Not Everyone drops their valuables in just 5' of water...Hookah Answers

We have a pretty good detecting club out here in the Okanagan and almost every beach is clean as a whistle.  After any event around here, they come out like girls at a LuLuLemon sale!.. Not sure if that is how you spell LuLu, but that is what it sounds like, and if you have girls in your family, you know what I'm talking about.

Any how.. past about 5' out from any beach is .... virgin territory.. The barrier there is... breathing!

Never-mind the enormous expense of all the equipment, the time to get certified and such, the crux is time!  Any one who does scuba diving know that unless you have a 4k HP compressor at home to fill your tanks, it's about 10 bucks for about 45 minutes at 15-20 feet.

We all know that time speeds up when your detecting... and it goes even faster when your underwater!

On top of that you need a special detector that can withstand the pressure and work for you!

So what is the answer....a hookah system...

But if you have looked into this you will realize that $$$ does not grow on trees and the makers of these systems seem to think so!...unless you look a little closer and find out what they are really selling...

Here are the major sellers of hookah:

Airline by jsink...  Priced high but they do use good compressors... and are great for salt water, expect to pay 2k for a 1/2 decent one...

Just a side note here.. I tend to lean away from the gas powered ones only because I don't like to draw attention to myself when doing this.. the gas ones do make a fair bit of noise.. and noise travels pretty fast over water.

Airline does have a very good 12v DC system using Thomas compressor..and a pop valve for just over a G-note....

Brownies 3rd lung... they copied Thomas compressors, but their system is very nice....But expect to sell a kidney or two.. if you want one of these systems

Octopump Australian model...my experience... run away fast...pm me and i can tell you why..it has to do with QC on the breathing system...

Hookahmax... cheap systems put together from stuff you buy off a shelf..for example they do have a 12vDC model for close to 1K, but really if you look close at it, the compressor is an offroad Eagle compressor you can get for 300 buck retail...and the reg is cheap..

Keene engineering.. Very good quality pump!.. but pricy and most of the systems are Gas.. unless you jerry rig a Electric motor to it

Gulfstreamhookah.. come on!.. its a $100.00 Husky compressor strapped to a cheap reg!..something about trusting HomeDepot with my life is a bit much!

If your like me (cheap) but still would like to stay alive breathing underwater, you can put together a nice system for under 500 bucks that would rival any of the ones listed above! But you must understand what you are doing because you can kill yourself easy

I know that there are several other types out there... but most of the little known ones are cheaply made but not cheaply priced!

*********First and Foremost, get your scuba certification*************************

Your life depends on what you know....so know as much as you can!  We are not designed to breath underwater, and you must understand why!

Nest post will explain what you need.. specs wise to build a good safe scuba hookah

ps...No your garage compressor will not work!...trust me!

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The air filtration has been spoken of ref: air filter prior to compression. Air has the capacity to carry free water. Free water condensation takes place when air cools from expansion when changing to a lower pressure, as well as when warm air is met by a colder situation, being another air mass or material.

During compression, air temperature is heated considerably higher than the ambient (outside) temperature. The compressed and heated air flow is then constrained by the very pipe along which it is travelling, until it enters an area where it can expand, the expansion causes it to cool rapidly and water condensate forms.

Thus, any type of filter is an expansion chamber that can permit water condensation to occur. If there is adequate cooling in the after piping prior to reaching the filter, then the amount of water condensate is lessened.

Hence the need for a compressor to have not only a fan type pulley that itself keeps the cylinder head and compressed air as cool as possible, but the compressed air needs to be cooled with the aid of a water coil over the side of the boat, lowering it to 10 degrees below ambient if possible, prior to filtration.

Wet air or dry air ? - the air that we breathe is natural, moist and soothing to throat and lungs, and if dried out too much, we would suffer respiratory problems. Air being compressed will by this very cooling after expansion process dry it out to a point drier that when it entered the compressor. "How dry" is dry enough to filter it of its impurities, and "why dry" at all?

Moist air causes metal cylinders to rust. Diving tanks and storage air receivers have for many years been of mild steel, as have air receivers in compression charging facilities. To minimise the problem of rust contamination of these cylinders and air tools etc, "agencies" do their best to supply "dry air," not considering the unnatural implications for the "breather."

Certainly water carrying oil vapour needs be separated as does the oil as much as possible prior to final filtering. If it was not, then the absorption capacity of the final filter pads & activated charcoal would not last long.

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Good info. If I decide to get into a hookha system , I would just buy one of the systems you mentioned. I like the Brownies.

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Hi Viracocha ! I am impressed with yours knowledge of the Hookah system ! Well , I have got very basic so far , but I am very interested in building one ! Diving itself is not a problem as I am old diver and diving instructor , but never  tried Hookah system yet. I am also quiet capable of constructing things and like doing it !  But I am living in South Africa , so most of the brands and names are not available here ! Could You , please , direct me to the schematics and practical informations on constructing such a system ? Regards and happy diving , Silki . 

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and I see that you have some good technical expertise with these units.

I can see and would agree for the benefits of using a Hookah-rig. I think that it's much less cumbersome and frees the diver to be able to actually maximize the reason for using them in the 1st place.

One can dive virtually a extended time with a compressed air Scuba tanks at 1 ATM or the 1st atmosphere or approx 33.4 feet of depth. Some say you can dive all day long within that 1st ATM of depth, but you deal with the cumbersome Scuba system and equipment, so Hookah rigs do present a much enjoyable alternative especially in metal detecting under water.


Great topic and info mate,  
Jim

		Quote:			Posted by Viracocha
	Here is the Danger for using the wrong breathing hose.  If you dont use qualified breathing hose than you are breathing in toxic fumes and or oils that will lead to breathing difficulties or death.. there is no way around this..the compressor hose you see at a hardware store will not do! period. Good breathing hose can be found on e-bay or .. in my case.. Al's Hose n All for about 2 bucks and under per foot. Here are the specs for the hose: When a hose has no airflow passing along it, the whole hose volume is static with a balanced pressure, ie; 120 psi. As soon as one end is opened as occurs when breathing in, there is a pressure drop at this point, and the whole air mass in the pipe flows along its length to take up the drop in pressure. The rate of flow and its volume in feet per second depend on the pressure as well as the diameter of the pipe. The smaller the hose diameter, and the longer its length, the more "pressure loss" and "air delivery delay" to diver results due to friction. This pressure loss causes a "slow down" of the air flow as it commences to move from a standstill when you breath in. This has the effect of restricting the volume of passing air to the diver at the "moment" of inhaling. An adequate volume means that you are "comfortable," any lack in volume results in a negative "suck" on the divers part, leading to distress. The area of a "hole in the pipe," its circle area, is as follows: 3.14 x radius squared. 8 mm air delivery hose - 3.14 x 4 x 4 = 50 mm. 10 mm air delivery hose - 3.14 x 5 x 5 = 78 mm 16 mm air delivery hose - 3.14 x 8 x 8 = 200 mm The larger the hose internal diameter, the easier the air will flow. If you are finding any difficulty with breathing, then immediately rise up to shallower water. The fault may be one of many causes. But it is for sure the direct result of a lack of necessary volume of air to you personally at the depth of your dive operation. The fault may be a compressor that has not got the capacity to deliver the additional air volume needed as you go deeper. It may be that the filter system is blocked. Or it may be that your air line cannot accommodate the extra volume of air flow needed. If you are "sharing" the same feeder line, you need an adequate volume of air. If your going to go deeper than 30' you need a reservoir after the compressor to give you the reserve pressure you need

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