Quote: (Originally Posted by TordoffR)
The one and only shelf life that I would be concerned with is your own. At the price of the stuff, why would you even question it??? What is your life worth? Just my opinion and I'm sure others may feel differently, but those extra few fills don't even come close to the value of my lowly life. Please think twice about it.
You wouldn't have to even dive to check the life of the zorb, just wear the Rebreather around the house for an hour to see how far the front moves. Andy is new to RB's and HOPEFULLY won't be jumping in for a 30m dive straight away, as he's an ex student of mine he hadn't bl**dy better.
Drager make medical products as their main business, and I can't for the life of me think why they got into Rebreather's, although they do make BA sets for above water use. The scrubber life will be very conservative. If you tried a fill it would be a risk, but if you couldn't feel a warm spot after a 20 min dive / wear around the house then it's time to chuck the scrubber. As it has been in a sealed container from new, and I am not aware of any other reaction that could degrade the scrubber it may be OK to use for an hour per fill.
When I learnt to dive on the Drager Dolphin the word from on high was a 3 hour scrubber life, when I bought my unit it was down to two hours. I haven't pushed past two hours on a fill yet, but after a couple of hours diving the hotspot is still only just past mid way.
As I said in my original post, I would most likely chuck the scrubber that was 2 years old, but I would possibly dive or wear it around the house as a matter of curiosity more than anything.
Mind you I should of thought of Andy's disasters on OC before recommending he tries out the scrubber. I hear he as a loyalty card from a recompression chamber...
