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Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 09:44:46 -0800
To: kirvine@sa*.ne*
From: Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*>
Subject: Re: Drysuit inflator hose length
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Hmmm...Somehow I think I'm going to get reamed for this...

In cold water, with nitrox, argon is not necessary *in my opinion*.  Nitrox 
dives are (*for me*) are shorter in duration than trimix dives.  Most guys 
here use it anyway, but I think they are weenies.  The added failure points 
of a regulator are not outweighed by the small (and I mean small) benefit 
of argon over nitrox.   trimix, is of course, a different story, and argon 
should always be used with it.

In any case, regardless of the above, let's just say for some reason you 
might sometimes run argon, and sometimes you might  not:

Shouldn't the hose routing remain similar between argon and no argon?  If 
so, shouldn't the drysuit come down next to the hp hose, and then back up 
under the left harness strap to the drysuit inflation valve?     The "hose 
behind the head" argument doesn't really apply to argon bottles, anyway, so 
I'm not sure it can be used to argue towards crossing a normal inflator hose.


At 10:43 AM 11/16/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>I think we have a left/right confusion. Using left and righ as sides of
>the body, the wing inflator is always on the right post running to the
>left. If one were to hook up a drysuit to the back gas, that inflation
>should obviously go to the other reg since you are pressing both at the
>same time when decending, the loss of the left due to roll off break off
>is not so critical since you can inflate the drysuit to get past a deep
>spot ( dive has obviously been called now) by transfuion from buddy or
>by using the wing hose, and if you do have a right side problem where
>you need to shut it down or you have had to lose your right tank and
>isolate due to freeflow and roll on break off,  you still have an
>acitive inflation system. Running it left to right behind the head and
>under the arm, under the backup light gives you a sound warning if it is
>touching your neck ( the long hose give a real warning with helium if
>leaking), as mine does when I do this, but other than that it could go
>the other direction if you think it will not get hung up in the stage
>gear.
>
>The real answer is that if you are going to wear a drysuit, do the real
>deal and wear a separate inflation bottle. Helium in the drysuit is
>great on the surface on a hot day, but sucks underwater, and if it is
>cold enough to need a drysuit in shallow water with nitrox , it is cold
>enough to use a bottle of argon. A small argon bottle for short dives on
>the left belt back by the backplate is fine, but using the saem gear fo
>all dives makes your function and responses automatic.
>
>My way is to do it the same all of the time   I use an inflation bottle
>if at all possible. I have done some deep jungle diving without them,
>but picture getting cold in Merida at 80 degrees - it happened.
>
>Art Greenberg wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Sean T. Stevenson wrote:
> >
> > > Kevin, I wouldn't suggest running a drysuit inflator around to the
> > > right.  The purpose of crossing hoses behind your head whenever
> > > possible is to hear any gas flowing in the hose, to detect a flowing
> > > reg that you are not breathing.  With the drysuit, you will know it if
> > > you get a stuck valve because your buoyancy will be increasing.
> >
> > Sean,
> >
> > I understand the reasoning behind not _needing_ to hear a DS inflator leak
> > (hell, with my cold water hood on, I'd be lucky to hear anything short of
> > a raging torrent). But what's the problem with running the DS hose on the
> > right?
> >
> > --
> > Art Greenberg
> > artg@ec*.ne*
> >
> > --
> > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
> > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
>
>
>--
>Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
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----------------------------------
  Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*>

  NW Labor Systems, Inc
  http://www.nwls.com


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