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We find that the EXO actually does fairly well in McMurdo (water Temp -1.8C). I've made hour long dives with the unit in fairly shallow (40 fsw) with no freeze ups. Deeper dives (100+ fsw) or dives with a high exertion level tend to make the unit free-flow. Shallow or deep, if we are going to be any distance laterally from the access hole I prefer to use a standard regulator. The ability to switch air sources is more important than being warm. Again, the *most* important thing is to insure no fresh H2O gets into the system prior to the dive. On the Antarctic Peninsula where water temps are mush closer to 0 deg C or slightly warmer we are *far* less concerned about freeze ups with any of our gear. Here the EXOs and AGAs perform almost flawlessly. Although I prefer the EXO the AGA is a good choice for public safety diving due to its positive pressure system. This is a great help in keeping contaminated water away from the diver. With ambient temps ranging -40C to +4C we do have some problems keeping our surface supply system for freezing. Each day prior to dive operations and while all components are in a warm bldg, we blow moisture from the system. Depending on environmental conditions we might have to repeat this at mid-day. We use two moisture filter systems right at the compressor to help keep things dry. Still, non-return valves at the volume tanks and in the rack box seem to be susceptible to freezing. A pair of warm hands or preferably a heat gun usually keep things flowing. Insuring everything is dry at the start of operations is the key. Between dives we *never* rinse our life support equipment in fresh H20. That is only done at the end of the day and then everything is stripped down to insure that it dries over night. Cheers- Rob -----------------reply separator----------------------- I found you posting of cold water operations on techdiver quite interesting. It led me to a couple of questions. First I understand why you do not use full face masks often but how does the EXO-26 fair in the very cold, this is the mask our team uses in public safety diving. Secondly I was wondering if you have had any problems with your surface station freezing up in the cold when you are doing surface supplied operations and what you do to prevent such occurrences. Greg Leafe
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