New Scott SCBA Familiarization

[@minerran]

Cool stuff. I used to do a lot of scuba diving and the gear is pretty much the same. Tank, hoses, regulator and gauges. Firefighters don't have to worry about getting sand into their regulator diaphragm so this gear will be extremely reliable. The tank looks like 50 ft^3 whereas for the ocean we use larger capacity 80ft^3. But then we suck a lot more air at depth compared to breathing at 1 atm as the FFs are doing. Every person uses air at a different rate. Women tend to be more efficient then men and their supply will last longer. People who are very fit will use air more efficiently than those who are not. My advice to firefighters is to monitor your own usage (how long typically can you go before getting down to 50% of your starting pressure) and make a mental note of that to have an idea how long you can go.

[@raulluna9319]

Good Morning, I have 3 questions one of my test is asking if the Bypass valve should be on or off? I'm assuming during operations and the other the tank is 100% full or 50% full it sounds dumb right why would you have it a 50% full but anyway I want to make sure. and last one the face mask is on positive pressure or negative pressure. any help with these would be really appreciate it. thx for all you do out there fellows.

[@minerran]

I'm not a firefighter but am a scuba diver. My advice to you is to know extremely well every part of your SCBA breathing system because your life will depend on it. Don't just think about passing a test. Know what failures can occur no matter how rare and practice what you have been taught to do to recover. We do this as divers with SCUBA and it has saved lives. I once had sand get into my regulator so that the diaphragm would not close and it started leaking massive amounts of air. Because of my training and practice, I automatically took care of the situation safely. You're not going to get sand into yours but still you need to have the same skills as a firefighter on your system. Good luck, stay safe!