The great Spare Air / SpareAir topic

[H2Andy]

you don't need it, but if you are going to get one, get one large enough that it will get you and your buddy to the surface safely (i.e. one large enough to be useful if worse comes to worse). other than that, the spare air will give you nothing more than a false sense of security.

just my opnion

 

[Mako Mark]

A spare air has its place, however, scuba seems not to be one of them.

That place is "bay watch"


Scubarama, Spare Air was designed for PILOTS. The type of pilot that try to land on ships and fall off the end.

The spare air was designed to give them a minute of air as they tried to calmly escape from a rapidly sinking jetfighter.


It was then cleverly marketed to scuba divers who thought it was a good idea, but couldnt calculate that a minute of air at the suface gives you 5/8 ths of F.A. underwater.

Take Andys advice and buy something more worth while. Like a great big SPEARGUN...

Hope that helps.

 

[Sean326]

I posted this on a diff. thread last year

I bought a 3 cuft. spare air and tried it last weekend....

My buddy and I went down to 95' and I simulated an OOA situation. I exhaled, took out my primary, took 20 seconds to simulate messing with my reg brought my backup reg to my mouth (but i didn't inhale). then i pulled out my spare air and started a CSA.

I tried to control my breathing safely, I didn't add air to my BC, and I kept an eye on my computer and kept my ascent rate at 100% to 120% I ran out of air at 35'.... good for about 4 breaths

If I was really out of air I probably would have been more agressive but I also would have been more panicked. (it was just a fun test I wasn't going to risk getting hurt)

 

[MikeFerrara]

I tried to control my breathing safely, I didn't add air to my BC, and I kept an eye on my computer and kept my ascent rate at 100% to 120% I ran out of air at 35'.... good for about 4 breaths

120% of what?

 

[downunderjenn]

Watch your guages and come up with enough air. Practice good buddy communication. Spare air might not hurt, but it won't help either. Know your air consumption, dive conditions, your stress levels, and your ability to task load. Spare air can take time to grab that is too precious for a CESA, especially if you are not good at task loading and are stressed.

If you need the extra air, dive doubles, or a 45 as extra. This procedure is only necessary for diving beyond recreational diving.
If you want more time underwater, get fit, breath calmly and slowly, and consider Nitrox mixes. On a recreational dive, I recommend ascending with 500 psi and turning the dive at 1000 psi. Get comfortable with those numbers before you push the limits, so you can learn your limits and capabilities safely.

 

[Sean326]

120% of what?

recommended ascent rate as calculated by my dive computer.
I believe my Air z shows a rate of 60 fpm as 100%

 

[Sean326]

If you need the extra air, dive doubles, or a 45 as extra. This procedure is only necessary for diving beyond recreational diving.

It's not about extra air, it's about redundancy.

And the dive boats policy....

If you dive off of the jersey shore and your dive boat of choice follows the recommendations of their trade organization they will require a completely redundant air supply.

probably not a spair air though.

 

[downunderjenn]

The airZ is one of those less conservative computers. It's versatile, and so dive smarter with it. I ascend at 30 fpm when I can, just to be sure. Then, when I ascend to quickly, it's not that much too quickly. Anything deeper than 60 ft, I take a safety stop.

This is what I teach and practice. I do a heap of bounce dives, but my speed is on going down, not up.

 

[ninjamuzo]

If you can do an Emergency swimming ascent from 30m then you can certainly do the same thing with a spare air. I have done a full safety stop with one of the larger apsre airs so worst case you could EA to the safety stop and switch to the spare air and so do some kind of stop before getting to the surface.

Is this better than a bolt to the surface, definately.
Is any additional air better than none, yes.
Would I listen to anyone who told me that carrying no spare is better than carrying some? Not in this lifetime.
Is it a replacement for good gas management, checking your gauges etc.? Of course not

 

[ninjamuzo]

A story comes to mind (related to me) of an Instructor who had a problem with equipment failure with two students at the same time (yes this can happen). He took one up on his alternate and the other up on the Spare air he was carrying