Carlos, open circuit scuba will never be a thing of the past in any 
length of time short of geologic time. Rebreathers require more time to 
deal with than open circuit. There are disposables besides gas that cost 
money to replace regularly. You have to think more when you dive the unit 
and check more gauges more often during the dive. You can't just whip the 
mouthpiece out of your mouth like open circuit and make gas rings- you 
have to close the mouthpiece valve so no water gets in when the 
mouthpiece is out of mouth. For a fully closed circuit unit, you have to 
know diving physiology without thinking about it to much. You must be 
able to logic out what the unit's gauges are really telling you. For 
trimix you gotta cut tables to dive it or get Marco's computer for the 
unit at $3K. If you cut tables you got to have a portable computer to 
take on the boat. You got to have O2 and other gas for the unit no matter 
where you are. You really ought to have a Haskel pump to pump and a good 
digital pressure gauge to mix. You got to have big buckets of scrubber 
whereever you go. Extra O2 sensors. You got to have HP hoses with cga540 and 
580 fittings. If you get the 6K psi He you got to have the CGA667 fitting 
for it. You got to have an O2 analyzer. Got got to have a laminator to 
laminate all your dive tables and a portable printer to print them out or 
you could write them all on a large slate. All of this besides the usual 
dive gear. Open circuit will never go away in the face of this. BUT what 
the rebreather does is free you from thinking too hard about running out 
of gas which you won't do long after the open circuit guys are up and out 
of the water and back at the dock. Rod 

On Thu, 27 Jun 1996, Carlos Arruda Accioly wrote:

> Barrie, Dennis et al,
> 
> In light of recent posts on the subject, I'd like to point a few things out.
> 
> All parts have been tested for over 20 years? Does that mean that each and
> every part in a rebreather has been designed at least 20 years ago? Gimme
> a break!
> 
> Even if that were true, parts do not a system make. A rebreather is a
> complex beast, and all the implications of putting all those parts together,
> strapping the whole shebang on your back and performing non-military diving 
> are still not known.
> 
> Which brings us to the main part: rebreathers have been in use for oh such a 
> long time, yes, but by the *military*, who have different goals, dive
> profiles, maintenance, training, support and - pay attention - risk
acceptance.
> 
> I don't mean to knock rebreathers. Are they here to stay? Probably, yeah.
> Are they safe? Perhaps. I don't know. And *you* don't know. Until they have
> been in use by *civilians* for quite a few years, we won't know.
> 
> I'm all for you guys diving rebreathers. Honest. You know the risks, and
> hopefully you try to compensate by proper training, maintenance and 
> conservatism while diving. And it's your choice.
> 
> But *please* don't make it sound like open circuit scuba is a thing of the
> past, and if you're the last kid on the block to have a rebreather you're
> uncool or whatever.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Carlos     8^)
> 
> P.S.: If *I* were to try unproven technology, at the very least I'd make sure 
> it's not *cheap* unproven technology. In other words, I'd steer clear of $5k
> rebreathers if I were you.
> 
> 
> 
> >it's more like 5k and all parts except the tanks of this unit has over
> >3.5 million man hours of testing on them all over the world for over 
> >20 years.
> >
> >dp
> >
> >On Wed, 26 Jun 1996, Carlos Arruda Accioly wrote:
> >
> >> Barrie,
> >> 
> >> >Money talks, Bullshit dives open circuit.
> >> 
> >> Money talks, Bullshit spends $10K on unproven technology and brags about
it.
> 
> --
> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
> Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
> 

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]