neoprene wetsuits shrink when not used. Actually all clothes seem to shrink over a period of years.
Homemade compressor breather for bottom cleaning???
- Thread starter Maldonia
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Been doing it for a while. My neighbor had a smalll 1 gallon AC with 125 psi and I used to use his. He moved away so I bought my own from Granger. It's a oilLess AC with 1 gallon aluminum tank with max 135 psi. It's very small and light weight and fits nicely in my small laz. I got it for about $200. I got the regulator for it but found out later I just needed the Oct piece like you were told.
All this talk about lungs and all, just remember to exhale when coming up. Not very hard.
And yes, that's what the divers who clean the boats and change zincs do.
So many na sayers
All this talk about lungs and all, just remember to exhale when coming up. Not very hard.
And yes, that's what the divers who clean the boats and change zincs do.
So many na sayers
the "cleaner" at my last marina used a porter cable oilless compressor, but he had a couple of filters on it, one for oil and one for other stuff, 1 micron he said. he used a power washer and took pictures when he finished. I plan on getting certified and using a hooka.
i bet ben franklin would have made his own equipment.
i bet ben franklin would have made his own equipment.
Franklin-So you use just the compressor and the second stage mouth piece connected by a hose?
And you don't use a first stage regulator?
For those that aren't really into this kind of thing the first stage mounts on top of the tank and just looks like a metal valve with a knob on it. The second stage is the piece that goes in your mouth.
The first stage knocks the pressure down from 3000 to an intermediate pressure, but I guess if you are only pumping 125 psi you may not need a first stage.
If any of you REAL scuba divers know what the intermediate pressure is please let me know. I am a novice and not really up on the tech side.
And you don't use a first stage regulator?
For those that aren't really into this kind of thing the first stage mounts on top of the tank and just looks like a metal valve with a knob on it. The second stage is the piece that goes in your mouth.
The first stage knocks the pressure down from 3000 to an intermediate pressure, but I guess if you are only pumping 125 psi you may not need a first stage.
If any of you REAL scuba divers know what the intermediate pressure is please let me know. I am a novice and not really up on the tech side.
The first stage attaches to the tank valve and reduces the tank pressure (anywhere from 1800 to 4500 psi max) down to an intermediate pressure of 125 to 150 (depends on the specs of the particular regulator brand/model) that then feeds the 2nd stage. The 2nd stage reduces intermediate pressure to ambient pressure.
Thanks Gary- I am going to peruse home depot and lowe's this weekend and see what they have. I'm off to the boat right now. I hope this is my last time renting scuba gear. I am going to try coating the prop with marine wheel bearing grease to try to stem the growth.
I am just wondering if someone is NUTS even thinking about making something like this? Maybe we are just getting bs'ed? You can purchase one of these in a 12vdc model for a little over $900 and you may live to tell about it.
http://www.airlinebyjsink.com/the-hows/electric-powered/e160.aspx
I would think you can get one for even less on ebay or at a local dive shop. They quite often sell used stuff too.
http://www.airlinebyjsink.com/the-hows/electric-powered/e160.aspx
I would think you can get one for even less on ebay or at a local dive shop. They quite often sell used stuff too.
I am a "do it yourself-er", CHEAP, a long time scuba diver and now scuba instructor. Now, having said that, with what I know, there is NO WAY I would try a home made setup like has been discussed. I would even be reluctant to use a commercially made product without insuring that I had GOOD surface support to monitor things. There are too many things that could go wrong and cause serious injury or death.
The reason they can get $900
plus for one of those 12 volt rigs is because everyone believes that you will kill yourself with the home made units. Like I said earlier I've been using one for about 7 years. I am thinking about getting a new compresser this year though. Of course, use caution, think about what you are doing, I don't go deeper then 20 feet and then only to pick up my tool that I dropped. Mostly 3 to 5 feet to clean the bottom. You would be a fool to do the Mike Nelson SEA HUNT (I think maybe I just dated myself) type of diving. Come up slowly, don't hold your breath, have someone topside, learn the dive tables.
Tom
s/v GAIA
plus for one of those 12 volt rigs is because everyone believes that you will kill yourself with the home made units. Like I said earlier I've been using one for about 7 years. I am thinking about getting a new compresser this year though. Of course, use caution, think about what you are doing, I don't go deeper then 20 feet and then only to pick up my tool that I dropped. Mostly 3 to 5 feet to clean the bottom. You would be a fool to do the Mike Nelson SEA HUNT (I think maybe I just dated myself) type of diving. Come up slowly, don't hold your breath, have someone topside, learn the dive tables.
Tom
s/v GAIA
Long ago in a galaxy far, far away when I was young and stupid, I got myself committed to fiberglassing the top of a cleaned out sewage tank of a 100 foot steel schooner. I bought a small paint air compressor and hooked it up to an oxygen mask that was in the ship's first aid stores. I crawled into the tank and had a helper bringing me cans of mixed resin to pass down through the hatch. I was working away when I noticed that my vision was shrinking down to a small area in the middle, classic tunnel vision. I scrambled out fast and collapsed half in and half out of the tank. When I recovered, I discovered that my helper had set the bucket of resin down right next to the air intake on the compressor and gone up on deck to talk to his girlfriend and forgotten all about me.
I know the air in a scuba tank has been filtered many times. The quality of the air from a compressor and it's moisture content would be my only concern.
I know I'm new to sailing/boating. This is only my second season, but when I pulled my boat last October my bottom was pretty clean after 4+ months on a mooring. I used a 100.00 can of West Marine CCP Ablative paint. A light pressure wash and it looked looked it was just painted. Why do some boats look like they have been floating for 20 years and others come out clean? Is it a product of the area?
I know I'm new to sailing/boating. This is only my second season, but when I pulled my boat last October my bottom was pretty clean after 4+ months on a mooring. I used a 100.00 can of West Marine CCP Ablative paint. A light pressure wash and it looked looked it was just painted. Why do some boats look like they have been floating for 20 years and others come out clean? Is it a product of the area?
It is a machine not a genie making air for you to breathe! I bet you guys only buy green giant peas because you just can't trust that black and white can.
I would trust my life to a system I built before I would trust my life to a cheap ebay made in china with lead based mouth piece hookah scuba that's probably going to fail in the box on it's way from Cheng Shin.
The fear of the unknown is all this is about.
I would trust my life to a system I built before I would trust my life to a cheap ebay made in china with lead based mouth piece hookah scuba that's probably going to fail in the box on it's way from Cheng Shin.
The fear of the unknown is all this is about.
homemade compressor
Even poorly maintained commercial dive compressors can provide bad air.
Carbon Monoxide traces have been found in scuba tanks.
Traces of oil and other contaminants as well.
If I were going to use a home made unit, I would find someplace to occasionally check the air for contaminants. Just as a commercial unit should be.
Your local fire dept. usually has someplace test their scba eq.
I worked in a dive shop that used a converted air compressor like what they use to run jack hammers. The air was tested often and found to be very clean and dry. BTW A synthetic food grade oil was used in the place of the normal oil. The compressor was a joy compressor with a gasoline 4 cy. engine. They used it to fill tanks at remote dive sites.
great care was taken to maintain the compressor and to insure the intake was upwind from exhaust and ect.
Even poorly maintained commercial dive compressors can provide bad air.
Carbon Monoxide traces have been found in scuba tanks.
Traces of oil and other contaminants as well.
If I were going to use a home made unit, I would find someplace to occasionally check the air for contaminants. Just as a commercial unit should be.
Your local fire dept. usually has someplace test their scba eq.
I worked in a dive shop that used a converted air compressor like what they use to run jack hammers. The air was tested often and found to be very clean and dry. BTW A synthetic food grade oil was used in the place of the normal oil. The compressor was a joy compressor with a gasoline 4 cy. engine. They used it to fill tanks at remote dive sites.
great care was taken to maintain the compressor and to insure the intake was upwind from exhaust and ect.
I sure am glad that no one told Jacques Cousteau he had to get certified before he and Émile Gagnan developed the first auqua lung— which made lengthy underwater exploration possible for the first time.
Read, Learn and put in enough pool time (clear water) until you work out the bugs and feel confortable. Then buy some life insurance and tell your wife and kids you love them.
Keep your bottom clean.
Read, Learn and put in enough pool time (clear water) until you work out the bugs and feel confortable. Then buy some life insurance and tell your wife and kids you love them.
Keep your bottom clean.
All of this concern for air quality!!!! We have an OZONE alert for most of the summer. It is hard to imagine air much worse than LA or Birmingham in the summer. Almost like breathing out of an auto's tail pipe. Also if you are 5 or 10' deep and the air stops......my goodness you would have to swim 5-10' to the surface. Get real there are real risks in life but breathing a little compressed air 5' deep is not a great risk compared to interstate driving or dodging traffic while walking.
But hopefully you will learn how to drive BEFORE you do your interstate driving (not learn as you go) and I have heard of MANY pedestrian deaths......YOUR POINT IS WELL TAKEN BUT NOT THE WAY YOU MEANT IT!
Before I put in my 2 cents. I've been diving, scuba and hookah, since 1960. Both for pleasure and work as a marine archeologist.
My setup is an very old diaphram compressor run by a 12V wheelchair motor, that I've been using since the early 80's. Now this thing will only put out about 30 PSI but has great volume. Being a rubber diaphram there is no oil. Yes, oil will KILL you.
I took a single hose regulator, removed the first stage and also removed the second stage. One of the regulators just required unscrewing and removing the spring and levers, the other required cutting the spring and levers out. This turns it into a free-flow system.
I put fittings on the compressor and regulator to use regular garden hose, so the hose is cheap and easy to put together whatever length you need.
A friend has the setup a few have described - An oiless compressor with tank and regulator with the first stage removed. He has to use regular air hose because of the pressure.
Both work fine.
Learn how to use it. Take a scuba course. Please don't just put it all together and jump in if you don't know how. You wouldn't just buy some scuba tanks and gear and jump in, would you? Well, if you would you may well end up just as dead with the scuba gear as the homemade compressor.
Roger illustrated an important point. Make sure the compressor is in a "breathable" area. If 110V, don't set it next to the generator exhaust!
My setup is an very old diaphram compressor run by a 12V wheelchair motor, that I've been using since the early 80's. Now this thing will only put out about 30 PSI but has great volume. Being a rubber diaphram there is no oil. Yes, oil will KILL you.
I took a single hose regulator, removed the first stage and also removed the second stage. One of the regulators just required unscrewing and removing the spring and levers, the other required cutting the spring and levers out. This turns it into a free-flow system.
I put fittings on the compressor and regulator to use regular garden hose, so the hose is cheap and easy to put together whatever length you need.
A friend has the setup a few have described - An oiless compressor with tank and regulator with the first stage removed. He has to use regular air hose because of the pressure.
Both work fine.
Learn how to use it. Take a scuba course. Please don't just put it all together and jump in if you don't know how. You wouldn't just buy some scuba tanks and gear and jump in, would you? Well, if you would you may well end up just as dead with the scuba gear as the homemade compressor.
Roger illustrated an important point. Make sure the compressor is in a "breathable" area. If 110V, don't set it next to the generator exhaust!
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