With a number of high profile deaths over the years including some of our own close and personal friends, rebreather diving has gotten a bad reputation but is it really that dangerous?
If you're thinking of switching from open circuit to closed-circuit rebreather diving or CCR, then this is everything you need to consider first.
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An Intro to Rebreather Diving in Under 10 Minutes
#ScubaDiving #RebreatherDiving #TechnicalDiving
***** THANK YOU FOR WATCHING *****
Are you currently diving a rebreather, or looking to learn?
Idk. I always wanted to be a (“underwater welder”) saturated diver. But never truly looked into and didn’t realize that most saturated divers don’t just go down work and go up. Most require a divers bell and they stay down there for a month. I knew it was very dangerous and I was fine with that. But I don’t think I’ll be fine diving with creatures 10 times my size in the pitch black and a round metal ball for 30 days and stay sane.. I’m not even a good swimmer 😂 I’m just interested in diving and possibly make money off of it or even save lives. Who knows what my future holds
@Brief Lean CCR & saturation diving is complete different type of diving application. CCR bounce diving usually stay within the M value limit, where as saturation diving is saturated dive. There are schools out there doing this so called commercial dive training, to be a saturation diver you need to progress from training level 1 to 3. After a year or so & with number of dive logs you will be able to upgrade to be a saturation diver. It will be a challenging journey but rewarding . Wishing you all the best if this is the path you choose for.
Yeah
Yes i am looking at the Liberty sidemount, or KISS sidewinder currently. but know zero about rebreathers.
Going to get lessons next week
Ok I’m jus away to go my open water initial divers course b it I want rebreather is there anything assaying that I can’t do my skuba Tank course then Go straight intorebreather classes after that I aim to go thd cozumel dive meet up with dice talk never test so I’d like to be rebreather qualified and have my open water ticket and dry suit ticket that’s all 10:36 I’m ireally intersted interested in gives some feed back pls regards j
Ye guys ov been following diving for years nos I host lores very easily that’s why I’m opting to go straight for a ccr
Just a side note if anyone is thinking of buying a rEvo rebreather: I just had to pay €1800 for 5 year service, parts and repairs. So that’s a €9,000 rebreather + €2,300 for 2 services, €3000 in training + tanks + every year €350 in new sensors (€70 x 5 ). If you want to dive in Mexican caves, absolutely do NOT buy a rEvo. There are also trim problems that you have to work out on the rEvo. I would advise everyone to look at other brands, especially if you are in the USA. Look at Megalodon, JJ etc.
I tried a simple Drager rebreather on a dive trip. I now realize the air-sucking mammals, who were once my friends, are intruders in a world ruled by the songs of whales.😄
Used a ccr years ago, 95?. The main unit was the ap valves inspiration, it got a bad rep because people started getting clever and putting trimixes in the diluent cylinder and things going wrong at depth then switching to an open circuit unbreathable gas at depth.
OS diving is so easy, I think I’d end up making my own ccr unit if i got into it…
I spoke to a CCR instructor yesterday and he said the exact words. I’m going to do advanced nitrox and deco course first, then I’ll decide which unit to dive on👌
CCRS are going to cause more fatalities because as the price comes down, they will be more available, and I seriously doubt the training will be sufficient.
The first half of the video is this guy repeatedly telling you that CCRs are not the same as open circuit.
I like the idea of ccr as I’ve been using oc for 30 yrs and would love to extend my dive times but not necessarily extend my depths
Most of my dives are around 30 mtrs but usually get around 30 minutes bottom time with ccr I could increase that couldn’t I without incurring long deco which I find really boring here in the UK
Bearing this in mind would I benefit a ccr?
CCR using an air diluent is a great way to extend your dive times and you could do decent bottom times without any deco penalty.
I’m still pondering over the benefits and investment of a CCR -v- utilising 2 x 12L Nitrox tanks. I’d appreciate your thoughts on the plus and/or minus factors of both equipment🤿😎🇦🇺👍
So using your twin setup you must be doing some deco stops even at 30m with ccr you can increase your dive time without the deco
The minus side is down to cost
Is decompression sickness still a thing in CCR?
Yes, the main difference between CCR and Open circuit is that the rebreather can change the gas mix that you’re breathing while underwater to give you the perfect mix at the right time and extend your NDL.
However, it doesn’t eliminate decompression sickness
@Scuba Diver Magazine what is NDL?
@kazue teresa galgo ndl is no dive limit which means no deco or more easily put no deco stop dive but still use safety stops
You should have tried the JJ or Kiss CCR
I would love to try.
Pilots never take off without ticking off a checklist no matter how many 1,000 flight hours experience. Aviation has a great safety record, so if you do it like them, you’re doing it right.
That was great. Thank you so much. CCR does sound daunting but so do most things before you get to better understand them. I’m moving fast into videography. I find however that batteries don’t last long anyway. Still, the silent CCR for recording marine life sounds appealing. Thank you once again. I’ve definitely liked and subscribed.
Love the production value of your videos cudos to the editor. Like, and subscribed. I am thinking about getting a CCR but main concerns are time to set up pre and post dive. Cost per dive. Logistics and how much per year to service. Traveling with them.
Hello and thank you for the video. I am in a researching and learning phase. Do you have a reference for information regarding comparisons pro/cons on the topic of closed circuit vs open circuit bailout setup.
I’ve dove a CCR excessively, I’m about to start doing it again. I was diving it twice a week at Molokai for quite some time. I do think checklists are a crutch, you either know your gear or don’t. I service my gear, I pump my gas / trimix, I boost my own O2. I do not need a shop. I do not trust but 3 people to pump gas for me. A bad pump nearly killed a friend of mine. The reality is these things are death machines, if you are not willing to learn them inside and out your chances of dying are higher. I’ve dove with broken solenoids leaking O2. Just run the unit manually. What you gonna do when it happens during deco? Sit on the boat? Never stop training. Never sit idle. I haven’t done it in 9 years but I’ve stayed on top of it.
At any rate, I dive a mark 15 and own 2 soon to be 3. I also own a inspiration vision. I don’t really dive that thing. I stopped using it when I got the 15. I’d rather dive that manually.
You know you say it’s complicated to operate? Sure I’d buy that. Complicated to deal with when things go wrong? Like, you got a bov? Use it, get off the loop. Get off the damn loop if you don’t know. End the dive, it’s why it’s there. Don’t die, that’s like you’ve just exited to open circuit safety. Done.
Most deaths back then we’re people not wanting to leave the loop. I’ve bailed off, it’s not a big deal. You live to dive another day.
That said if you don’t pay attention? You’ll probably die. Don’t get cocky. You’ll die. Other than that if you can do the math, pass the tests what’s so hard?
Just my opinion. I’ve got a lot of experience, and if in doubt bail out. Always know your ppo2, know your scrubber, know your gas, know your orings and service. Grease with compatible grease. It’s all pretty routine once you do it.
Would you get on a plane where the pilots don’t do their pre-flights? Complancecy kills, and many avoidable deaths happen to highly experinced people who missed one small thing. At the end of the day, its your funeral. But just remember it won’t be you lowering your casket into the grave.
How if you get 100# diluent gas or pure O2?
How many breaths at depth before you pass out or convulse?
No awareness of system failure.
A lot of deaths have occurred because of this….
@john Kapwn planes are far more complicated than a rebreather. Compare to parachute it is more accurate.
I should also note I service my own gear, pumping my own gas, packing my own rebreather all that. So it’s a entire production from start to finish. I’d say it was different if you didn’t pump gas, blend gas, all that.
Risk factor?
In order of risk.
1) pumping O2 to 200bar highly risky.
2) continuous blended trimix and nitrox
3) driving to the dive shop.
4) the actual dive.
5) taking the boat out.
6) carrying my dive gear it exceeds OSHA.
7) the sharks.
Normal people that don’t dive put #7 at #1 people that do dive put #4 at #1 ignoring the rest of the risk.
Ever seen a O2 fire? What happens when a compressor explodes through a concrete wall? Boom goes the tank from cleanliness.
I think it’s important to remember. Also it’s important to remember if I die? It was my fault checklist or not.
With a checklist, my fault I chose to do it.
Without a checklist, my fault as I chose to do it.
See how that works? You’d also think if checklists we’re so great nobody would die.
@Paul Hulatt this is all highly variable. Depends if you have manual rebreather or automatic. What method you use to control the diluent or oxygen is up to you. As to how long? That’s a function of depth. The reality is if you are in that situation? Bail out and call the dive. That’s the real issue. Yeah I know bailout is expensive especially when it’s trimix. Whatever is it worth your life?
There was a time where I was calling every other dive I did meaning once a week. Was having issues, I’d get down and just be like not today. Go the next time? Fine. The next time? Not fine. So you just gotta be aware and end dives. It just depends on what the failure is though.
But yeah if you are on your rebreather doing a couch dive at .7 so it’s safe? You can breathe minutes before you drop to hypoxia.
That fact alone? Means to die from this you must ignore it for many minutes. That’s complacency.
That’s one thing I like about the Divesoft Liberty, it has a built in checklist.
No😂
I just thought about to take the rebreather route after making my cmas course. But really no, I think it’s not worth to even learn a totally different new system to dive and it has to be very accurate to dive safe.
This winter I will buy my very first unit!!! I can’t wait for it 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
watched the entire video and still have no idea what CCR is or how it works
The defining characteristic of open-circuit diving is that no breathing gas is recycled. It goes from the tank into your lungs, and when you exhale, it’s either released into the surrounding sea or transferred to your BCD .
Closed-circuit diving, on the other hand, involves the use of a rebreather, as well as other equipment, that recycles some or all of the breathing gas. Rebreathers contain a mouthpiece through which you inhale and exhale while underwater. When you inhale, gas will travel from your tank to your mouthpiece — just like it does with open-circuit regulators. When you exhale, however, gas doesn’t go into the surrounding sea. Instead, it’s transferred back into your tank so that you can reuse it.
Hope this helped.
@mamdhooh mohamed that is the worst explanation I’ve ever seen.
That’s what training is for.
This video only gives pointers to why a rebreather may or may not be right for you.
As a rebreather diver I can say this. There is no you tube video out there that will teach you to dive a rebreather.
@mamdhooh mohamed Rebreathers have a chemical which remove the CO2 and Nitro exhaled to prevent poisoning from rebreathing the same gases or Nitro bubbles leading to narcosis at depths where a regular diver would experience the illness. However the chemical must be replaced to ensure that enough CO2 is removed when exhaling our a diver can suffocate or be poisoned from breathing the mix.
@Marques de Valeranitro bubble ? 🫧
I only have one reason to consider a CCR and that is the extended dive times. I work with a unit that is increasingly recognizing the need to be capable of conducting rescue or recovery operations in restricted ceiling environments. Our operating procedures forbid restricted ceiling or confined space diving using open-circuit scuba and only CCR or surface supplied diving would apply. From the perspective of mobility, the CCR has its advantages in my mind. Wondering about certifications and reliability/compactness. I’ve been looking at the Triton CCR.
It’s 3-1-22 and I start my P2 classes next week. I’m nervous because some people say they really don’t like ccr diving. I’ve been a diver for 17 years now and have dove all over the world in lakes and oceans. 500 plus total dives, I’m afraid I wont like it and it was not cheap getting a fully loaded prism 2, about 11K USD. another 1500 for the class. I hope I like it. My goal is to take it deeper to places like the Oriskany in Florida. Guess you don’t know until you try it. Any tips on ccr diving. I get the buoyancy issue as well as the check list. Any other tips?
Practice, practice, practice. And don’t run before you can walk, so to speak. You will be certified now, take your time really getting to grips with the unit itself, as well as the buoyancy side of things.
If you dive reefs on vacation then a CCR will be a waste of money. If you dive Caves, going Deep into deco, or photography it’s perfect.
The massive difficulties of taking a ccr on a plane persuaded me to go back to oc.
Ccr grants more benefits in my opinion mainly because of the dive tome, weight, and maneuverability
Well done; very objective and logical.
I am Padi Certified but have not been diving in several years. I feel I have lost my knowledge of diving altogether. I just purchased a home on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and now I’m ready to get back to diving. I would love to learn from scratch how to dive and want to go the CCR route. Do you think this is wise?
No. Unless you’re a technical diver (meaning a minimum of AN/DP certification) there’s almost zero reason for you to consider a CCR.
If u have the money and want to go ccr do it
U can always go back
hell yeah, can’t wait to dive ccr
Why didn’t the cdba navy rebreathers catch on with the sports divers ?. Simple relatively cheap light compact…….etc . The navy was happy using them for over 50 years .
They can only go down to like 70 feet, so they’re pretty useless except for a combat role. There’s no point in staying a long time if you’re not going deep. The only exception is maybe a very long but shallow cave. And if you’re going into a cave, you want something more reliable and expensive
@Charles G The Royal Navy go down to 55 meters according to the diving manual but not sure how long the gas lasts there . Think the soda lime lasts 90 mins as far as i know . Hard to imagine anything more reliable/simple than the navy set tho the endurance might not be enough for cave diving.
@Brian Redmond ohhh I read an article about the USA one
They are oxygen only, and not for deep diving.
@Len M. they use mixture too – the later ones did anyway.
The use of breathing to adjust buoyancy on O/C dives is more of a disadvantage.
I regularly dive and instruct on O/C ad CCR and vastly prefer to dive a CCR.
Whilst I agree that an experienced O/C diver will initially find it difficult to readjust their buoyancy skills on their first CCR dives, possibly up to 10 or more dives; with practice it will become easier and natural, just like someone used to cars with an automatic gearbox driving a car with three pedals.
Diving a CCR means that you can stabilise your position irrelevant to breathing, which is especially useful for photographers (like myself), where I no longer need to hold my breath when taking a shot as there are no bubbles to spook the wildlife, allowing me to take as long as I like to compose before taking the shot.
I’m not sure where you read or heard that about the military divers, but their practices and standards are not the same as sport divers. The military use a range of diving equipment, from open circuit, surface supplied (with comms) , military specification mixed gas rebreathers and oxygen rebreathers for shallow (not greater than 10m) covert operations.
What hasn’t been said (or I’ve missed) in this thread are the other advantages to CCR’s.
Apart from silent diving (no bubbles), dynamic best mix of gas for each depth minimising decompression liability and extending dive times and the use of CCR’s for mixed gas diving which dramatically reducing the cost and wastage of Helium, there is also the benefits of breathing a warm moist gas, not a cold desiccated gas reducing dehydration and which helps keep core body temperature, quite useful in colder waters and, most importantly of all, on a well maintained and dived CCR it can provide a MUCH longer period to resolve issues underwater.
If an O/C a regulator fails, is no further breaths can be taken.
Obviously we should all dive with a completely independent AAS; however, on a CCR, because of the volume of gas in the loop, including the scrubber canister, counterlungs and hoses, a diver can continue to breathe for up to several minutes (at a constant depth) before the PPO2 drops to a dangerous level. These minutes are vital and in many circumstances, allow a complete resolution of the issue or simply time to deploy a bail-out regulator.
That is a huge safety benefit.
I have made most of my dives open-circuit and a few rebreather. As regards the difference, I read that in the UK armed forces, units training combat frogmen and suchlike that use rebreathers, do not like recruits who have sport diving experience.
On a rebreather I found it disconcerting that I could not change my buoyancy by breathing and out.
I have dived CCR’s since 2006, including dives to greater than 100m and cave diving, and am a CCR instructor (N.B. I started diving with BSAC in 1982).
Many of the points you raised in your commentary are entirely valid, especially the requirement & commitment to being fastidious and rigorous with both pre & post dive preparation of the unit and yourselves, and especially the use of checklists.
One of the units I dive, the RedBare, has a comprehensive electronic pre-dive checklist on the primary handset which largely eliminates the need to carry a card or paper checklist. Obviously, this does not obviate the need for detailed strip-down, cleaning & servicing checklists.
On the point of where CCR’s become the best solution to conducting a dive, the deepest open circuit dives I now conduct are to a maximum depth of 45m, and only when required to complete a student’s deep qualifying open circuit dive, such as for the PSAI Advanced Nitrox course.
I do not advocate or conduct open circuit TriMix dives or O/C TX courses anymore, firstly because I do not believe it’s safe or cost effective and also because it’s a waste of the Helium, a finite resource.
A well maintained and correctly used CCR allows a far greater level of safety compared to open circuit; however, the converse is true of a badly maintained unit or one used by a badly trained or undisciplined diver.
BTW, on the point of wasted Helium, and in conjunction with the campaign to stop the tragic injury and death to wildlife, I support the ban of Helium filled party balloons.
We collected two of these balloons floating on the sea whilst diving from our club boat out of Brighton last Sunday.
Google trash islands near you…
we need more hydrogen gas mixtures
I kind of think that people dying are getting eaten. Seriously, going in the ocean is suicide.
Try scuba diving and you will see why we go in the ocean
@scuba cro tell that to the collosal squid thats snipped a limb off. Or maybe it was a leopard seal that took off abit of you. Then maybe some killer whales toss you around for fun.
@Stephen Lyon hahahahahaha I hope you’re kidding, how old are you?
@scuba cro Listen guy, “how old are you”, are you telling me anything I list above is not on the cards? (location/animal may vary)
@Stephen Lyon listen now
1.killer whales have never attacked a single person in the wild
2. leopard seals are located in Antarctica, you need to be an advanced diver and have different specializations to go diving in such extreme conditions, it is true, they can be aggressive because of the territory, but they never hurt the diver, scared definitely, seriously hurt never
3. Diving with Hamblet squids is rare and when diving with them, certain safety rules are followed, for example you are tied to a boat so that you are not dragged into the depths. It is true, they have been known to attack and injure divers and fishermen who catch them if they fall into the sea, thats the reason they have the name “Diablo rojo” which means red devil, but they are at depths that are not available to divers or most submarines.
they pose a real danger at night when they come close to the surface from several thousand feet deep
I had a try dive on a CCR a few years ago and found the unit incredibly hard to breathe initially – It really felt like I was getting no air at all. Once I overcame that, I found it surprisingly easy (within the confines of an easy dive at Vobster) to get used to the buoyancy, but as I don’t dive mixed gas (beyond ADP) the cost is prohibitive for me. It’s not just the units that cost a lot, but the training as well. CCR divers, too, always seem very encumbered with lots of cylinders, even for relatively easy dives that an OC diver might even do on a single cylinder (or a twinset at least). The extended bottom time, though, especially to depth is a very tempting idea.
The KISS Spirit CCR isn’t too bad compared to a nicely featured Divesoft Liberty Heavy even though the Liberty is really nice when fully kitted out, but 15,000+, compared to 6-10,000+.
what a quantity of tanks you will take till 50 meters? one bailout?
If it was hard breathing it means you did not have enough gas in the breathing loop and not enough flow…. Rebreather are usually easier to breath than OC gear…
The 2+ hours of dive time is very tempting.
That was what attracted me to CCRs, along with the silence.
6 hours aka as long as you get tired
They getting better 😂
Is it just me that noticed that Mark’s avatar had hair?!?
Haha 😂 no I couldn’t find a bald one. I’ll try and make it correct in future ;)
Heh! Cheeky!
Smaller cylinders to fill, far less gas use, silent, warm gas to breath, no waste of gas, and its cool. No more needs to be said
Actually a lot needs to be said, explaining to widows and orphans.
Your observations are facile, arrogant, irrelevant and I suspect trollish rather than ignorant. -so I will comment no further …
@Paul Hulatt u dont need diving, its too dangerous, right?
@Paul Hulatt lol nobody asked for nor needs your comment.
i’m confused. why can’t you deflate and inflate your lungs on a ccr for buoyancy
Because your not venting the gas. The gas stays in the loop.
@Scuba Diver Magazine I know this will be a huge muscle memory matter that I will have to deal with if I am able to decide on certifications. I’ve been an open circuit diver since 1990 and I have thousands of dives in every imaginable environment except for ice and deep caves. My lung-aided buoyancy is at Zen and I know I will struggle with using equipment to maintain buoyancy. I am glad for the forewarning.
sounds great in theory but not in reality. definitely not for rec divers. 10 years from now?
Disagree it’s totally for recreational diving with short or no deco and extended dive time
@Barry Francis cost wise. i’m a breather and would love one. hopefully by the time the price comes down the technology to mix the chemicals become simpler and fool proof.