FAQ
Please click on a question below to view the answer.
Isn't that just a diving bell?
I think you could safely call it that. It's not quite like an old-timey diving bell nor is it quite as fancy as a modern diving bell. Some features that it has that neither of those two examples have are: a clear dome, can be carried by one person (save for the ring, which takes two), has no "real" purpose except to be awesome. You can call it the Bubble Room, you can call it a diving bell; our feelings won't be hurt either way.
How do you replenish the oxygen content of the air down there?
The quick answer:
The model in the YouTube videos is a manually filled version. We use a standard SCUBA tank which will fill the room about twice. When the air gets thin we empty most of it and then fill it back up with fresh compressed air from a SCUBA tank.
A more in depth answer:
The depletion of oxygen is obviously gradual and the early signs of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) are rather obvious. The first thing you notice is that you feel a little "out of breath". Sometimes you are out of breath if you swam hard to get down, but if it persists then there's not enough oxygen (feels like breathing in a paper bag). Technically the human body can go way beyond that point before it gets dangerous, which is why as soon as anyone "feels it" we refresh. The way we refresh is by letting out 1/2 to 3/4 of the air (huge, amazing bubbles to the surface (there's a clip of that on YouTube)) then re-fill with a SCUBA tank. There's always at least one fresh tank down at the room, and usually a tank with a regulator as well (very helpful for people who have a hard time clearing their ears on the dive down - they can stop halfway and "rest" and work on getting their ears to equalize while breathing off the tank).
One tank will fill it two times or so. The frequency depends on how many people are in the room and how much they are laughing/talking/breathing. Some people use oxygen faster than others. This makes the amount of time the air remains "good" in the room unpredictable, the best sensor we have is the human body. Air is cheap so we always err on the side of caution and re-fresh probably more often than we really need to.
The personal swimming pool model has a "bubbler" that continuously refreshes the air at a rate faster than can be used by the occupants.
The model in the YouTube videos is a manually filled version. We use a standard SCUBA tank which will fill the room about twice. When the air gets thin we empty most of it and then fill it back up with fresh compressed air from a SCUBA tank.
A more in depth answer:
The depletion of oxygen is obviously gradual and the early signs of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) are rather obvious. The first thing you notice is that you feel a little "out of breath". Sometimes you are out of breath if you swam hard to get down, but if it persists then there's not enough oxygen (feels like breathing in a paper bag). Technically the human body can go way beyond that point before it gets dangerous, which is why as soon as anyone "feels it" we refresh. The way we refresh is by letting out 1/2 to 3/4 of the air (huge, amazing bubbles to the surface (there's a clip of that on YouTube)) then re-fill with a SCUBA tank. There's always at least one fresh tank down at the room, and usually a tank with a regulator as well (very helpful for people who have a hard time clearing their ears on the dive down - they can stop halfway and "rest" and work on getting their ears to equalize while breathing off the tank).
One tank will fill it two times or so. The frequency depends on how many people are in the room and how much they are laughing/talking/breathing. Some people use oxygen faster than others. This makes the amount of time the air remains "good" in the room unpredictable, the best sensor we have is the human body. Air is cheap so we always err on the side of caution and re-fresh probably more often than we really need to.
The personal swimming pool model has a "bubbler" that continuously refreshes the air at a rate faster than can be used by the occupants.
What's the deal with that guys mustache?
His name is Dan and that is a legitimately awesome mustache. He uses Firehouse Mustache Wax to keep his 'stache chipper and camera-ready even after a 20 foot dive.
What is the air in the bubble comprised of?
Pretty much the same air you are breathing right now, regular SCUBA tanks are simply compressed air which in general is comprised of 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%.
Has anyone hotboxed that thing?
No. That is a stupid question.
How is this posible? I don't get it.
Imagine if you turn an empty glass upside down and submerge it in a bathtub, there would be air trapped in the glass. The same principle is in play here, only on a much bigger scale.
Is that "The Most Interesting Man In The World" at 2:15?!
Yes but I'm not sure he's the one you're thinking of. He's our dad and he's pretty amazing.
Can you get the bends from the Bubble Room?
Divers use dive tables that are based on highly conservative figures, which allow one to figure out how deep you can go and for how long before you have to start worrying about the bends. At 15 feet (about the depth of the bubble room from the videos) it would take 6 hours straight of being in the bubble for the potential of the bends once you returned to the surface and that is a conservative calculation. The version in the videos is in an alpine lake and you would probably die of hypothermia before you stayed long enough to be in the danger zone for the bends. The versions installed in private pools are all considerably less than 15 feet deep making it even less of a bends issue.
What is the bends?
Simply put, the bends is when your body is under extra pressure for extended periods of time a little extra nitrogen from the air you breath dissolves itself into your blood cells, when you stay at that pressure the nitrogen stays dissolved and it’s no problem. It becomes an issue if you return to normal pressure too quickly, there isn’t enough pressure to hold the extra nitrogen in a dissolved state inside your blood any longer, and it turns back into it's natural gaseous state, forming little tiny bubbles of nitrogen in your blood stream! It doesn’t take a doctor to figure out that bubbles of any type in your blood stream isn’t good, this can lead to a plethora of painful and fatal conditions. To alleviate the chances of getting "the bends" SCUBA divers take breaks or "decompression stops" on the way back up to the surface at certain depths to allow the nitrogen to escape out of your blood and to be exhaled with your normal breath. As a diver if you perform a controlled accent and stick to your dive table you can safely avoid the chances of coming down with the bends.
Isn't this thing dangerous?
If you are not using good judgement it can be dangerous. For the record snow boarding, mountain climbing, sky diving, boxing, mountain biking, football, driving, snow skiing, wakeboarding and water skiing (among others) can all be quite dangerous. Along with the dangers mentioned previously in this FAQ probably the biggest danger is pulmonary barotrauma. That's just a fancy way of saying over-expansion of the lungs. This can happen if you were to hold your breath while you ascend to the surface.
Detailed explanation:
The weight of air in our atmosphere (at sea level) is about 14.7 psi (14.7 pounds pushing "in" on your body on every square inch), in water 33 feet is equal to one atmosphere. When you dive down 33 feet underwater that atmospheric pressure has now doubled to 29.4psi (the weight of the air and the weight of the water). The Bubble Room in the lake is about 15 feet below the surface which means there is half an atmosphere of water weight above us plus the entire atmosphere of air above that. Therefor the air you breathe (and anything else at that depth (your body etc)) is experiencing pressures 1.5 times the pressure at the surface.
If you turn an empty glass upside down and submrege it in a bucket of water a "bubble" of air will remain trapped in the bottom (now the upper-most part) of the glass. This is basically the same principal in play with the Bubble Room. In fact there is greater pressure in the empty glass as well, that increase in pressure along with a difference in density is what we call buoyancy - you can feel it pushing the glass up as you hold it underwater. The increased pressure surrounding a substance with less density than water (the air in the glass) creates positive buoyancy and makes the glass try to float! This pressure is the same thing that makes it so you have to clear your ears or "equalize" when you dive deep in a pool - by plugging your nose and blowing you are equalizing the pressure in your head with the pressure around you in the pool; basically you increase the pressure in your head to match the pressure in the pool.
If you take a breath of air 15 feet down in the bubble room the air you breathe in is under pressure (about 1.5 atmospheres of pressure). If you then swim to the surface that air in your lungs will expand to 1.5 times the volume it was in the bubble room. This is enough to seriously damage your lungs. The solution is that when exiting we ALWAYS exhale during ascent. It is actually a very strange sensation to take a breath then literally blow out air for 5 or 6 seconds and arrive at the surface still with a full breath of air!
Detailed explanation:
The weight of air in our atmosphere (at sea level) is about 14.7 psi (14.7 pounds pushing "in" on your body on every square inch), in water 33 feet is equal to one atmosphere. When you dive down 33 feet underwater that atmospheric pressure has now doubled to 29.4psi (the weight of the air and the weight of the water). The Bubble Room in the lake is about 15 feet below the surface which means there is half an atmosphere of water weight above us plus the entire atmosphere of air above that. Therefor the air you breathe (and anything else at that depth (your body etc)) is experiencing pressures 1.5 times the pressure at the surface.
If you turn an empty glass upside down and submrege it in a bucket of water a "bubble" of air will remain trapped in the bottom (now the upper-most part) of the glass. This is basically the same principal in play with the Bubble Room. In fact there is greater pressure in the empty glass as well, that increase in pressure along with a difference in density is what we call buoyancy - you can feel it pushing the glass up as you hold it underwater. The increased pressure surrounding a substance with less density than water (the air in the glass) creates positive buoyancy and makes the glass try to float! This pressure is the same thing that makes it so you have to clear your ears or "equalize" when you dive deep in a pool - by plugging your nose and blowing you are equalizing the pressure in your head with the pressure around you in the pool; basically you increase the pressure in your head to match the pressure in the pool.
If you take a breath of air 15 feet down in the bubble room the air you breathe in is under pressure (about 1.5 atmospheres of pressure). If you then swim to the surface that air in your lungs will expand to 1.5 times the volume it was in the bubble room. This is enough to seriously damage your lungs. The solution is that when exiting we ALWAYS exhale during ascent. It is actually a very strange sensation to take a breath then literally blow out air for 5 or 6 seconds and arrive at the surface still with a full breath of air!
What is the Bubble Room made out of?
The version in the lake:
Galvanized steel pipe, Nylon netting, Clear sheet vinyl, Parachute cord, Climbing webbing, and 1/2" stainless steel cable.
The private version:
A one piece stainless steel ring, Stainless steel cable, and a special one piece collapsible vinyl dome (no net). The private version also comes with heavy duty recessed eyelets installed in the pool, an airline installed under the gunite of the pool, a "breathable oil free" air pump, a visual and audible safety warning system, and a backup generator.
Galvanized steel pipe, Nylon netting, Clear sheet vinyl, Parachute cord, Climbing webbing, and 1/2" stainless steel cable.
The private version:
A one piece stainless steel ring, Stainless steel cable, and a special one piece collapsible vinyl dome (no net). The private version also comes with heavy duty recessed eyelets installed in the pool, an airline installed under the gunite of the pool, a "breathable oil free" air pump, a visual and audible safety warning system, and a backup generator.
How can I get my own?
The private version is most economically installed into private pools during new construction. It is completely detachable and unnoticeable when not set up. It takes one person (without the need to get wet) about 5 minutes to completely set up the Bubble Room from start to finish and about another five minutes to tear it down when not in use. Contact us with the specs of your planned pool and we can design a bubble room to fit it and give you a quote. (Proof of dive certification and/or an approved training course is required)
How much upward force does the Bubble Room exert?
It depends on the volume of the bubble but basically for every cubic foot of air in the bubble it will pull up 62.45 pounds. The bubble in the videos has a bouyant force between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds straight up. As the angle of the tie-downs increases (from 90° to a more obtuse angle) the stresses on the system increase.
Will I have to worry about the air getting thin in my private Bubble Room?
No, we have calculated and engineered the private version to be constantly fed by more fresh air than the occupants could ever use.
Can you install one in my already made pool?
Yes. It requires draining the pool and some pretty serious excavation of the gunite in three spots for the cable anchors and a strip of gunite removed to install the airline. Depending on the warranty for your pool cutting into the gunite might void it. It is considerably cheaper to install a Bubble Room into a pool while it is being built. Please contact us for more information.
What if I want to get in and out of my Bubble Room without getting my face or hair wet?
You have come to the right place! We have an invention for that too! We call it the Bubble Helmet (yes, similar to a jacques cousteau diving helmet - only not made of heavy copper with tiny windows, instead this is a full sphere with a hole for your head; this allows a substantial amount of light and infinite field of view with the comfort of breathing on land!). We can include a couple of bubble helmets that run off of the same compressor that feeds your bubble room for a little extra. Think: neutrally buoyant space helmet with a fresh air feed!
Are you guys geniuses or something?
Probably not, we don’t quite know because we have never taken the "are you a genius or not test". We simply like math, science and especially nerding out about how to build stuff... (and we happen to really like building stuff).