Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Algae CO2 scrubber

["Captain Nemo" <vulcania@interpac.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Fuller" <fullerk@voyager.co.nz>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 2:45 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Algae CO2 scrubber


"I wonder if Jules Verne used it for his under water city, what do you think
Pat ?  Karl."


Well, Karl, you know me: I never know whether to respond seriously, or make
a joke out of things.  In this case, I'll toss a coin...hmmmmm...

About Jules Verne's Underwater City: actually, I don't recall Verne
mentioning one (except the sunken city of Atlantis).  In the book, Nemo had
a base inside a grotto, but I think it was naturally ventilated.  In the
Disney flick, Vulcania was a volcanic island, open to the sky.  No mention
of spirolina there, either.  But who knows?

There was that old movie CAPTAIN NEMO AND THE UNDERWATER CITY starring
Robert Ryan and Chuck Conners; they definitely did have a domed enclosure at
the bottom of the sea; but to tell you the truth, it's been a long time
since I watched it, and I really don't recall what they might have said
about their life support mechanism.

About using spirulina algae as a CO2 scrubber: you know I'm all for
inventive experimentation and creative thought; and I don't want to
discourage anyone from possibly developing an idea that could have merit;
but sometimes there's a lot more to consider than "will it work".

I've always been interested in alternative propulsion for subs: got a
teardrop hull, Corvette 454, and a Jet Drive down in the shop right now.  Am
I in any hurry to put it together?  Nope.  Oh sure, I could probably leave a
barracuda in my wake: but how fast do I really want to go when the
visibility is usually less than 100 feet?

Many things look like they will work, but are they practical in the real
world?  Are there better ways to go?  I go through a thought process like
this with every new idea I come up with: and that's probably why I've got
some 8,000 pages of sub design notes in the closet, and only one working sub
downstairs.  Exotic propulsion is interesting, but the good ol' battery /
e-motor system is simple, inexpensive, reliable, and usually good enough for
my purposes.

And in my own humble opinion, I think the same is true of CO2 scrubbers: I'd
rather just go buy a can of SODASORB, store it in a cool, dry place, and
dump a little in the filter when I want to make a dive.  Simple, cheap,
reliable, and I have a fairly good idea of it's performance.  The Pro's use
it, and that's gotta count for something.  Those guys aint dummies, and they
usually do what they do for good reasons.  I think amateurs like myself are
well-advised to follow their lead, and I try to a.m.a.p.

Honestly, I've never thought about using algae; but it seems to me I'd have
to cultivate it, care for it, have a system to keep it alive, and so forth.
I don't have to do any of that with SODASORB: I just dump it into the
scrubber and it works.  I can carry a lot of it as a backup in case I need
it, too.

So I don't really know: algae may have some real positive qualities: but for
my own personal needs, SODASORB works well enough, and it's one less thing
for me to worry about.  That's why I use it, and I don't think I'll be
changing to a hydroponic system in the foreseeable future.

Oh,  about the VIDEO PERISCOPE everybody's talking about:  I posted a link
to a site that sells something that might work as the basis for such a
system, and it's pretty cheap (check the thread, folks).

On that same line: folks were talking FIXED VS. ROTATIONAL.  Wouldn't be
hard to make it rotational: lots of ways to do it.  Not rocket science at
all.

People were also talking fixed with VARYING VIEW ANGLES.  Back around '85 I
came up with something I called the OMNISCOPE: basically, a video camera
pointed vertically in a housing, set to macro and looking at four mirrors
arranged around the lens at 90-degree increments, and canted at 45-degrees
like a the mirror in a periscope.  The picture on the monitor screen would
have fore, aft, port, and starboard views all at once (to give you advance
warning of incoming ski-boats, Coast Guard Cutters, naked girls on jet skis,
etc).

And I see people talking about a pump for the scope: why not just
pressure-compensate the housing with air from tank storage?  Valves are
cheaper and more reliable than pumps, and most subs have hi-pressure air on
tap.

VBR,

Pat