Pony for Dry Suit only... Thoughts?

[rhwestfall]

I'm new on the board, and I am sorry if this has been talked about, but I did a quick search, and didn't come up with anything. And if it needs to be elsewhere, then feel free to move it.

So, knowing that my pony bottle really isn't likely enough to really use as an adequate quantity for a deep out of air situation (hey, gifts are gifts), and knowing I could benefit from less air used for my BC/Dry Suit, what are the thoughts out there of using a dedicated pony for the suit?

Purely recreational diving scenarios, not caves or wreck penetrations.

Interestingly enough I could still rig it with a regulator, but I likely need to do some homework on how much air I use on a typicl dive for the suit.....

Thanks for your thoughts/experiences.

Bob

 

[Elvistheking]

Search for argon bottle or suit inflate bottle, divers using trimix (with Helium in) use them as Helium is not a very good insulator, so don't want to use there "back gas" for suit inflate. (BTW very few Argon bottle see anything but air)

 

[String]

Worthless. The amount of air used filling a drysuit on a dive is absolutely tiny. 4 or 5 breaths of air on a dive and thats it.
That would likely be cancelled out by slightly increased air consumption carrying the extra mass of a tank and regulator.
Also if its a first stage with inflation only you'll need an overpressure release valve in gas the first stage IP goes nuts to prevent uncontrolled inflation.

Regarding Argon its one of those things that in theory has a benefit but in reality any benefit is so small its unlikely to have a real world effect on a real world human body so probably not worth the effort. Most people just use air in a suit inflate or run the suit off their stages instead (thats what i do) when diving trimix.

 

[Slamfire]

I agree with what String says above. Most people around here try argon once or twice and then go back to using air in their inflation bottles. I know of one commercial diver around here that routinely uses argon for long/deep/specialized dives. All other divers I know around here use air for tech (non-commercial) or rec dives.

I am beginning to try right rich, left lean and doing some practice dives in that configuration. With this configuration you route your suit inflation from the leanest non-helium mix, the tank slung on your left (if you're slinging 2 tanks). The advantage here is that you do not have to buy/carry one additional tank with an additional first stage and opv valve. All you need is to put an inflator hose in your existing stage reg. In my limited experience from practice dives I found no problems with this configuration. Though I would like to get a shorter inflator hose. It seems that the standard length hose is a bit too long.

For purely recreational scenarios with no helium involved, I really do not see the point of having dedicated suit inflation. There are no gas savings because suit requirements are very minimal. The point of dedicated suit inflation is to avoid getting cold by using your expensive thermally conductive helium gas to inflate your suit. If you do not use helium, then there is no point in adding extra equipment and complexity.

Still if you want to see some of the equipment available here are a couple of links:

Drysuits & Accessories - Argon Systems - Northeast Scuba Supply

Highland Dry Suit Inflation Kit

 

[warmwaterturner]

This is exactly how and why I have a pony. I was able to get the bracket, bottle and first stage - used for $120.00. I put a less expensive second stage on it just as a back up should ever one be needed. I seem to be using about 500lbs at about 50' during a 45 to 50 minute dive. I should note that I am fairly new to dry suit diving - so I am still playing with the whole suit inflation thing.

 

[waterpirate]

Before I threw away my single tanks, what you ask is how you can dive your doubles reg sets with a single tank w/pony. Left post reg set becomes pony reg set consisting of back-up reg and dry suit inflation. It simplified my post dive gear check list.
Eric

 

[TSandM]

A lot of PNW divers use Argon as suit inflation gas. The data are soft, but there is some evidence that it helps, and placebo effect or not, I'M convinced it makes a difference.

If you have a small bottle (6 cf is great, 14 is getting klunky) and a first stage, there is no reason NOT to use it for suit inflation, if you want. It gives you a little extra redundancy at the cost of more weight and complexity (and an argon bottle, reg or strap is one more thing you can forget when you are packing for a dive). If you DO set up your bottle to do this, make sure there is some kind of OPV on the regulator -- you do NOT want an IP increase in the first stage to cause the contents of the bottle to blow out into your suit.

I don't think you'll notice the change in gas consumption, though. I can use a 6 cf Argon bottle for two deep or three shallower dives and not empty it.

 

[LenC]

The only time I would use a bottle specifically for my suit is if I was using a CCR or diving trimix. The debate goes on about argon, but I personally found it made little difference and was not worth the cost. I know others who feel it is, so that is something you need to decide for yourself.

 

[String]

For any effect at all with argon the suit must be completely filled (to the point of overpressure) before the dive to remove the air otherwise dilution makes it worthless.
Even after that its debatable whether theres a difference. Personally i haven't noticed any difference at all so dont bother with it. Trimix diving now i just feed it off my leanest non-helium stage (usually a 50%).

 

[Elvistheking]

Even after that its debatable whether theres a difference. Personally i haven't noticed any difference at all so dont bother with it. Trimix diving now i just feed it off my leanest non-helium stage (usually a 50%).

I thought about that but as my leanest stage is likely to be 80%, the worry that there might be a suit fire (however unlikely that is) just put me off, my drysuit still smells of what I would imagine to be quite flammable glue and with a dive to say 40m a ppO2 of 3.2bar just seems like asking for trouble to me.

Hence suit inflate.


EDIT: I just had another thought (2 in one day) presumably this means do the dive with the the cylinder turned on, not sure that's such a good idea from the POV of having a reg turned on with an unbreathable gas for the depth.