Rebreather

[trae]

Hello, looking to upgrade my current gear to a rebreather. I have heard about the many dangers of the "silent death" from these types of scuba gear. Just wanted to know if it was worth the transition and risk to go through the class again and learn this system. Any thoughts from anyone who currently uses the equipment?

 

[ackee]

My opinion: Don't do it. Several exceptional excellent highly experienced divers have died using that equipment because of equipment malfunction. There is no buffer factor. When a problem occurs with this complicated delicate equipment the time between a signal in the instrumentation that something is malfunctioning and an almost invariably fatal blackout is usually only a few seconds. Sometimes instantaneous. Even if you manage to go to an emergency standard air backup system the rebreather floods when you switch and can't be returned to, so your emergency supply needs to be substantial. There are all kinds of issues with this equipment. It's great for approaching fish, but not worth the risk, which is considerable. In a couple of years the next generation of rebreathers will become available. In the meantime, I would stay away from this technology. I personally knew a professional famous in the industry who died using a rebreather. He once told me that about 2% of users experience problems. Bad odds. Don't depend on information provided by people who sell this stuff, for obvious reasons.

 

[billsreef]

There's at least one death per year on rebreathers with no obvious reason. These are invariably in very active divers with much experience and in excellent health. The equipment shows no obvious malfunction, and autopsy shows no obvious reason. At least on open circuit there is a typically an obvious reason such as being narced, out of shape vacation diving having a heart attack, etc. Things that are avoidable and still a factor even with a rebreather. But at least no mystery deaths like occur with rebreathers. So for myself, I'm sticking to open circuit.

 

[trae]

Thanks for the input. I think i will put my money into upgrading my current gear.

 

[ryanlala]

As a dive store owner and experienced tec diving instructor, I myself do not own one. They do have their advantages, one is much less deco time compaired to open circut. Second when diving deep (300 feet plus) you carry a lot fewer tanks with you, but you still must carry bail out tanks in the event you have to come off the loop. Some may ask why would you have to come off the loop? There are two reasons, electronic failure, and scrubber failure. Neither one of those are predictable, but can be managed if caught in time. The pre-dive check takes a good 30 minutes for a rebreather, some people become complacent and skip them saying its only a 100 foot dive. Thats where the stuff hit the fan. I do quite a bit of cave diving and i would never wear one in that situation, you still have to drop stage tanks or carry them with you. So in that sence why have a rebreather? Just my 2 cents worth.