Short term air supply

Was doing a bit of research on Hooka setups and came across this!

https://www.diveportablelungs.com/

This just might be the best all around solution for emergency repair or hull cleaning.

I would do a pony bottle and a used overhauled reg from ebay. There are some great deals on ebay for scubapro regs.

I keep an aluminum 50 cuft tank on the boat. Have a regulator with a 60' hose between the 1st and 2nd stages. There's no good reason to have a really small tank or take it in the water with you.

Ted

The small tanks (spare air size) might be useful for an emergency but would be used very quickly for doing any bottom cleaning etc. If you get one, test it out in a pool and trying to do some "work", I think you will be surprised how quickly you will empty the tank.

I guess, I’m concerned about storage of a full size tank, filling without being Padi Cert. and so on. Ive tried diving with all the gear a few times and have equalization problems. Ok down to 10-15 feet, after that the ears hurt.
Your right about the small tank not lasting more than 7-10 min while working.
Might have to rethink this whole emergency air idea.
Thanks for the input so far.

Crusty Chief said:

I guess, I’m concerned about storage of a full size tank, filling without being Padi Cert. and so on. Ive tried diving with all the gear a few times and have equalization problems. Ok down to 10-15 feet, after that the ears hurt.
Your right about the small tank not lasting more than 7-10 min while working.
Might have to rethink this whole emergency air idea.
Thanks for the input so far.

Click to expand...

I have 4 full size bottles mounted on the upper deck with a long hose.

Crusty Chief said:

I guess, I’m concerned about storage of a full size tank, filling without being Padi Cert. and so on. Ive tried diving with all the gear a few times and have equalization problems. Ok down to 10-15 feet, after that the ears hurt.
Your right about the small tank not lasting more than 7-10 min while working.
Might have to rethink this whole emergency air idea.
Thanks for the input so far.

Click to expand...

Have you considered getting certified ??? The PADI class includes techniques on how to clear your ears for example, and then you can get refills anywhere.

(There are many other certification agencies, and I'm sure they are all pretty similar....I'm not a PADI cheerleader, its just the organization I'm familiar with)

We have a 120 vac hookah that we run off of the inverter or generator. You can buy a new Brownie’s E150A hookah for less than $1,300 or make your own for $500. No tank to refill and you have a compressor you can use for other projects if needed.

https://www.browniedive.com/store/p461/E150A__Grab-N-Go_Electric_System.html

Larry M said:

We have a 120 vac hookah that we run off of the inverter or generator. You can buy a new Brownie’s E150A hookah for less than $1,300 or make your own for $500. No tank to refill and you have a compressor you can use for other projects if needed.

https://www.browniedive.com/store/p461/E150A__Grab-N-Go_Electric_System.html

Click to expand...

My 3rd lung is about 20 years old.... (old style - no parts) The only thing I do not like about it is, dragging the tail (air hose) behind you.

I do have 2 BCD and regulators in the storeroom and extra fins and and and. BUT, no place to store them on the 34/36 AT

Crusty Chief said:

I guess, I’m concerned about storage of a full size tank, filling without being Padi Cert. and so on. Ive tried diving with all the gear a few times and have equalization problems. Ok down to 10-15 feet, after that the ears hurt.
Your right about the small tank not lasting more than 7-10 min while working.
Might have to rethink this whole emergency air idea.
Thanks for the input so far.

Click to expand...

We had 2 full sized tanks and a 50 cu ft tank on board with a 60' long second stage hose.
While I am certified they will fill tanks without the certification as long as the tank passes safety inspection.
As someone else stated above - why not get certified?

Emergency tanks have been around for decades.

These videos may give you some food for thought. Patrick Childress's setup is more portable, the Emerald Steel setup is more versatile (i.e useful for all sorts of other things), quieter, and probably cheaper.

People consistently underestimate how hard it is to work underwater and the amount of air and time even little jobs take especially when you are cold. Bottom cleaning isn’t an emergency and I’ve never really timed an emergency but there is no way I would ever use one of those as an emergency device. I have 100 cu ft bottle with reg and a 60’ hose that I have set up to deploy in an emergency. We also have an electric hookah that runs off the inverter for bottom cleaning. The past two months in the Bahamas all I’ve needed though is snorkel gear.

Then there is this:

Another vote to get certified! You typically can't get a refill of breathing air without a certification card at any reputable dive shop anyway, and if you aren't comfortable in the water you will over breath and use the bottle very quickly anyway.

Hookah rigs will avoid certification, but probably aren't all that smart if all you are trying to do is avoid the training. I have a high pressure 100 cubic foot steel bottle on board, same size as the older 72 cubic foot bottles I used 40 years ago. Less buoyancy issues with steel after you are in the water.

As to the original product link, I'm guessing that pumping a cylinder up to 3000psi with a hand pump -- even a very small cylinder -- is going to be a LOT of work! Like, maybe two hours of pumping in order to get two minutes of breathing time? I don't know. I spent some time searching and could not find a single review, by an independent reviewer, that mentioned how long it took to pump the thing up. Of course, the sellers all say that it is easy to pump up, and doesn't take long, but I have my doubts.


As to hookah, you are still breathing compressed air underwater. That means that you can still kill yourself -- yes, I mean really dead -- if you don't know what you are doing. So getting some dive training before using a hookah system is the prudent thing to do.

Larry M said:

We have a 120 vac hookah that we run off of the inverter or generator. You can buy a new Brownie’s E150A hookah for less than $1,300 or make your own for $500. No tank to refill and you have a compressor you can use for other projects if needed.

https://www.browniedive.com/store/p461/E150A__Grab-N-Go_Electric_System.html

Click to expand...

Make it for even less than that.

This is my $230 set up.

Reg $23.
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Second-2n...Regulator-Octopus/1083672673?iid=264170989159

20m of hose $45
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RX-Dive...4183271984:g:PzQAAOSw5cNYMo0g&redirect=mobile

Water trap/pressure gauge $16
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Air-Fil...4416171db3:g:kloAAOSwEW9abp4K&redirect=mobile

Oil free compressor $129
https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-24l-1-5hp-oil-free-air-compressor_p6290553

Glad I got a 240v tanked compressor, I suck a lot more air working underwater than anticipated.

I've been diving for 40 years and have commercial training and experience that includes mixed gas hard hat work from diving bells including saturation diving. I know what I'm talking about when I say don't dive without training.

Untrained divers often think shallow water is safe but it's the opposite. Very large volume changes occur in the first 33 feet of seawater and breathing compressed gases at any depth can be deadly.

Hooka setups are used extensively yes but you have to realize that many systems just take ambient air, compress it, dry it a bit then pipe it down. If any exhaust is floating around you get that too with high partial pressures of nasty compounds like CO. You could be unconscious in a single breath. I've never used one and never will for those reasons alone not to mention leaving my sole life support system unattended on the surface.

Diving can be very safe (I got my own kid diving at 14) but I get the chills when I hear of people doing this nonchalantly. There are numerous hazards associated with even filing your own tanks. Unsafe diving can and will mess you up for life or kill you very quickly. Get trained and get proper diving gear or don't dive.

Hookah

Here is a link to a system sold out of Australia that we’ve used for 5 years. The one in the center is what we have; prices are Australian dollars.
https://austboating.com.au/products/cat/power-dive/
It plugs into the same 12v outlet used by our Scottie downrigger. The max hose length is 66’, so it could be used for a shallow dive, but we use it for cleaning the bottom. At 10’ or less there’s not a lot to worry about if you are in for a couple of hours. It is easy to stow and simple to maintain, and no gas engine or tank to deal with. I bought ours direct from the manufacturer and it was a bit cheaper.

Two thoughts, I would not use compressed air that is not filtered and purified. 2nd if you are not a certified diver and or having issues clearing your ears you should not be using scuba or anything else that allows you to go deeper as you are a great risk of injury.

have been scuba diving for 37 years now and have stories I can bore you with...clean air is so important.

We carry 6 scuba tanks in racks on our boat, plus a bauer scuba compressor. and love this setup for 3-4 divers on our boat at time...

If you have not every had bad air in scuba tank lucky you, the taste, the head ache and throat irritation as well as other side effects suck and can be very dangerous if you get light head as you some how got CO2 in the tank or something else... Remember when you compress air and dive to any depth you consume more air. everything get exaggerated quickly....