Spare Air on deep but no deco dives??

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[RyanT]

Here's something my tech instructor said..."everything you need to know about tech diving, you learned as an open water diver." Granted, there's a lot more that actually goes into tech diving, but the point is...good fundamental skills should be learned early on and (should) always carry over into any dive you do.

Where I'm going with this is that when I got certified as an OW diver back in 1985, I was taught "Plan your dive and dive your plan." So if you are planning your dive and your contingency is, "A spare air can get me back to the surface alive but bent," then that's a terrible plan. @Colliam7 made an earlier post to this point and it should have been the last word on this topic. Regardless, if your bail out plan is to "get to the surface with just being bent," I hope never to end up buddied with you.

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Thanks Maxbottomtime!! I do love that guy and his videos. Always spot on.

 

[doctormike]

The Doctor has spoken. Enough about this useless device.

I'm only an authority in the field of ear wax. For this thing, it's just my opinion. Worth exactly what you paid for it...

 

[caruso]

This statement reflects an unfortunate, but not altogether uncommon, approach to diving - 'Uh, I guess I will rely on what might be barely enough to get to the surface uninjured, or at least alive, if I am lucky.'

Nope. My statements were simply referring to the quoted article and pointing out that if a diver uses a 60' per minute ascent rate- which was taught in many open water courses until fairly recently, and skips the safety stop, the 3.0 Spare Air will provide enough gas to get to the surface.

Nothing more.

 

[caruso]

, you may have ALMOST EXACTLY enough gas to get you to the surface.

Even if a diver does run a bit short, he or she can still safely make it to the surface on that last breath, which can easily last a minute or more. I know I can hold a breath and swim the complete length of a 40' inground pool underwater and back again- without surfacing. I can surely make it to the surface even if I deplete my air supply before I completely get there, I'm not just going to take a last breath in say, 20-30' and think "I'm a goner.. and I was sooooo close".

 

[Michael Guerrero]

If you want to be self reliant with a failure, I'd get a 30cu ft or 40cu ft pony bottle. I've dived that configuration many times with no issues and you don't really notice the pony. That is plenty of air to get you safely and comfortably up from the depths you're talking about.

 

[BDSC]

I'm not just going to take a last breath in say, 20-30' and think "I'm a goner.. and I was sooooo close".

 

[Bob DBF]

Wow, I stand corrected! THANK YOU, Bob.

In that case, I may move to a harsher stance on Spare Air. IF they were designed for diving, they are simply a poor - inadequate, overpriced, needless complicated - equipment solution for their intended target indication. Far better, more effective and cost-efficient, solutions exist.

You are welcome.

The reason I tried the Spare Air was a good deal, unobtrusive, and a couple of extra breaths in an emergency sounded like a good idea. At the time I was doing a lot of solo dives in the sixty foot range, as i always had, and what the heck. After realizing it did not hold up to the conditions on my dives, I quit using it and went back to business as usual. Eventually I sold it without ever needing to use it as intended. And full disclosure, it was an early one, less than 3 cuft.

Later I picked up a 19 for my deeper dives, although some have gone on about how small and inadequate it is for deep recreational dives using a wall of numbers, I've insured it works for me. If I'm going on an especially deep, or stupid, dive I have an old 72 and an Al 80 ready to go.


Bob

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If we use the old definition of drowning = death...do you have a number of how many deaths have been reported since 1979 using a SpareAir?

I don't use nor encourage the use of a SpareAir, but does anybody really know how many people have died using a SpareAir? There are people that relied on it and survived to talk about it...even with a faster than 10m/sec ascent rate and no safety stop.

It was a joke. Sheesh