Scuba Diving Gifts – Spare Air?
Me
What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.
Scuba Diving Gifts – I’ve got a spare air tank free for a gift. It’s never been used. I still need to get better at swimming to take scuba lessons. So I’m not going to take lessons for at least a year. It needs a hydrostatic check soon. There are similar tanks going for 300 dollars on ebay. Should I sell mine? When I take lessons would a spare air tank be usefull? Would I be better off selling it and buying a new one when I get better at Scuba diving? Or should I keep it and use it for occasional snorkling?
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Comments on Scuba Diving Gifts – Spare Air?
3:40 am
A hydro should run you around $25 or so, give or take $5. To be brutally honest, if I’m diving a second air supply (commonly called a pony tank), I’m using at least a 13cf tank.
Assuming you have the 3 cf may give you 3-5 minutes of air.
With a 3 minute safety stop, and your ascent time, there goes that 3-5 minutes.
Me, personally, I would sell it, and put the proceeds towards a real pony setup.
5:03 am
You are talking about the “Spare Air” emergency tank (quite small) that is supplemental to a regular Scuba Tank, correct?
That’s a nice piece of emergency gear for an experienced diver, but for a beginner just learning to dive its really unneccessary.
Do not use it for snorkeling. Breathing compressed air at even snorkeling sort of depths without proper training can cause you injury or even death. If you are doing breath-hold diving, just do it that way and don’t even consider using the compressed air to supplement with.
If its in unused condition but near its hydro date, that makes it worth a lot less than $300 I’m afraid. If it passed a hydro and visual inspection, and had the built-in regulator serviced, then it might be worth closer to that. But brand new ones, bought directly through the company, go for $300 to $340, depending on model. An older model even in perfect condition might bring half that.
6:08 pm
Get the hydro. It’s cheaper unless it turns out that the spare air has a fault in either the tank or the reg( highly doubtful unless you’ve been chucking it around). Keep it up to date, take your course. DON’T use it until you’ve taken your OW and understand how compressed gases can affect your body.
When you’re on or have taken your OW and find that the holster doesn’t get in the way with how you’ve configured your rig, there’s no reason NOT to have it tag along with every dive you make, either on course or afterwards. You’ve got one, use it if your rig allows. Silly not to.
And no, a spare air on course won’t help you unless you actually experience an issue where it could come into play. Doubtful. You’ll be trained to deal with an out of air without having the luxury of a spare air. That’s what a Spare Air is, a luxury. Nice to have if it’s possible have one set up safely on your rig and it doesn’t interfere with anything.