Oxygen gauge Dial - Can be very dangerous

Pierre Farrugia · 10th October 2005, 11:35

Hello all,

This weekend after a couple of dives and oxygen down to 70bar during the dive, during deco noticed that now I have 150bar ???? I know a CCR is economical on gas but adding you gas maybe too much! Today I checked again , and still had 150bar, drained oxygen from system and still had about 70bar. On dismantling I found out that the oxygen dial came loose and turned!! Keep an eye on this as you can be diving with low oxygen !!! Dismantled gauge and removed face plate and now it's ok....till now but I will keep an eye on it!

decoweenie · 10th October 2005, 11:44

Pierre,

I will show you a trick from personal experience...

When I teach OC tech courses, I train the students to "know" the approximate SPG pressure at all phases of the dive. It is useful when diving in overhead environment with multi-tasks (i.e. scooter, CCR, etc).

I would approach them anytime during the dive and ask for the pressure, and they would have to signal their estimated value before looking it up. After a while, everyone learnt to be really close.

On CC, you could do the same by knowing approximately how much average O2 used per minute. And by simply looking at the depth gauge to see the RT, you should be able to estimate the SPG reading.

This way, you learn to keep track of your SPG reading without having to refer to them all the time, and especially useful when you have a problem (like you did).

ADDited:

To find out the average liter of O2 consumed / minute, I went thru a lengthy process of logging the amount of gas used and the dive time. All in total amount. For example, 140 liters of O2 for the 70-min dive. Etc.

Then I averaged the total values over the few hundred hours of diving to get my estimates.

For me personally, it is around 2 free-liters/minute of O2 including consumption and wastage.

For the diluent side, it just happen to be in the same range, but in my case it is quite unique that we tend to dive the same deep wrecks over and over each week-end.

Pierre Farrugia · 18th October 2005, 19:25

Hello,

Here are the pics of my faulty gauge

Gauge showing 200bar when cylinder is empty

Gauge showing 300bar when there is 100bar
What I am moaning about , it's just a 200bar error

10th October 2005, 11:35	#1 (permalink)
Pierre Farrugia Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Malta Posts: 636	Oxygen gauge Dial - Can be very dangerous Hello all, This weekend after a couple of dives and oxygen down to 70bar during the dive, during deco noticed that now I have 150bar ???? I know a CCR is economical on gas but adding you gas maybe too much! Today I checked again , and still had 150bar, drained oxygen from system and still had about 70bar. On dismantling I found out that the oxygen dial came loose and turned!! Keep an eye on this as you can be diving with low oxygen !!! Dismantled gauge and removed face plate and now it's ok....till now but I will keep an eye on it! __________________ Pierre Farrugia My wife told me " If you don't quit diving I'm going to leave you" My reply " God, I'll miss you" www.atlam.org www.divemed.com
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10th October 2005, 11:44	#2 (permalink)
decoweenie Crash Test Dummy Current Rebreather/s: Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Other CCR Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Cairo Posts: 5,487	Pierre, I will show you a trick from personal experience... When I teach OC tech courses, I train the students to "know" the approximate SPG pressure at all phases of the dive. It is useful when diving in overhead environment with multi-tasks (i.e. scooter, CCR, etc). I would approach them anytime during the dive and ask for the pressure, and they would have to signal their estimated value before looking it up. After a while, everyone learnt to be really close. On CC, you could do the same by knowing approximately how much average O2 used per minute. And by simply looking at the depth gauge to see the RT, you should be able to estimate the SPG reading. This way, you learn to keep track of your SPG reading without having to refer to them all the time, and especially useful when you have a problem (like you did). ADDited: To find out the average liter of O2 consumed / minute, I went thru a lengthy process of logging the amount of gas used and the dive time. All in total amount. For example, 140 liters of O2 for the 70-min dive. Etc. Then I averaged the total values over the few hundred hours of diving to get my estimates. For me personally, it is around 2 free-liters/minute of O2 including consumption and wastage. For the diluent side, it just happen to be in the same range, but in my case it is quite unique that we tend to dive the same deep wrecks over and over each week-end. __________________ "...after a while you get bored offering advice to a bull that like to keep butting the fence with its head rather than walking through the open gate..." - Rebreather World PM
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18th October 2005, 19:25	#3 (permalink)
Pierre Farrugia Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Malta Posts: 636	Hello, Here are the pics of my faulty gauge Gauge showing 200bar when cylinder is empty Gauge showing 300bar when there is 100bar What I am moaning about , it's just a 200bar error __________________ Pierre Farrugia My wife told me " If you don't quit diving I'm going to leave you" My reply " God, I'll miss you" www.atlam.org www.divemed.com
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