What I am missing - The use of rebreathers.

[ldeleon68]

My goal with this thread is to know how wrong or right I am about rebrethers, or if I am missing some key information to have an accurate understanding of its real benefits for a sport diver (regardless of my limited technical diving training).

Initially, I was very excited about the idea of getting deeper, last longer, more interaction with fauna, warmer dives, lower budget in the long run and less decompression times; but, as I get into the technical diving world, the more I learned, the more I feel the cost/benefit of using rebrethers are not worth it. A safer technology has to be developed for me the get into using them.

In any extreme sport I've practiced in my life, the top guys are the ones how mostly die, same thing happens in the rebrether field. This pattern makes me feel even more concerned about the drivers that might be pushing me and others to use them.

All your comments are appreciated,

 

[Wookie]

Your helium bill on a 4 day normoxic/hypoxic trip on the Spree open circuit with 7 dives in the 200-250 foot range will be $700-$1,000. It only takes a few trips to offset the cost of aquisition, especially when considering the cost of new doubles and additional training.

Fish will come up and love on you, if you like fish.

You can overstay your bottom time by 5 minutes to get that last bolt out of a porthole without running wayyy over your gas plan.

You can make your first and second dive of the day in the same 3 mil wetsuit for 4 days instead of having to switch to a drysuit for the afternoon dives, and completely to a drysuit on day 3.

You'll be cooler. All of the recreational numpties will be in awe of your awesome double hose setup. Chicks will flock to you (this is only an advantage if you are a heterosexual male of breeding age. Many rebreather divers are too old for sex). Sharks will avoid biting you because you are quiet like them. And, you will probably find gold bars and stuff on the bottom.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Consider a dive to 330'-400', with a planned bottom time of 30 to 45 minutes. Now, look at the gas requirements--just sheer logistics, not cost--for that dive on OC versus CC (to avoid muddying the waters assume a non-overhead environment but we can skip team bail-out). OC starts to look bat insane, while it's a pretty normal dive on CC.

For stuff in the 200' range, there's probably a solid case to be made for OC having the net safety advantage even though many things are easier or made possible by CC. Once you get outside that range, or you want to spend a long time in the 200' range, CC really becomes the best option. If you're in a hard overhead, the analysis may change because your CC bailout requirements change (unless you want to go hardcore CC and rely solely on a BOB).

Basically, it depends on what you want to do with the CCR. They are most definitely more complex, have insidious failure modes, and are fatally unforgiving of common human weaknesses. They are also still sometimes the best (or only) tool for the job.

 

[pensacolaracer]

What is the cost of a bottle of helium where you are located?

 

[Bison Ravi]

"a"

 

[C Dub]

"a"

Came here to post "A".....respect Bison

 

[Wookie]

What is the cost of a bottle of helium where you are located?

Me? $300 a 'T'

 

[kwinter]

Don't forget that unless you have a really good (expensive) booster, about 15% of that T cylinder will remain unused.

Bottom line is that you don't buy a rebreather to save money. If you do a lot of deep mix dives, that can be a fringe benefit. But you buy a rebreather to facilitate the kind of dives you want to do.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[pensacolaracer]

Me? $300 a 'T'

Wookie, I was asking the OP, but that's good to know.

When I was in Pompano Beach, I was getting it for $150, so OC diving didn't hurt.

Out here in Hawaii, it's about 500. I did 2 OC trimix dives and said screw it... I'm getting a rEvo.

I do enough deep diving to make it well worth the initial cost justification.

 

[Wookie]

Same cylinder in Miami is $95 a "T". Same in Pensacola, or at any of my airgas accounts on the Gulf coast. It's just extra special in Key Weird.