Saving the air from your BC

[ERIC.K]

Would anyone here feel that having a piece of equipment that could serve as two way valve to somehow add air you used for bouyancy from your BC back into your cylinder? I would suppose that properly weighted the air would Be marginal but every time I hit a dump valve on My Seaquest Pro QD I only see by-by air?

 

[24940]

hmmm, No.

 

[ArcticDiver]

You are an innovative thinker. Outstanding! Not too many of those and we need more.

It might be a good idea. I wonder what kind of stuff is in the air in the bladder? I know I've used the wing inflator hose as a breathing source a couple of time when I practiced an out of air situation. It wasn't too bad but did have some water in it.

Do some research on contents and breathability and let us know. It might be worth pursuing, or it might not.

 

[lowviz]

If it bothers you to use good air, you could always orally inflate using carbon dioxide laced air.

 

[Charlie99]

The air in your BCD will be at ambient pressure. To get it back into your cylinder you'd need to pump it up to the cylinder pressure --- whatever your SPG is reading at that time. That's a lot of pumping

If you are trying to minimize the air used for inflating the BCD, rather than trying to reclaim the used BCD air, simply use the "wasted" air that you exhale to inflate the BCD. In other words, use oral inflation.

I sometimes use oral inflation just because it is a bit more accurate than using the power inflator.

 

[Damselfish]

Nope. You really don't want moisture or any kind of crap that might be in your BC back in your tank. Most people will say that even breathing the air from your BC is really a last ditch kind of thing, obviously better than drowning but who knows what's living in there.

And anyway, that "2 way valve" would have to be a compressor...

The air you put in your BC doesn't, or at least shouldn't, amount to all that much anyway in the grand scheme of things. If you're new you're probably fiddling with it more than you will after awhile.

 

[lowviz]

I sometimes use oral inflation just because it is a bit more accurate than using the power inflator.

-I always thought so, but never saw it in print.

 

[spectrum]

That would require a compressor. Once air gets into the petrie dish enviornment of a BC bladder you would only want to try breathing it in the most desperate situations.

Even if a diiver is flying the inflater valve the air used for buoyancy will be minor compared to what will be consumed breathing. As mentioned staying sharp on oral inflation is a win-win proposition.

Pete

 

[woodsandwatertoo]

i very very seldom inflate my bc with tank air, i have it down to an art, so no need for return air on my part and as said would require at least 3000 psi to return it if perfectly clean air.

i orally inflate at surface, deflate slightly and go, have no problem with buoyancy.

when ascending, letting out all air in bc, and then orally inflating at surface again.


experienced divers that want as long as possible bottom times probably do the same. i know all of our crew does.

 

[ERIC.K]

We all want to increase bottome time within non-decompression limits......during a normal dive we are tweeking our BC buoyancy from time to time, It seems like wasted air......I'm certain that everyone can agree that what ever increases our time underwater we would be for...just throwing it out there