Sorb-how much bouncing around in car is bad for packed scrubbers?

[Marie13]

I’ve never seen a good answer on this. Unit is a Kiss Spirit.

I drive 1:15-1:30 each way to local dive sites. I often do one dive of about an hour. I allow three hours for one scrubber fill, so I’ll reuse the same sorb for the next weekend. I leave it uncovered to dry for about 12 hours then cover it up for the week. Scrubbers are packed tight.

Today I just felt really weird for the first five minutes of the dive, so I called it. I’m wondering if I could have had some break through/channeling. Sorb had one hour on it and close to four hours total getting bounced around in the car.

What have your experiences been?

 

[LFMarm]

I don’t have an answer because I start every day with a new scrubber. In your case you would be wasting ~20$ but potentially you could have avoided driving for 3h to abort the dive.

 

[mr_v]

I build my unit at home and drive for about 45 minutes to dive. None of the driving happens on dirt roads, so there is no time for sorb to bounce; I checked the scrubber canisters. I cycle every 3 hours, so typically get 2 weekends on a can using similar process to what you have, @Marie13.

I suspect that channeling in your case is highly unlikely if you pack sorb correctly. The probability of developing a channel is small, as, essentially, you'll have to get space where there is NO sorb or all sorb granules are used up in a specific gas path.

Was your dive prep any different?

 

[Marie13]

I build my unit at home and drive for about 45 minutes to dive. None of the driving happens on dirt roads, so there is no time for sorb to bounce; I checked the scrubber canisters. I cycle every 3 hours, so typically get 2 weekends on a can using similar process to what you have, @Marie13.

I suspect that channeling in your case is highly unlikely if you pack sorb correctly. The probability of developing a channel is small, as, essentially, you'll have to get space where there is NO sorb or all sorb granules are used up some gas path.

Was your dive prep any different?

Nothing different with dive prep. Did it the night before with a checklist as usual.

 

[Vicko]

If it's properly packed no amount of bouncing is gonna move it around. Boats vibrate a lot more than any halfway modern car ever will and most people survive diving from them.
There are other reasons that you might have had co2 related troubles.

 

[J-Vo]

If it was CO2, I would suspect a mushroom valve issue. Even a little dust can allow backflow.

 

[davehicks]

I’ve never seen a good answer on this. Unit is a Kiss Spirit.

I drive 1:15-1:30 each way to local dive sites. I often do one dive of about an hour. I allow three hours for one scrubber fill, so I’ll reuse the same sorb for the next weekend. I leave it uncovered to dry for about 12 hours then cover it up for the week. Scrubbers are packed tight.

Today I just felt really weird for the first five minutes of the dive, so I called it. I’m wondering if I could have had some break through/channeling. Sorb had one hour on it and close to four hours total getting bounced around in the car.

What have your experiences been?

I have had a CO2 hit that I suspect was caused by a breakthrough in my old Sport Kiss. I didn't feel "really weird", I felt a LOT WEIRD! Anxiety, irritability, rapid breathing, very very weird. It was very obvious what was happening, and I bailed out.

That unit had a single scrubber that was sort of split into two halves that connected at the bottom. I had done one dive on a new scrubber, then packed everything up for the day. I drove 4-5 hours across vancouver island. The next day, I think I did a 1-hour checkout dive, then started what would be the third dive on that scrubber. Pretty quickly dropped to about 60 feet and I started to feel the CO2 hit. I bailed out, went the surface, changed my scrubber and did a final dive that day a bit later. It might have been a breakthrough exacerbated by the drive. Or maybe the drive and two hours on the scrubber was too much for it. I can't know for sure.

That said, I do exactly what you described all of the time with my Kiss Spirit. I do a dive, drive around for a few hours, and a week or two later I go do some more driving and diving. The Kiss Spirt and its two completely independent scrubbers would BOTH have to break through some how to impact you. This is very unlikely. It's more likely you just had an off day.

 

[rx7diver]

@Marie13,

Could you have switched to bailout at depth and breathed it a short while to see if the weird feeling went away?

rx7diver

 

[Minion_Diver]

My normal drive time to the dive site is around 2 hours and have not had any issues sorb. I do sit my unit in the back seat and strap it down. I have also packed the scrubber the day before driving 8 hours to the big water and have not had any issues either.

 

[ahereng]

A few years ago I traveled 12 hours for a week of cave-diving, the morning after arrival I dumped the bailouts in the pool/entrance and drove to the nearest town for some grocery-shopping. For this shopping-trip I kind of forgot that I had my ccr(Not lashed down) in the back of my car and drove quite fast on the dirt-roads.. With a half-used scrubber I got punished for that mistake, 450meters into the cave it hit me(Although in hindsight it is obvious I was impaired well before I thumbed the dive).. Bailed out, but the co2-hit didn't fully let go until I was in open water doing a safety-stop which I chose to do..
So after this I only take a part used scrubber on paved roads, do not want to have that experience again..