Do I need a booster?

steveharriss

As a new CCR diver the one thing that is causing me problems is getting my O2 cylinder filled. I have seen a booster in action at a dive site but do I really need to spend the money just yet? I have a set of twin 15l cylinders now going spare in the garage. Am I better just O2 cleaning those, getting them filled, and then decanting into the 3l...or am I just wasting time and effort and bite the bullet now?

Benthic

The 15L twins will certainly work--especially if you close the isolator so you can have a low bank and a high bank. You could also consider just getting a cylinder of O2 straight from the gas company. That works just fine too. I know plenty of folks using one or the other of these methods. Heather and I used them too until we bought our booster.

I must admit, while the above methods work the booster is much nicer. You could used those 15L twins as an air bank for booster drive gas and then just decant/boost from the gas company's oxygen cylinder.

You can live without the booster for quite a while if you want. Personally, while the price tag was painful I think the booster is well worth the cost.

Brian

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diverreb

I agree with Brian.... While you can get along without a Booster, life is a lot easier with one....

Richie

Mark Chase

Boosters are a non essential luxury but so is air con in a car and i wouldn't be without that either.

If you can afford it do it but get a paint compressor to run the booster with because they use a shed load of drive gas. I am running a 10bar paint compressor through a oil and water filter. Its a slow but relentless way to pump from low pressure to high pressure. I just blew all my 02 cylinders to 220 bar from less than 90bar in my J. I think I ended with 70bar and four full 3ltrs.

Had I used bottled gas to drive the booster that would probably have cost me 60ltrs of drive gas. (ie 4X 15ltrs blown to 230bar)

ATB

Mark Chase

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bourskov

Hi...

As a new CCR diver my self, I badly wants a booster, but as said, the pricetag is a little more, than I have avalible right now...

I'm so lucky that I have access to o2 at work, soI can get it from there, and there is always a new cylinder avalible. Me and my buddy talked about getting a cylinder ourselfes or getting some doubles filled with o2, but I don't like to throw away o2. When there is about 70 bars left, I don't se the purpose of filling anymore, without a booster of course. 70 bars in a 2L for my CCR is not much, I think.

So for now I'll just wait to save up some money for a booster, and in the mean time, fill my cylinders at work.

Cheers
Bo Urskov

Mark Chase

Maby its me but 100bar ish is the minimum I would use in a 3ltr for my CCR. I generaly get through 50ish bar during a dive.

I started out with a single 15ltr as a gas bank and it was OK but a J is a lot better.This only worked if the fill man would charge by the ltr and he had a booster pump. I got fed up with going to the shop and being told the could only fill to 150 because thats all they had left in their Js

Allow £1000 for a booster whips and a decanting loom with presure gauge.

ATB

Mark

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Is it supposed to make that noise ?

I took my unit to the dive shop and demanded they bolt on every thing that would fit.

Join my elite diving teem and get a Tshirt

"Doing It Chasey"Hammerhead Eccr Advanced Diving System

colinicky

Would agree with most people that it is a luxury rather than essential .For me the reason to get one was the hour + drive each way to the nearest dive shop .
To give you another view of it though :-

I have a J with only 30 bar in ,my 3L O2 has 90 bar in .using my jetsam baby booster I now have 140 bar in my 3L ,this took 3x 15L of drive gas !

My 2nd J had 150bar in ,after equalising I then pumped my 3L to 210 bar & only used 60bar of drive gas from a 15L .

HTH

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Colin

I trust my rebreather completely ,
I just don't trust the user

onwards & downwards

KevDD

You could always get a stanstead electric booster and not worry about the drive gas.

lolwhat

Looks pretty interesting:
Gas booster DTB10c
Too bad they don't have a U.S.-spec (120V/60Hz) motor.

4ster

I am really happy I purchased a booster, it is a very useful tool for getting Rebreather cylinders full. Although an electric booster is more efficient, a more flexible setup is to run the booster from a portable compressor when you have electric power and from your OC buddy's used cylinders when no power is available.

I dive an SCR so need to mix Nitrox. Driving to the closest shop to get a fill (usually twice, once to drop it off and another trip to pick it up) was taking a lot of time since it was an hour away.

Now I have a large O2 cylinder and a couple of my Nitrox OC cylinders to store oxygen clean air that I use with the booster to partial pressure blend. And it costs just pennies a fill ...as long as I don't add the capital cost of the extra equipment.

It is probably because I am simple, but I find the process of getting the mix "just right" is almost as fun as using it. And there is something satisfying about hearing the booster cycle.

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Steve
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