Which Size Steel Scuba Cylinder Is Right For You?

Divers in cooler temperate waters most commonly use the following three Faber steel tank sizes:

Faber 10.5 Litre (85 cubic foot), 232 bar — This smaller cylinder size is preferred by many women because it's lighter and easier to handle. If you are a diver with a very good surface air consumption rate, as many women are, then this cylinder has enough air capacity for most dives. A pair of these steel tanks is also popular with sidemount divers, and women technical divers.

Faber Standard 12.2 Litre (100 cubic foot), 232 bar — This standard size, 178 mm (7 inch) diameter, cylinder size is used by the vast majority of divers. A pair of these cylinders is also the most common choice for technical divers.

Faber Standard 15.0 Litre (125 cubic foot), 232 bar — This larger size, 204 mm (8 inch), cylinder size is the choice of divers with a poor surface air consumption rate. However, it's larger size and weight makes it awkward for many divers to use.

Faber 3 Litre (25 cubic foot), 232 bar, 100 mm (3.9 inch) diameter, are the popular choice of rebreather divers.

Low and High Pressure Steel Scuba Diving Cylinders

Faber Low-Pressure Steel — 232 bar — Lighter on land than standard aluminium scuba cylinders, these Faber 232 bar steel cylinders feature a higher working pressure than most aluminium cylinders, thus delivery a larger gas capacity for the same internal volume. The 232 bar Faber cylinders come equipped with a DIN/K type valve that easily converts back and forth depending on the type of First-Stage Regulator to be used in conjunction with the cylinder increasing the versatility of the tank. When diving with these cylinders less weight is needed, making them perfect for divers that use drysuits, or wetsuit divers in cold/temperate waters. The Faber steel cylinders are popular for cave diving and have a strong following among technical divers everywhere. The average working pressure is 232 bar.

Faber High-Pressure Steel — 300 bar — Much heavier than standard aluminium and steel scuba cylinders, these Faber 300 bar steel cylinders use much higher working pressure to provide a huge gas capacity in a small size. Like their low-pressure steel cousins, less weight is needed with these cylinders. A favourite with wreck divers, the average working pressure is 300 bar.

Faber is the leading manufacturer of steel scuba cylinders in the world and is the market leader in Europe and Australia where diving with steel cylinders is the norm. Faber's cylinders are manufactured from deep drawn 34CRMO4 Chromium Molybdenum steel plates to ANSI specifications. This process results in a light cylinder with the right buoyancy characteristics allowing the diver to reduce the amount of weight from their weight-belt. The interior of the cylinders are shot-blasted followed by their exclusive phosphatised coating which creates a perfectly cleaned internal surface, highly resistant to rust. The exterior of the cylinder is triple protected with zinc spraying, epoxy primer coat and polyurethane finish coat for durability.

The service life of a properly cared for modern steel scuba cylinder is widely considered to be 50 years or more. The service life of a properly cared for aluminium cylinder is more controversial. Most dive shops, including The Scuba Doctor, won't fill an aluminium tank manufactured before 1990.

The Scuba Doctor carries an extensive selection of Faber steel cylinder sizes starting with the 2 litre (16 cubic foot) all the way up to the 18 litre (150 cubic foot) cylinder. Faber cylinders are available in 8-inch, 7.25 and 7-inch diameters with working pressures of 232 bar and 300 bar.

All dive cylinders from The Scuba Doctor dive shop are visually inspected and shipped with a current hydrostatic date (except where indicated).

Rebreathers

The cutting edge of diving technology

Rebreathers from The Scuba Doctor

The Scuba Doctor is on the cutting edge of rebreather technology. We sell, maintain, service and repair the the KISS Rebreather range of closed-circuit rebreathers.

And, of course, we train divers to use these rebreathers. Our rebreather training includes over 20 hours of practical academic training, hours of pool sessions, and at least 8 open water dives.

Why all the training? Our goal is to have you "over-learn" the basics so you are completely comfortable with your rebreather. We go over and above the minimum training standards required by the certifying authorities.

KISS Rebreathers

Most will recognise that KISS is the acronym for "Keep it simple stupid."

KISS is an acronym first coined by Kelly Johnson, of the Lockheed Skunk Works, creators of the famous U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. The idea was not to imply that the engineers he was working with were stupid, but just the opposite in that his belief for most systems to work best in the field under real-world conditions, their design should be kept as simple as possible instead of complex.

The concept goes even further back to one of histories most renowned inventors, Leonardo da Vinci, who emphasized "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," noting that the ultimate goal in design should be the avoidance of unnecessary complexity.

This was a key philosophy for Gordon Smith, a tool and die maker who adopted the acronym and created the first KISS rebreathers in 1995. The most reliable machines are those that are straightforward, easy to use, and easy to repair, regardless of what function they are meant to perform. When designing a machine that is meant to go underwater and that is life support equipment, KISS Rebreathers feels that it is especially important to follow the keep it simple philosophy. It's important to remember that everything eventually fails, and this is certainly true for any product that is taken underwater.

Since then, KISS Rebreathers has kept true to this philosophy and the core design of their initial rebreather. KISS Rebreathers continue to innovate and have some of the smallest, most inexpensive rebreathers on the market today, perfect for the traveling rebreather diver.

Each KISS Rebreather comes with a variety of PO2 monitoring options, as well as accessories.

Choosing A Rebreather

One of the biggest issues we see in the CCR world today is the bias of certain vendors and instructor to push a particular product, as it's the only one they teach on or sell. All rebreathers have their strengths and weaknesses, and there is no 'perfect' rebreather, and we strongly disagree with some seller's practices of slandering units they don't teach or sell.

You won't find that bias here at The Scuba Doctor. Our staff are certified to dive and teach a variety of rebreathers. As a result we don't have an agenda to push on you. Have questions? One of our staff can give unbiased, review, including the pros and cons of all the major units on the market today.

Benefits of Diving a Rebreather

Wondering whether rebreathers are the next logical step for you? We've set up this guide to help you decide.

Longer Bottom Time

Imagine diving for 60 minutes at 100 feet with no decompression time. Or 90 minutes at 65 feet. Or two hours or even four hours at shallower depths. Rebreathers reduce the nitrogen out of the air you breathe, reducing significantly your nitrogen load that leads to decompression diving, longer surface intervals, and, at worst, decompression sickness.

Silent Diving

Your exhaled gas isn't released into the surrounding water. This means you aren't venting bubbles. Loud bubbles. Clouds of bubbles.

This means you are diving silently. That silence, and the lack of scary random bubble clouds, allows you to get eye to eye with shy marine life that would usually hide upon hearing you. Most professional dive photographers are using rebreathers.

No Bubbles

Because your exhaled gas isn't released into the surrounding water, you make no bubbles. No noisy bubbles. No clouds of bubbles to get in your viewfinder while you snap a picture of that elusive splendid toad fish. In other words: no holding your breath while you wait for that fish to just stop spinning so you can take its picture.

Additional Warmth while Diving

The air you breathe with a rebreather is warm and moist, rather than cold and dry on open circuit. This keeps you warmer throughout your dive (your body doesn't have to expend energy to heat the air you breathe) and prevents dry cotton mouth.

Less Weight to Carry Around

Because a rebreather replaces the standard scuba cylinder and BC, it is often much lighter than a typical open circuit setup.

Reliabilty

The Scuba Doctor only offers rebreathers with a proven safety track record. We only offer rebreathers that are built by companies with excellent long-term reputations.