Using of the Inspiration rebreather in practice
If you’re just starting out in rebreather diving, you can be quite concerned about maintenance and service. However, using the Inspiration in practice is not that bad for me. When I started Inspiration diving in 2000, I immediately set up my garage so that I had to lift as little as possible. I was originally quite sceptical about the intensive maintenance because of all that had been predicted to me. Flushing after every dive, new batteries, filling oxygen, it all seemed pretty intensive. In practice, however, it wasn’t so bad. One condition is that you have to get a few things right. Think of transport and how to clean the set at home. I have two containers available especially for the set in which I can mess around with water and disinfectant to my heart’s content. If you had to do this in a bathroom on one or two floors, it all becomes a lot less attractive…. There is one sink in the garage on the floor. Here I rinse the set after the dive and the dirty water can drain through a large drain with a diameter of 80 mm. A bit of sand or some leaves is no problem. The cost of such a basin is around €350.00. To this is added the cost of plumbing, in so far as you cannot do it yourself.
The tray is made of HPE. This is a plastic with very favourable properties for sinks. It does not get dirty because nothing sticks to it. It is UV light- and temperature-resistant and can be moulded into any shape on site. The only disadvantage is that it absorbs a lot of light. It is therefore important to ensure good lighting, such as fluorescent or LED lighting.
Then there is a rail that makes lifting the set unnecessary. If you still need to service your set at 1am at night, you will be very happy with this feature. These rails can be bought in hardware stores everywhere. Take a very solid rail such as the COMER rail, for example. I used type 150 on which you can hang about four (…!) rebreathers.
It is also advisable to choose plastic rollers. First of all, these are less susceptible to corrosion, but they are also cheaper. There are also special rollers for hanging electrical cable. These rollers have an eye in which I hang clothes hangers (in a heavier version for dry suits). This is where I hang pretty much all my diving equipment. And slide along…
Cost of such a rail with rollers ca € 150.
After rinsing, of course, you want to tidy up the set safely. It is also particularly useful to place the set at a good working height. As an older young person with a fair number of miles of double ten in the back, you definitely need to think about this in your old age too! After all, you soon spend a few hours staring at all those hoses, cells, lungs and bottles of polyester. I made a drip tray with an 8 cm high rim for this purpose. The tray stands on a base (40x40x3mm) with height-adjustable legs. This allows me to place the tray on a slope and the further leaking water runs via the yellow hose into a bucket. I also had this table made from HPE. I keep this table as clean as possible, which is very easy with HPE. I dare to change an o-ring here.
The work table with the drip tray costs about €350.
I take care of the refills with 100% oxygen myself. In the Netherlands, it is allowed to store 80 litres of water capacity cylinders inside. Given that oxygen comes in 50 litre cylinders, the manufacturers have cleverly worked this out. Broken cylinders so-called working stock and do not count towards the storage volume. So you can put 1 unbroken and 2 broken cylinders in your shed. With an oxygen service filling hose (cheap at APD) you can now perfectly fill it yourself. Just make sure the cylinders are securely attached so they cannot fall over.
Filling oxygen cylinders requires specific knowledge, which can be learned through an appropriate training course. Such a training course is from the IANTD, for example, and is called “Mixer Blender”. Using oxygen under high pressure is not without risks !!!
Be careful when filling oxygen. Do not let the pressure rise faster than 10 – 20 bar per minute so that the 3-litre bottle does not get hot. Work with clean hands and close the opening of the filling cylinder after use.
Therebreathersite was founded by Jan Willem Bech in 1999. After a diving career of many years, he decided to start technical diving in 1999. He immediately noticed that at that time there was almost no website that contained the history of closed breathing systems. The start for the website led to a huge collection that offered about 1,300 pages of information until 2019. In 2019, a fresh start was made with the website now freely available online for everyone. Therebreathersite is a source of information for divers, researchers, technicians and students. I hope you enjoy browsing the content!