Rebreather incident vid

[ScubaFreak]

interesting rebreather incident clip.

What do other rebreather divers think of the technique that caused the problem?

sf

CO2: The rebreather incident

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

This has been widely discussed in several places. Run a search, and you will see the details of the discussions.

In short, the diver was taking used scrubber material, mixing it into fresh material, and then putting this into his rebreather for use in diving. You see the result.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

ditto what Howard (ScubaDadMiami) said. He was taught in Britain to repack his scrubber with partially used sodasorb material. They showed the video at the DAN Tech Diving Conference in January.

 

[ScubaFreak]

apologies,

i'm not hugely aware of rebreather info/updates etc.

Thanks!

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

No apologies needed. It was a great video example of a CO2 hit. It would be great for all CCR students to see.

Doug

 

[SparticleBrane]

They showed the video at the DAN Tech Diving Conference in January.

What did you think about that other video they showed?

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

SparticleBrane:

Do you mean the guy who switched to the wrong gas on deco and got an O2 hit? I know it was an accidental filming by someone else on the line (so it wasn't framed well or focused well) but I really didn't find it all that informative. Just my 2 cents. Did you have a different opinion?

Great conference though. I really enjoyed it and look forward to future ones.

Doug

 

[SparticleBrane]

SparticleBrane:

Do you mean the guy who switched to the wrong gas on deco and got an O2 hit? I know it was an accidental filming by someone else on the line (so it wasn't framed well or focused well) but I really didn't find it all that informative. Just my 2 cents. Did you have a different opinion?

Great conference though. I really enjoyed it and look forward to future ones.

Doug

That's the one.

Honestly, I knew exactly what was coming when the narrator said "...and our procedure is to use the rich gas on the right and the lean gas on the left..."

I don't know who the diver was, but he was doing a solo dive on the Monitor to what...220ft to the bow to get some photos? There's a very small contingent of people I'd trust to properly execute a dive like that. When he was dropping down he was bicycle-kicking and waving his arms about like crazy (looked like an OW student). Then, because he was futzing with the camera, he switched to O2 at his 70ft stop instead of 50%.

I thought it was amusing that many people at the conference were very anti-GUE, yet...the standard GUE gas-switching procedure would have prevented this incident (and many others). Definitely not trying to turn this into a GUE/DIR/whatever argument, but...I did find it somewhat amusing.


The conference was enjoyable and informative, and I hope to attend more in the future. Perhaps next time we should all write our usernames on our name tags, since that's how most of us know each other...

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I agree -- name tags with name and "username" would be helpful at a conference like that.

I, too, was trained "rich right". Thankfully, with my CCR diving the need for gas switches (except if there is an emergency like a flooded rebreather) is a thing of the past.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

I don't know who the diver was, but he was doing a solo dive on the Monitor to what...220ft to the bow to get some photos? There's a very small contingent of people I'd trust to properly execute a dive like that. When he was dropping down he was bicycle-kicking and waving his arms about like crazy (looked like an OW student). Then, because he was futzing with the camera, he switched to O2 at his 70ft stop instead of 50%.

I thought it was amusing that many people at the conference were very anti-GUE, yet...the standard GUE gas-switching procedure would have prevented this incident (and many others). Definitely not trying to turn this into a GUE/DIR/whatever argument, but...I did find it somewhat amusing

As Doug indicated, non-emergency gas switching is a thing of the past with rebreathers; however, that may be even more reason to ensure that a standard protocol is adhered too, because in an emergency, one might then be more likely to reach for the wrong bottle, if they don't practice that procedure often.

I'm not a GUE diver, but I always go the extra mile to ensure that I label all my bottles in a manner that allows me to see a label near the neck with the gas content and that allows other divers to see a large label on the body of the tank with the mix and the mod. Lately I've found myself doing a lot of peeling off of stickers and re-applying of new stickers, but I feel it's worth it, because I would hate for someone in an emergency situation to grab the wrong bottle from me, because they couldn't clearly see the label. I know it's considered standard protocol in the industry, but not everyone is meticulous about labeling their tanks for other people's benefit. Also, if I do ever grab the wrong bottle, hopefully the large label with cause someone to see the mod and warn me in time.

And yes, I also always have the richer mix on the right side.