Re: Surface Supplied Air
March 21, 2000 at 19:14:04
In Reply to: Re: Surface Supplied Air
posted by Charles, Oak Island, NC on March 19, 2000 at 20:00:46
You have more fortitude than I have. I've done lots of SCUBA and just because the pump is oiless it doesn't mean that there won't be contaminants present. Be cautious!! Understand Boyles law of partial pressures and what it does to contaminants as the ambient pressure increases. Pure oxygen at 33' becomes poisonous, while at the surface it is a medical lifesaver. The inside lining of hookah hoses and SCUBA hoses have a special lining that will not 'rot' from the exposure to hot and cold and then enter your lungs in a dust form. Also the first 10' feet of Hookah hose should be one that is high temp treated, because the air coming out of the compressor is hot. I'm for forgetting the fluff and making a hookah rig as cheaply as possible, but at 18', with equipment failure, you can be in some real trouble, perish the thought. Electric is a good idea because you eliminate the worry of Carbon monoxide from internal combustion engine exhaust gas going into the air intake. With some tweaking, any second stage of a SCUBA system should work, but they are set to work at about 100PSI. Most hookah systems, put out between 50-80psi. You can change the spring in the 2nd stage, but every time you breath, you cause fatigue to the spring. Is the spring one designed to cycle 50 thousand times before it breaks, or will it break on the 500th cycle? If it breaks, you have total failure and unless you have a 'bail-out' bottle and know how to use it, there are many things that could happen. By all means, do take a SCUBA course from a certified instructor and learn about the physics and get practical experience before you do it. My wife just took beginning SCUBA, and we probably won't be much deeper than 8', but I do practice what I 'preach' and didn't want her diving without the knowledge and practice she got in her classes. I'm always interested in a better way to do things. Please let me know what you think. (Found a 1953 quarter today in an old housing project.) Cheers!
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