Secondary Air Source

[2divedeep]

Again, since I am new, it seems like the add'l hose (4 hoses from 1st stage) gets in my way. I am constantly adjusting it (the octo hose) or it feels restrictive on my right arm. Possibly, once I have more dives under my belt I may have a different thought.

With the alt air source, why is it that you have to remove it from your mouth to purge air? Is the purged air from the BC mixed with the air you breath?

Thanks.

 

[2divedeep]

Thanks for the response. Are there any negatives to an alt air source in regards to any diving condition (i.e., emergency ascent), and same question using an octo (positive or negative).

Thanks for your help.

 

[Diver0001]

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With the alt air source, why is it that you have to remove it from your mouth to purge air? Is the purged air from the BC mixed with the air you breath?

Thanks.

Well.... you need to remove it from your mouth to purge because of needing to hold it up to make it the highest point. If you don't do that the air won't flow all the way to the end of the hose and you'll be unable to (completely) purge your vest. That's assuming you could even find the purge button.

But you've hit on the very reason I was asking all these questions. In a real life emergency you don't want to have to be removing your regulator from your mouth to purge your vest during the ascent. In practice making an air sharing ascent is complicated enough for a lot of people and the need to remove your regulator to purge could potentially lead to making a bad situation worse.

That's why I think these things have outlived their usefulness. A lot of us (including me) used them years ago when regulators didn't have enough LP ports and the ability to eliminate one hose was a big bonus.

I think if you're having interference from the hose then you need to look first at the hose routing. Is it on the outside of your arm? You should route the octopus down and *under* the right arm and clip it off with an octopus holder somewhere in the "triangle" you learned about in your OW course. If you do that you shouldn't feel it at all.....

Another option gaining in popularity is to route the octopus over your right shoulder and hang it around your neck on a necklace. This will require you to donate your primary regulator for air sharing (meaning it should have a longer hose). This is an idea that sport divers picked up from cave divers and it stuck becuase there are numerous advantages to doing it this way. Making these modifications would probably be less expensive than buying an air II and might also solve the problem you're having.

R..

 

[2divedeep]

Great ideas. Thanks for the graphic description. I will look into hose routing instead of integration. The idea to have the octo clipped to neck area. What are the other benefits? How long should the hose be to accomplish this?

I really appreciate the information.

Thanks!

 

[Diver0001]

Great ideas. Thanks for the graphic description. I will look into hose routing instead of integration. The idea to have the octo clipped to neck area. What are the other benefits? How long should the hose be to accomplish this?

I really appreciate the information.

Thanks!

I think you could do with a read in the "DIR" forum. You might need to ask for access, I'm not sure. DIR is a "style" of diving which includes a very specific equipment configuration including the use of the necklaced octopus I talked about. You can see pictures of DIR divers by clicking here .

Also, the DIR forum can across as a little fanactical (happens whenever people are defending a "style" of doing something) but if you read through what is being said there is a lot of wisdom in it too. At the very least it's thought provoking stuff and well worth a read.

Good luck.

R..