Hey Frank:
I posted this link a few months ago, but I'll post it again because it sounds like this is what you're planning:
http://www..rebreatherworld.com/megalodon-rebreather-articles/7286-homebuilt-meg-radial-scrubber.html
It's a homebuilt CO2 scrubber. I'm wondering if someone could also fill it with "Damp Rid", or some other kind of desiccant, to help control moisture. It would be interesting to have a system that passed cabin-air through the drying canister, then through the CO2 scrubber, then injected O2 before blowing it over the viewports to keep them clear.
As for my heating/cooling needs, I'm not going to worry about it. My sub will be a dark color (brown), and I'll be running it in water that'll be about 72 degrees average. If, after a few dives, I find myself sweltering or shivering, I'll think up something to fix the problem.
From:
ShellyDalg@aol.com
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:16:33 -0400
0ASubject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] heated sub
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Hi Dean. Ya, I'll need the heaters when I come up to play "you sunk my battleship" with you.
Lake Superior IS cold. I grew up on Lake Ontario and I remember when we'd get ice flows coming off the lake. It would pile up 20 feet or better on the beach. Fun for kids playing in the ice caves and stuff. Scary when I think how stupid we were, but hey, it was lots of fun.
For heaters....well, that's a tough one. I'm very miserly with my electrical usage. I've been leaning toward a chemical solution rather than some kind of electrical resistance heater. My thought was that it'll be necessary to change out the air scrubber chemicals anyway, and a canister type thing with the scrubber chemical and another with a heater canister should be able to be incorporated into a "quick change" chamber with a small 12 volt fan. The outlet would blow clean, dry, warm air over the windows to ventilate the sub. The device will need a small condensate reservoir or trap, which would need emptying after a dive, and of course replacement of the scrubber canister and heater canister.
The trick is to make the canisters reuseable so you could carry a couple of sets, and just change the raw chemicals in the spares e ach day. Self heating ch
emicals are easy to get, and a finned two chamber canister, where the air flows over the fins, should be fairly easy to make. Pack the stuff in there, shake it up, put it into the fan unit, and warm air comes out.
My buddy has a little can thing he puts in his pocket when we ride on cold nights. He puts his hand in there and it warms right up. Good for about three hours. Seems like a larger unit with a fan could do the same thing. Haven't got that far yet, but I'm thinkin.......
Frank D.
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