Pony as a replacement for shore side oxygen tank.

[davehicks]

When I shore dive, I always have an O2 kit in the car.

I also always carry a pony bottle. I've mostly used 30cf or 40cf (5.8l) with 21% or 32%. This will be far more useful than carrying 100% O2 and help avoid a situation where you need O2. For example, one possible cause of DCS is surfacing too soon or too fast as a result of an out of air situation. Having a redundant air supply may give you a safe exit from the situation.

 

[SlugLife]

When I shore dive, I always have an O2 kit in the car.

I also always carry a pony bottle. I've mostly used 30cf or 40cf (5.8l) with 21% or 32%. This will be far more useful than carrying 100% O2 and help avoid a situation where you need O2. For example, one possible cause of DCS is surfacing too soon or too fast as a result of an out of air situation. Having a redundant air supply may give you a safe exit from the situation.

IMO, this is what makes the most sense. That is why I left that comment about redundancy. If you ask "how do you end up needing O2 in the first place" and "what could have helped you avoid that?" in most scenarios, having redundant-air is perhaps the #1 or #2 most effective and reliable forms of "dive-insurance" one can have. (#1 = avoiding dangerous behavior)

When we get to talking about having an O2-bottle on your person as you dive, that's a little unusual (outside technical-diving). There are reasons why that's uncommon, and it's not lazy-divers. The two biggest problems I see are:

• Anything you carry on a dive, can be it's own kind of hazard. Being a Christmas tree diver with 12 DSMBs, 11 Pony Bottles, 10 cutting devices, 8 flashlights, 7 backup masks... At some point all that stuff actually gets in your way, becomes an entanglement hazard, and makes it more difficult to find the thing you're looking for and actually need to find quickly in an emergency, or even physically gets in your way as you try to rescue someone.
• Pure-O2 underwater is it's own kind of hazard. Divers have accidentally grabbed a regulator with Pure-O2 and died as a result. Maybe you think that can't happen. (a) A dive-buddy could grab it in an OOA or (b) I've experienced massive quantities of bubbles in my face due to a regulator-failure, and it made even normal actions very challenging.

Until you take a course that actually has you carrying pure-O2 underwater, I really wouldn't do it. Furthermore, a pony-bottle of redundant air on your person, IMO, would be far more useful in far more situations, than an O2 bottle. For example, low-air or OOA, buddy-OOA, or an entanglement.

To use an analogy, it's like having jaws-of-life in your back-seat, but letting your car-tiers and brakes run bald. I get the point of having rescue-equipment, but maybe we can greatly reduce the likelihood of having an accident in the first place.

 

[BlueTrin]

Hi
Is it a legal obligation?
I thought that diving outside clubs or shops in France was free of any obligation and that you don't even need a diving licence-card...
Thanks

I think he’s saying that the club will not be convered by the organisation insurance if they didn’t meet the safety requirements in case of accident.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have never had oxygen immediately available for my diving, except when I dove the Warm Mineeral Springs Underwater Archaeological Project in 1975. All my diving is no-decompression sport diving. If something happened where oxygen is needed, a call to 911 would bring it fairly quickly.

I am surprised that decompression diving has become so prevalent and popular. My thoughts there is that emergency procedures, including immediate transport to a recompression facility, is necessary for this specialized type of diving. In the early days of decompression diving by the Cousteau divers, they usually had a recompression chamber immediately available on the Calypso. Decompression diving without a recompression chamber immediately available is risky.

Concerning using a scuba cylinder with a regulator filled with 100% oxygen, realize that this would only work if the person was conscious. An unconscious person would need someone there to push the purge button for each breath. The 15 liter/minute output guarantees 100% oxygen is administered via breathing mask.

SeaRat

 

[Roy_W]

Ok I went diving this morning and was able to talk to many more divers in our club, I now wish that I hadn't spoke to the 1st group that I spoke to..

To cut a long story short, it now seems as though the majority actually dive in the following conditions :

1 : They ONLY dive near a club site that has oxygen close to the site in the club house or in an accessible spot. One local dive site has a small cabin that is permanently locked but the key is stored in a little box nearby, same principal as a fire alarm. Anyone can use it at any time.

2 : 2 other teams that I spoke to actually do have an o2 bottle in their vehicles with the appropriate volumetric valves and masks. One of them showed me their tank in order that he could prove he was serious...

So I thank you for your replies which definitely correspond to the what is actually happening rather than what I was informed was happening...

I was informed that I should be looking for something like this

O2 security tank

It's a 6L / 230bar tank with the necessary attachments that can be transported and left in the car as many of you mentioned.. So this should provide plenty of time until the emergency services arrive or to get a diver to the nearest chamber.

If nothing else it now clears my mind as to how I will proceed.. I will now forget the idea of the o2 Pony being taken on the dive.