Use of the alternate regulator

[TSandM]

The statement was made in another thread, that one's secondary reg is only there to donate to someone else, and not for your own use.

I was startled by that, because in my diving career so far, I've used my backup reg far more often for myself, than I have donated a regulator (for real) to anyone else. In fact, I can think of two times I've donated, and I've fallen in the water far more than that!

So I'm curious -- have you used your alternate, and if so, for yourself, or for somebody else? And I've added to the poll what alternate setup you have, because I could see people with difficult backup arrangements not wanting to use them for themselves, if it could be avoided.

 

[diverrex]

I've never had to use my alternate for myself or anyone else but was diving with a buddy when his primary literally broke mid dive so he switched to his alternate. What was he supposed to do come use my alternate because he wasn't allowed to use his? Yeah you're right that was a silly statement.

 

[knotical]

Not a large sample set.
I had a diver (a stranger) give me the out-of-air signal. Not actually out of air, but felt her (rental) regulator was breathing too hard.
A diver in our group (not my buddy) was low on air and gave me the signal. I got him back to the boat on my alternate.
The only time I used my own alternate was when my mouthpiece came off my primary (my own stupid fault).

 

[eelnoraa]

Kind of hard to answer if you diving hogarthian setup because that backup is really for myself, no one else can use it because the lp hose is so short.

Having that said, I have never really need to donate beside s-drill. But I do find execuse to use my bungie from time to time, such as shore entry and exit. I just don't want to have a nice breand 2nd stage and never breath it. Also it is a good way to make sure it is in working order

 

[timakempton]

I have never had a reason to use my backup, having said that my backup and my primary are identical on most of my reg set's and when diving with them I regularly swap which one I am using as primary so that I am always confident that the backup will be fully functional for my next dive. I treat it as a redundant system for me which can be donated in an emergency rather than an emergency unit for somebody else. I know of a guy that has 3 seconds on his setup 2 identical units for himself on short hoses and a third bright yellow emergency unit on a 7ft hose that is attached with Velcro to the cam buckle on his tank. This one he says is for emergency use, it is highly visible and he encourages people that dive with him to grab it if needed. His theory is that in an emergency you will grab the first regulator you see and he hopes that will be the one on his tank rather than the one in his mouth....

Personally I think three regs is going overboard but then a lot of people are going for inflators with a built in reg along side there traditional units. So 3 may become the new norm....

 

[DevonDiver]

I could answer either (B) or (D), depending on whether the context was recreational or technical diving. As this is the 'basic scuba' forum - I've voted for (B).

 

[RonFrank]

3 is the new 2! I use three as one is attached to my pony and I use that on vacation. With airline baggage restrictions I may stop carrying extra gear.

I have never used my backup for real. But I breath off it frequently.

 

[Searcaigh]

I voted for the first one, as I have only donated once many years ago when an "instructor" who was my instabuddy went OOA after 25 minutes!

I no longer dive a standard set up and carry no octopus as I use an alternate air source in the way on a side slung 4.2L pony (recently changed from a 1.8L)

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I did manage to pull the mouthpiece off my second stage once after getting tangled up in kelp at night. Having the alternate second stage came in handy. I suspect that was with a standard setup not that it would have mattered. I've offered my second stage once to someone who appeared to be in trouble and was turned down, and have air shared to extend bottom time. The comment from the other thread was not at all startling if you consider sharing your gas, regulator, brain, etc. as your redundancy plan. The backup plan is always there even if it is rarely used.

 

[Griffo]

I do get what the person in that other thread meant, but I've used my own AAS second stage twice for real, both times for myself. Once on a dive my primary second stage went into an over-delivery mode where it was kind of like a free flow, but only on inhale. The second time being when I blew an o ring between the second stage and hose.


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