Hookah breathing air hose is made of a special vinyl plastic construction, which is resistant to the effects of oil, gasoline and sunlight that exists in the environment. Conventional rubber scuba hose should never be used for hookah diving because it will gradually deteriorate and become toxic. Hookah hose commonly has an inside diameter of 8 mm or 10 mm. It is constructed of an inner liner of food-grade vinyl wrapped with a nylon webbing reinforcement and covered with a heavy-duty PVC abrasion resistant wall. Hookah hose is designed to prevent kinking and collapsing which could cause the flow of breathing air to be shut off.
A quality surface supply diving systems hose will be coloured a bright yellow or orange, for a high degree of visibility. It will also float, so that any excess hose not actually being used will float on the surface, completely away from the diver, reducing the possibility of entanglements on the bottom. For example, if you are diving in three metres of water but are using a 10-metre length of air hose, the excess seven metres will float on the surface, completely away from you. A quality Hookah air will not impart any flavouring to the air and should meet AS2299 and AS1716 standards.
We recommend the use of high-quality, Australian made Barfell® Divers Air Breather Hookah hoses with an inside diameter of 8 mm for recreational diving and 10 mm for commercial diving. The Barfell hookah hoses meet Australian Standards AS2299 and AS/NZ1716.
We also recommend the use of commercial-grade lockable Unoflow® quick couplings for safe hookah diving. We think the Unoflow product is superior to the equivalent TEMA product. The Unoflow is fully marine-grade Stainless Steel AISI 316, while the TEMA is chrome-plated brass. The Unoflow quick connect is not compatible with the TEMA product. Don't risk your life by using inferior hookah hoses and quick couplings.
Hose Configuration: A hookah breathing air hose is normally set up with a Male quick coupling at the compressor end, and a self-sealing Female quick coupling at the diver end. Thus when a hose is disconnected the female end self-seals and prevents air loss.
For specialist commercial diving Hookah gear, we recommend you contact Eric Percival at Airdive Equipment on 03 6273 3125, or airdive@airdive.com.au.
Warning: Using general-purpose air hoses (e.g. as used with workshop compressors and found at hardware stores) that are not certified for breathing air can potentially damage your lungs and is in breach of Workplace Health and Safety regulations. The lining inside many air hoses often deteriorates with age, oil and heat, potentially releasing toxic particles straight into the users breathing air supply. Incorrect hose connector fittings are also often easily damaged and accidentally disconnected, thereby cutting off the operators breathing air supply.
Please read Introduction to Hookah Diving for more information about things you need to consider with a hookah diving setup.
If you intend to go diving, snorkelling or boating in Bass Strait you must be appropriately trained and qualified. Always analyse the weather forecasts and make your own mind up about what you consider to be safe conditions.
Note: The western border of Bass Strait is a line from Cape Otway to King Island. The Victorian coastline to the west of Cape Otway faces into the Southern Ocean.
We recommend you don't go diving in Bass Strait if any of the following conditions are likely to occur within a 24 hour period:
At some shore dive sites on the Victorian coast even the above conditions could be too extreme. Weak or average swimmers should not consider diving at most Bass Strait shore dive sites. Keep a watch out for swells and bad weather coming in. At some shore dive sites this may require surfacing periodically throughout your dive. When doing a shore dive in Bass Strait you are diving on the Great Southern Reef.
Scuba diving is an inherently dangerous activity and appropriate training and experience in scuba equipment, decompression diving, deep diving, mixed gas diving and wreck penetration diving are all mandatory skills for safely diving the shipwrecks of Bass Strait.
If you are not experienced with diving in Bass Strait, make sure you go with an experienced local dive guide or dive buddy who can read the conditions and advise you accordingly. Most of all, stay safe and enjoy your Bass Strait diving.
We accept no responsibility or liability for the accidental or intentional misuse of information portrayed on this website, or misadventure resulting from its use.
Copyright © 2005-2022 by The Scuba Doctor Australia, ABN 88 116 755 170. All rights reserved.
tel. +61 3 5985 1700 :: email. diveshop@scubadoctor.com.au :: Web site by it'sTechnical 2022