Posted: 6/26/2023 8:40:35 AM EDT
[Last Edit: IceDiver][Edited]
|
Despite my username I haven't been an active diver for awhile. I do have a very basic setup that I use once or twice a year checking my mooring or for someone else at the lake. This year my tank hydro expired and I don't have any place near me to have it done so i borrowed a tank to get stuff done. I started down the rabbit hole of putting together a cheap surface supplied system that I wouldn't have to deal with a tank at all. A battery air compressor, some hose and a basic 2nd stage seems like an easy solution since I would never be diving more than 20 ft for 10-15 minutes. I have a ton of ryboi one batteries and was considering buying their compressor. battery compressor Think it would work? I know I'm going to die, I would just prefer it not be sucking on a ryobi with a hose in my mouth. |
AR15 Minecraft - Valhalla.sx - AR15GLOCK21
|
Im not saying it cant be done but certain things I dont fuck around with. My other guess is to do it right, by the time you acquire everything, pay shipping, time to build, etc. your savings will be rather minimal and then again see previous point. You can almost find someone selling a Brownie third lung used - why not just go there? Or if you are just doing short dives get a little pony bottle or one of those rescue tanks where the regulator is right on it. |
|
Originally Posted By Number1gun: The ghost of Titan lives on. Wrong type of compressor. Chemical coating inside the air hose. Air intake too close to the exhaust if a gas compressor is used. ?? My advise is buy actual dive, breathable air designed components. The air must be clean. I'm not super concerned with coating inside of air hose either. Yes some plastics are nasty but it won't be under any real amount of pressure and it can be cleaned internally first if necessary. |
AR15 Minecraft - Valhalla.sx - AR15GLOCK21
|
Originally Posted By GeneralDisaray: Im not saying it cant be done but certain things I dont fuck around with. My other guess is to do it right, by the time you acquire everything, pay shipping, time to build, etc. your savings will be rather minimal and then again see previous point. You can almost find someone selling a Brownie third lung used - why not just go there? Or if you are just doing short dives get a little pony bottle or one of those rescue tanks where the regulator is right on it. Nobody in my neck of the woods is selling used stuff like this. Pony bottle requires a fill station and yearly visual and 5 year hydro testing which is why I'm in the situation to begin with. 
|
AR15 Minecraft - Valhalla.sx - AR15GLOCK21
|
Originally Posted By IceDiver: I have everything I would need already except a battery powered compressor like I linked initially so cost would be under $200. Nobody in my neck of the woods is selling used stuff like this. Pony bottle requires a fill station and yearly visual and 5 year hydro testing which is why I'm in the situation to begin with. Originally Posted By IceDiver: Originally Posted By GeneralDisaray: Im not saying it cant be done but certain things I dont fuck around with. My other guess is to do it right, by the time you acquire everything, pay shipping, time to build, etc. your savings will be rather minimal and then again see previous point. You can almost find someone selling a Brownie third lung used - why not just go there? Or if you are just doing short dives get a little pony bottle or one of those rescue tanks where the regulator is right on it. Nobody in my neck of the woods is selling used stuff like this. Pony bottle requires a fill station and yearly visual and 5 year hydro testing which is why I'm in the situation to begin with. Understood - I still go back to my previous statement. There are a lot of places I will cut corners and some of them I wont. Anything mission critical I will not - I'd rather not have than short cut it. But thats just me and my knowledge base. |
|
Originally Posted By IceDiver: Despite my username I haven't been an active diver for awhile. I do have a very basic setup that I use once or twice a year checking my mooring or for someone else at the lake. This year my tank hydro expired and I don't have any place near me to have it done so i borrowed a tank to get stuff done. I started down the rabbit hole of putting together a cheap surface supplied system that I wouldn't have to deal with a tank at all. A battery air compressor, some hose and a basic 2nd stage seems like an easy solution since I would never be diving more than 20 ft for 10-15 minutes. I have a ton of ryboi one batteries and was considering buying their compressor. battery compressor Think it would work? I know I'm going to die, I would just prefer it not be sucking on a ryobi with a hose in my mouth. My 2 concerns are setting the right intermediate pressure for the second stage and air purity. The first can be fixed with a quality air pressure regulator. Even with an oilless compressor, some contaminants are still present that can be caught by a quality micromesh air filter. Even with this setup, you still want some form of bailout air, because I promise you, the failure will happen AFTER you exhale. I learned this the hard way using a Brownie's. |
<placeholder for something good in the future></placeholder>
|
I have seen a few wild setups before as well as the usual purpose built ones. Add an inline filter, which are fairly cheap and are on ebay etc. If you go cheapo hose route, you will need to wash them out (simple green works). The 2nd stage would need to be able to be tuned to about 50 psi (vs 110-150 psi). There are hookah specific regs for this reason. You will be limited with the 1 gallon reserve tank. It will be fairly easy to over work it and be short on breath ( not good lol). Obviously, you will be limited to 1 atm, but you say 20' so you should be good. Maybe u gonna die dunno. |
|
Does the CFM of that ryobi compressor fit the requirement? I'd look at that before anything. Beyond that, i'd be sore tempted to put some sort of filtration at the output of the compressor. Which reduces CFM. Here is the link to Ryobi's site which is silent on CFM. only says up to 120 PSI. Which is suspicious. One review says "it runs framing nailer for a few nails." 80 cubic foot bottle lasts about an hour if you're easy. So... 1 CFM-ish to breathe, maybe? And figure quadruple if you're working hard. I'd take a good hard look at why hookah compressors are as expensive as they are. |
|
Originally Posted By TinLeg: Does the CFM of that ryobi compressor fit the requirement? I'd look at that before anything. Beyond that, i'd be sore tempted to put some sort of filtration at the output of the compressor. Which reduces CFM. Here is the link to Ryobi's site which is silent on CFM. only says up to 120 PSI. Which is suspicious. One review says "it runs framing nailer for a few nails." 80 cubic foot bottle lasts about an hour if you're easy. So... 1 CFM-ish to breathe, maybe? And figure quadruple if you're working hard. I'd take a good hard look at why hookah compressors are as expensive as they are. I have no illusions that this would be an ideal setup. I just want something that I can dive on my mooring at the lake to check things out without having to frig with a tank and visuals, hydro etc. If I had a dive shop closer than 30 minutes away I would prob just buy a new 40 cu tank and forget about it. |
AR15 Minecraft - Valhalla.sx - AR15GLOCK21
|
Originally Posted By IceDiver: I have no illusions that this would be an ideal setup. I just want something that I can dive on my mooring at the lake to check things out without having to frig with a tank and visuals, hydro etc. If I had a dive shop closer than 30 minutes away I would prob just buy a new 40 cu tank and forget about it. Wait, you’re going through all this trouble just to avoid driving 30 min to a dive shop? |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
|
Originally Posted By Marie: Wait, you're going through all this trouble just to avoid driving 30 min to a dive shop? I was going to just buy a new tank since the closest place to have my tank hydro done is about 3 hours away one way. I would probably dive a little more if I had easy access to air fills. |
AR15 Minecraft - Valhalla.sx - AR15GLOCK21
 Cheap Hookah! We build a Surface Air Breathing System. |
|
Just drop your tank off at the shop, and let them outsource the hydro. Sure, they'll up charge a little bit, but not as much as 5 additional hours of driving. Considering you get VIP and a fill too, it's not a bad deal. Surface supply systems are neat, but you won't break even on one for at least 5 years. |