David Pye

Hi all,

Seeking a bit of advice after doing something stupid!

I've been staying at my girlfriends' parents over Christmas as we did a dive in Stoney Cove, Leicestershire, and I chucked the KISS into the car, where it has been until today.

I've found that it's been a bit below freezing most of the week, and the KISS (not stripped down, fully assembled, with used sofnolime in it), along with a spare keg of sofnolime, and a spare cell, have been exposed to the cold. It's probably dipped to around -5' celsius, at WORST during this period.

Apart from the fact that the mouthpiece is frozen shut, and one of the SPGs appears to have enough condensation in it (needs replacing, and has frozen to 0BAR), the cells appear to be outputting sensible readings.

My inclination is to simply refil the scrubber, using the keg of sofnolime that was also in the car, disinfect and clean it as I should have done last week, and do a normal current limitation test on the cells next time I dive to check they are healthy.

I'm curious to know if there is anything else I should do. I know that sofnolime isn't a huge fan of frost, but it doesn't appear (visually) to be any the worse for wear, and I am reluctant to bin it purely because of exposure to -5'C.

Advice/thoughts welcome!

Cheers,

David

jkaterenchuk

I am confused with which part was stupid.

1) Staying with the girlfriend
2) Staying with the girlfriends parents
3) Diving at Stoney Cove
4) Leaving the Kiss in the Car to freeze

Maybe more than one thing :D.

Here is what is says on the MSDS..."Store in a clean dry enviroment. Preferred temperature range 0 to 35C. Avoid freezing and direct sunlight. Keep containers closed."

I would also be concerned about any expansion that might have occurred with trapped water freezing....ADV...OPV and other areas with O Ring seals.

John

pieater

Personally, i'd ditch all the lime.

Still, you'd probably be OK bailing from a CO2 hit wouldn't you? :D

David Pye

Fair enough as an answer.

How about the cells? I am reasonably confident that my predive inspection and test should flag up any problems with orings and adv/opv.

I am assuming that simply testing for 2 point cal and current limitation should suffice for the cells.

Cheers,

David

ScubaAl

As far as frozen absorbent goes you can checkout the Rubicon article, might be of some help. Al

lizardland

I chiselled a 1" plug of ice (OK, now I think about it, it's frozen lung gravy) out of my exhale hose the other morning, this was part of it:



I had just chucked the lot in the back of the truck after a dive, never thought about it and it dropped to about -6 over night. I was diving again next morning so only noticed when I got to the harbour and started unloading my kit. 10min on the dashboard with the heater on was enough to defrost the loop (the shrooms wouldn't seal due to ice), when I squeezed the loop hoses it started snowing out the ends :D

I'd make sure the DSV was thawed before using it as I've torn diaphragms on frozen 2nd stages in the past.

Cells behaved fine, only thing was I had to swap was the battery in the HH as the cold killed it. If I'd had spare lime then I would've changed it but it seemed OK. 70min/50m, water about 7deg on deco, 10deg on the sea bed, everything was fine.

One thing to watch for is latex suit seals, they get very stiff and very prone to damage in the cold.

sadave

Know how you guys feel. It got bloody cold here in Queensland last night, down to 24deg C... devilban:

cramerdn

That's not realy fair, it is summer here. Later in June during winter it will routinely get down to 15-16 at night. brrrrrrrr And of course at that time of the year my better half won't go in the (now stinger free) water because its too cold at 25-26 degrees. This from a woman that grew up in Minsk.

You know if your serious about this girl you probably should have explained that if you were meeting her parents then your "baby" needed to come along as well. They should meet their posible future rebreather-in-law. Maybe you were telling yourself something by not bringing it into their house?

pieater

I can see your lips moving but all I can hear is "blah blah blah blah blah"

cramerdn

Probably can't hear me over the airconditioning noise.