diaphragm. It moves the diaphragm in and out on a cam. On the other side of the diaphragm you have the fresh air side chamber which includes two valves, and intake and exit valve. These are similar to the mushroom valves used in scuba second stage exhaust valves.
The diaphragm goes back and forth and air gets pumped through the fresh air chamber, pretty simple, no oil and the machine is just pumping regular unfiltered atmospheric air. The problem is it doesn’t remove water condensation and water will begin to accumulate in the low parts of the hookah hose if there is any humidity in the air.
I suppose some filtration could be figured out with some sort of sorb material the air gets pulled through and maybe a small condensation tank on the exit side, but this is getting fairly complicated.

 

[Nitrous]

I'm not a Chief.... I'm sure no disrespect meant, right?
I missed nothing. A filtration unit does not, in itself make a gas breathable.

If you know what you're talking about - you would agree with that.
You don't use an oil-lubricated compressor for breathable gases. (at least not the typical oil used in "virtually any compressor) If that's not a statement we can agree on - lets leave it at that.

(remember, the guy asking the question betrayed a pretty clear lack of basic understanding of these issues. And I would imagine that because he's asking, he's smarter than the average lurker reading these posts)

 

[Nitrous]

You missed this bit chief



and you could perhaps expand your reference material to include oil filled breathing air pumps

did you happen to read the original poster's question and the concerning lack of insight (he seemed to have) into risks associated with his "simple question?"

There are people reading these forums who come to the conclusion that "food grade" tubing is safe for breathing. And so, they're using clear vinyl tubing as their regulator hose.

 

[Waterwulf]

I took my first underwater breath in about 1968 or so with a Hookah rig. I had a garden hose taped to a snorkel mouthpiece running up to a big foot pump. I sat on the bottom holding onto to two cinder blocks while my Brother jumped up and down on the air pump. It worked pretty good until he got tired.

 

[Angelo Farina]

A complete commercial hookah system is not very expensive. See here:

I doubt that with a DIY approach you can save significantly.
And spending something more you get a full system, including battery and floating buoy: