rEvo Course / Special Offer

[Ryan]

I completed my rEvo training last week with Paul Raymaekers at 123 Scuba here in South Florida. I'm extremely impressed with this rebreathers ease of setup, ease of breathing, and quick maintenance.

The course was very intensive for a crossover, but taught me a lot about the design thoughts that went into the rEvo, and possible future applications.

 

[Mr.X]

I completed my rEvo training last week with Paul Raymaekers at 123 Scuba here in South Florida. I'm extremely impressed with this rebreathers ease of setup, ease of breathing, and quick maintenance.

The course was very intensive for a crossover, but taught me a lot about the design thoughts that went into the rEvo, and possible future applications.

How easy was it to purge inspired water from the loop? Does the OPV at the bottom do the trick?

On some RB's & SCR's (Halcyon) shedding water from the loop is a breeze. Others are slightly harder, while some are close to impossible. The KISS CCR's are not great at dumping water.

X

 

[116fire]

Where is all this water coming from?

 

[caveseeker7]

A leak, usually if the unit isn't properly assembled and checked.
More unlikely due to damage during the dive.

 

[Mr.X]

Some units are better than others with regards to ease of assembly, passing pressure checks and staying "drier" during a dive. Double O-ring seals make life easier. The Meg is terrific at passing an OP, or a negative checks. The Cis had a dump in the counterlung. The Prism's have dumps there too. The KISS's do not have a dumps + the Classic takes a fair amount of fiddling around to find and solve leaks. Remove a hose, even with the QC's and you have to think twice. Also, KISS's cannot shed water during a dive unless you have something like a purge, or dump mechanism devised on the unit. I think it's a great unit for what it is, but at the same time it does have its engineering minuses...as does any RB. Of course, I will get pushback from KISS users telling me it's the bee's knee's. It ain't. In fact, no RB is the bee's knees.

Proper assembly is a first step in ensuring a dry loop, but consider it only a first step. Diving is a dynamic sport. At any point in time "stuff" can and will happen. I know. I've been there. Examples: small leaks through the mouthpiece, loose lips during a cold dive, water moving past a "tight' hose clamp. A small pieces od debris which dissolve away, but when wet allows passage of water, bumping into things and tiny holes that just spring up. Too many to mention. That's why I don't trust any of my dive gear not to fail.

Ease of assembly is yet another aspect of engineering design. This is where I think the rEvo is a standout. I saw a scrubber change in under 30 seconds. A change on any other RB far exceeds this. I did notice that the rEvo dump is ideally located at the bottom. My question to any rEvo user is "How good is the rEvo at dumping water during a dive". Can I blow it out as easily as I would on say an OTS CL with built-in dump?

X

 

[Ryan]

Fortunately I don't have the common disorder of having to justify money I've spent, and I've dived lots of rebreathers (with both ots lungs & dump valves & backmounted lungs with no ability to purge water).

The opv is actually in the inhale lung, so to purge water through it you'd have to pass it through the scrubber... Not something I'd do. If I flooded the loop, I'm reasonably sure I could finish the dive with the water in the very large exhale lung, underneath the scrubbers, but I haven't tested this... The exhale lung also serves as the water trap, and it is very large, so as long as you stay in the horizontal or vertical positions, but don't go head down, it would be tough to put water through the scrubbers (likely requiring more than 2l).

Giving up the ability to purge water from the lungs was a tradeoff I am willing to take to have a clean chest.

 

[Mr.X]

Fortunately I don't have the common disorder of having to justify money I've spent, and I've dived lots of rebreathers (with both ots lungs & dump valves & backmounted lungs with no ability to purge water).

The opv is actually in the inhale lung, so to purge water through it you'd have to pass it through the scrubber... Not something I'd do. If I flooded the loop, I'm reasonably sure I could finish the dive with the water in the very large exhale lung, underneath the scrubbers, but I haven't tested this... The exhale lung also serves as the water trap, and it is very large, so as long as you stay in the horizontal or vertical positions, but don't go head down, it would be tough to put water through the scrubbers (likely requiring more than 2l).

Giving up the ability to purge water from the lungs was a tradeoff I am willing to take to have a clean chest.

Thanks. I appreciate the info.

X

 

[jepuskar]

Yeah, nothing like a nice clean chest.