Sorry guys, I’ve got to comment on this one.
[tylin] sent in this “DIY SCUBA” youtube video. These guys used a home shop air compressor with a particle filter so they could “SCUBA dive”. This kid is lucky he didn’t die.
I guarantee there were impurities in the compressed air. A major concern here is carbon monoxide, among others. That filter they used is designed to reduce particles, not scrub out CO, CO2, etc. Hemoglobin loves CO even more than dear old O2, so he could have asphixiated or suffered from convulsions despite having an air supply.
He’s lucky he didn’t blow his lungs out. The second he took a remotely full breath off that hose, he started to float up. If he happened to hold his breath it would have ruptured his lungs and caused all sorts of nasty problems.
He wasn’t wearing a weight belt – furthering the risk of floating up when he took a breath. (in my experience about 90% of people are positively buoyant)
4)Nobody was in the water watching his back. If he’d suffered any complications, no-one was there to make sure he didn’t drown. (Think convulsions, black out, etc)
Sorry for the rant – but this is just effing stupid. Don’t try this crap, ever. I’m an advanced open water diver myself – get training and real equipment.
Update: The video was removed after reading my response to it. I went ahead and puled the youtube link since it’s useless.
When i was a kid i built a diving helmet out of an ozarka bottle. I cut out the bottom and hooked the air compressor up to the top. The air just came in all the time and excess bubbled out the bottom. I had to bolt 50lb of lead to it to get it to sink. I was aware of the danger of carbon monoxide, this is caused by the oil used to lube the compressor cylinder burning. What is needed is an oil free compressor.
I had an intercom to the surface that i could use by pressing a switch with my head.
Anyway i dived a few times and it was fun, but i quickly lost intrest.
The safety advantage of the bell over a scuba regulator is that you breathe normally and since you ware weighted down you have to walk on the bottom. I suppose if you ditched the bell and swam up from deep you could bust a lung though.
Your right; but I think they were trying to build one of these (see link). I first saw one in the Virgin Islands in 1971 and the CO thought scared me shitless then, as it does not. We had one aboard for the guests.
AIR LINE MODEL R260-3 HOOKAH
http://www.divers-supply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AJS0001&click=10117
my stepfather dives with a compressor from homedepot attached to a small filter that has a little bit of water in it, attached to a hose attached to a respirator and i know for a fact he doesn’t modify the compressor and dives for a living(cleaning boats). if someone could explain the modifications or why this kind of setup is unsafe it would be appreciated.
I agree 100%. Except for 1 thing, if those kids somehow attached a certified regulator and used a pump instead of a garage compressor, I could actually see them doing this.
You internet “guard dogs” should get a life. If someone wants to do something stupid, let them. That’s how something is invented or done at the first time anyway. It’s not your thing to whine or complain, if you don’t like it don’t watch it.
OK even tho this thread is so old, and since the video has been removed the rest of us aren’t actually able to see and judge for ourselves, all the nanny knows best bullshit on here has pissed me off enough that I have to comment. Half of the rants on here seem to be purely that tired old chestnut of “get proper training” – I’ve never been trained on how a Hookah system works but I’m confident that I would be able to manufacture one out of common components if I felt so inclined. What is needed is proper understanding of the principles, as long as this guy was using an oil free compressor and had a way of regulating the pressure i.e. open helmet (trying to use a regulator here would require more in depth knowledge than this) and limited his depth to 10m or so then there is really no problem. All this crap about co2 and co etc is again just that as long as the vent for the air intake is upwind and away from the engine. Without seeing the video how can any of the naysayers on here claim to know that the guy doing this hadn’t in fact thought of all this and was well aware of the principles behind what he was doing???
I didn’t see the video, and I know this is old but I have to comment. Commercial “Divers” for things like sea cucumbers in South America use this type of hookah rig all the time. Super ghetto shop compressor hooked up to a regulator. They just dial it in so it’s not too high a pressure. The only thing they die from is the bends from staying down too long, because the system actually works great…
Hey guys, I know this “hack” seemed like a dumb one, but i really wanted to get some critical input on an idea I had to extend free dives for a couple minutes. Would it be dangerous to mod the DIN fitting on a pony bottle so that you could fill it with standard compressed air? And would you NEED to have a first stage regulator, or could you use proper technique and fill your ling capacity according to ambient pressure? Generally when diving you can tell when your lungs capacity has matched the ambient pressure. provided your wearing your weightbelt it seems like a semi filled pony could easily be used to safely inflate your lungs
Years ago, I attempted a similar method to retrieve an anchor in 13 feet of water. I used a couple of weights and winged it. The bottom line is swimming pools can be 13 feet, and anyone competent in equalizing can swim to 13 feet with or without air.