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>On the question of rebreathers, does any one know of a heliox rebreather 
>recently released in the UK for about 1500 pounds ?  At this kind of 
>price it is coming into the reach of non-profesionals, but have they had 
>to cut any corners to get this price tag ?

I think you're talking about the Carmellan/Oceanic rebreather (apologies
if you had something else in mind), but the price that's been floating around 
with this unit is 3000 plus pounds.  Your post is the first that I've heard
with prices anywhere near 1500 pounds (approx $2250 US).

This is not a full CCR, it is a "semi CCR".

Here's an interesting question.  On a full CCR, typically, how much of
the diluent is used during a dive?  I ask this because of pure economics.
What would be the cost of a heliox fill in say, a 40 cu ft diluent tank?  

Now, Assume that you have *two* diluent tanks (basically using one as a 
spare until the 1st one gets very low).  You may get several dives out of one 
diluent tank.  At some point, you would refill the low diluent tank between
dives or switch to the 2nd diluent tank.

This way you would maximize the use of diluent.  While this isn't as much of
a $$$ issue for Nitrox, has anyone actually done the calculations for heliox
to see what the potential $$$ savings would be?  These saving, amortized over 
some number of dives (several hundred?), may make up the difference between a 
semi CCR and a full 
CC fairly quickly.

Just wondering...

-Carl-

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