Spare-Air Problem...

[citydiver]

I have a couple questions, I was just reading one of the threads about Spare Air and now I am wondering what I should do. I am going on a trip to Roatan with my husband in a couple of weeks and for my birthday someone gave me a Spare Air as a gift, they knew I was into diving and thought it would be a good gift. I thought it was a funny gift because on one of my checkout dives for Nitrox I was with my instructor about 70 feet down and noticed that my air was dwindling quicker that usual, but I thought maybe I was just nervous, well I checked my air and I had about 1300psi left and I double checked and thought damn I am low already, strange. So my instructor saw and said OK, well literally 2 min later I was down to 600psi. I signaled my instructor and we immediatley turned around and started up. I was very calm, kept telling myself you are fine, stay calm, accidents happen because people panic, breath slow...etc. We got to the saftey stop and about 1 min prior to leaving the safety stop I had to buddy breath...still very calm. Anyway to make a long story short..I had a small leak which was making my air go quick. We made it to the surface with no other problems and many lessons learned. One was to get my own equipment instead of renting...check for leaks, and I should have aborted the minute I thought my air was going faster than usual.......Anyway I got it as a gift/joke sort of thing with no intentions of ever needing it because now I watch my air like a freaking hawk, but after reading that thread should I just try and send it back? I don't even know if I could...got it a month ago would have to find out where it was purchased from etc....
I only dive warm water, on vacation...usually not deeper that 60 feet...
Thanks

 

[PerroneFord]

Ebay. Or sell on here. I am sure you could find a buyer quickly. And yes, if you are running out of air quickly and can't ascertain the reason, thumb the dive. Not worth the problem.

And yes, renting SUX!

 

[ScubaSarus]

Dont ask me why but they sell like hotcakes on ebay.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

Sell the spare air! How many breaths of air do you get out of a spare air at 70'? It's a crutch that poor divers use instead of watching their gauges, doing a leak (bubble) check, not properly maintaining equipment and not properly planning on increased gas usage due to deeper planed dive depth.

Loose the spare air.

 

[Canadian_Diver]

Anyway I got it as a gift/joke sort of thing with no intentions of ever needing it because now I watch my air like a freaking hawk, but after reading that thread should I just try and send it back?

IMHO, SpareAir is a joke and provides a false sense of security. My buddy is my spare air. It's my responsibility (as much as it is my buddy's) to always make sure that I'm near them.

SpareAir will only give you a few extra breaths of air. It's not enough to do a "SAFE" ascent with a full safety stop. Infact, you might be lucky if you make it to your safety stop before running out.

If you're concerned about additional air, or prone to straying from your buddy, best to get a decent pony bottle and a seperate regulator to go with it.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

I am going on a trip to Roatan with my husband in a couple of weeks and for my birthday someone gave me a Spare Air as a gift, they knew I was into diving and thought it would be a good gift.

Anyway I got it as a gift/joke sort of thing with no intentions of ever needing it because now I watch my air like a freaking hawk, but after reading that thread should I just try and send it back?

I don't even know if I could...got it a month ago would have to find out where it was purchased from etc....

I only dive warm water, on vacation...usually not deeper that 60 feet...

Traveling with compressed gas cylinders in your luggage can be sort of a crap shoot anyway...DandyDon always takes a cylinder with him and seems to get by with it, but others have been delayed, run into inconvenience and frustration, or had them confiscated by TSA. The rules are poorly understood and inconsistently applied.

My opinion would be head to Roatan with your husband and have a wonderful trip. Ebay the spare air and use the cash to purchase some other item of diving equipment you'll need for the trip. If you watch your SPG like a hawk this is not a bad thing to learn, regardless of how you learned it. Watch your husband's with equal attention, and ensure he's watching yours. I suspect that by planning your dives so you communicate well, turn them in a timely manner, and leave yourself plenty of reserve gas to get back to the boat, you'll both be safer than by diving with less planning but relying on 'spare airs' to make up for inattention to detail.

It's not the dive you do that makes you safe or not safe. It's how you do the dive you do.

Hope you have an enjoyable vacation,

Doc

 

[Richard Wilson]

When evaluating the responses to your query, try to separate the ones about "Spare Air" as a brand name and those that discuss the need for any redundant air source. I dive with a 13 cu.ft. pony with a separate regulator and fill valve that allows me to fly with the tank empty. I have no comment about Spare Air because I've never dived with one. Redundant air is a personal decision, and may be an excellent idea for some divers who (1) have to rent regulators that are either "hot" or jam, or (2) get introduced to the "same ocean buddy system", meaning the guy or gal you're paired up with on the boat and see only when you return to the boat. If you are at 60' or less, you should have no trouble getting up to your safety stop with 3+ minutes to spare with 13 cu. ft tank. A one breath ascent from there should be no problem. I hope I never have to use mine, but if I do, I'll be thankful for it. By the way, they work well for buddy breathing as well.

 

[jptrealty]

They provide a false sence of security and can lead to more problems than they are worth, the best way to go is a pony bottle, that creates true redundancy.....and thats nice

Cheers

 

[El Orans]

Spare-Air Problem...

No Spare-Air, No Problem...

 

[Eris Lucan7*]

Spare Air systems looks cude and well maybe they are helpfuel ,(i have no)
You can also take a 60s>70sjackt bottel with a regulator on it your back with as reserve or emergency bottel back up.....

7*