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What the dive industry discovered about CO2 cartridges is that no one bothered to determine on a regular basis that they still worked after being in the BC for three years. Further, when the diver decided to check on the cartridge it was corroded into its valve and virtually unremovable. In several do-or-die situations, when the out-of-all-options-except-the-CO2-one diver pulled the cord nothing happened because the corrosion of the metal CO2 cartridge also corroded the piercing device rendering it usless. These divers all died and their deaths were blamed on deep air. In addition, divers- having discharged the cartridge- would forget to put in a fresh one because they 1. didn't have another one, 2. the four spares in their dive bag had corroded together and were useless, 3. they couldn't get the used one out of the BC adaptor because it was corroded. The dive industry further determined that if a diver was at neutral buoyancy during a dive and dropped their weight belt, they suddenly became positively bouyant. In exhaustive tests by the industry it was determined that even without a CO2 cartridge, power inflator and gas in the BC, no air in your tanks, it is possible to make an emergency ascent to the surface in about the time it takes to inflate your BC with what little gas is in the CO2 cartridge. In further testing it was determined that in a do-or-die situation where the CO2 inflator was your last hope, your dive buddy would have been a better bet. Ask yourself- if the CO2 cartridge was a life saver and if the dive industry could make a buck from its incorporation into a BC- why don't they? The reason- it's not and they can make more off a power inflator and the CO2 inflation system is unreliable and a major liability concern. Rod On Sun, 28 Jan 1996 HeyyDude@ao*.co* wrote: > Heyy Bernie, > > You're at 160. The god damned 1st stage on your tank goes kablooie. You're > on the bottom filming some kind of rare, ass-biting shark, so you've taken > most of the air out of your BC. (And Hell, Yeah, you went deep-air - the > sum-bitch shark decided to bite the ass off of an even rarer "two-headed > Johnson snatcher" and you want to beat Howard to the film festival with > it...). > > You now got a long way to swim, bucko... > > So, how is John's question a joke? > > Considering all the other shit they sell for safety (I know, 'cause if you've > read any of my posts, you know I wear it all, including the "Farb/Irvine > Underwater Helicopter Rescue Device") - it seems to me that this isn't such a > stupid idea after all. > > Were any of us in that situation, we'd give our left 'nad for something, > ANYTHING to get us to the surface, bent or not. > > And by the way - the scenario that John suggested wouldn't happen to him, > since he stopped having Keet work on his regs... > > Just my 2 cents worth. > > Kevin. > HeyyDude > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'. > Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'. >
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