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Drager Air Packs
Have any departments using drager packs had any problems with them. These packs are like having a computer on your back. Has anyone have one fail on them or malfunction. I personaly don't like them. Just looking to see if anyone has any comments on it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chief 29 on
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My company has gone to Drager. Our new packs arrived somewhere around September of 08'.
We have already put them through their paces and have not had a problem. Scott was the favored pack for years at our station but when drager came out with their newest it was a unanimous decision to make the change. To us they are a more comfortable and user friendly pack than what they seem. Of course opinions are like a## holes and we all have one.
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Permalink Reply by Tyler Lyons on
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We have been using Drager packs for over 10 years now and we just got all new PSS 7000 series packs in November. They are the most comfortable packs out there. Every complaint that we had with the old packs, (and that was little stuff), had been addressed. I believe Phoenix FD went to these also. They are great packs. If you compare them to MSA firehawk, the Firehawk is like the Ford work truck, these are like the Escalade. They are top of the line. The Sentinel, (computer) is user friendly. They have the 1/4 turn quick disconnect bottles. The face pieces give a great field of view with air bottle level in 1/4 bottle incriments, and integrated voice packs. The pass devices are built into the pack frame. The first stage regulator is protected on the pack frame also. By far the best pack I have ever used. I have used MSA, Scott 2.2, Scott 4.5, and Interspiro. Our department has 38 members and I want to say about 30 people wanted to stick with Drager.
The biggest problem that I see is the old pack straps seem to wear out way to fast. These new ones are much more sturdy. We haven't had them long enough to see any use issues with these new ones. If you want more information on them send me a message and I will have our "Air Pack" guy get in touch with you.
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Permalink Reply by Corey Carr on
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One department I am on uses Dragers, but personally I don't like them at all. The department I volunteer at uses MSA and I love these. With the Dragers we have it is difficult to do the Hot Bottle change, but with our MSA packs it is a cake walk.
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The old style Drager was a pain to do a hot bottle change, the new ones are quarter turn quick release and push straight on, there is no one else who can change that fast. Lots of new changes on the 7000.
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Starace on
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There are some issues to the Draeger PSS 7000 system that I have noticed. The pack and sentinal have great design and use features. They definitely did their home work.
Issues:
1. Inexperienced or rushing bottle changes may neglect to fully engage the DOD quick connect. I have seen this happen on many occasions during training. It looks like the guy wearing the pack is about to fly off, like rocket man. This is the equivalent to not tightening the threads fully on the Scott packs. You are likely to lose more air on the DOD mishap because the tank does not pop off until the bottle is nearly fully open.
2. Regulators popping out because of improper placement. This has been witness on many occasions during training. Unfortunately there is no indicator to show that the regulator is fully seated into the mask. You will hear a click when the metal lock engages, but in a noisy environment you could easily miss it. The regulator may seemed to be seated correctly because you can breath fine, but one good tug on the hose and the regulator can pop out and go into free flow. Advantage to Scott on this one, who requires a quarter turn and a lock you can see.
3. Fogging issues. It does fog on air but you can maintain it with lighter breaths and squeezes on the purge. Off air, you will fog, quickly.
4. OFF AIR RESTRICTIVE BREATHING- why is nobody talking about this issue? As far as comfort, the mask fits WAY better than the Scott mask. The problem is restrictive breating while wearing the mask not on air. I can wear the mask for a while with no problems, but once I start breathing heavy, (like hauling butt to the seventh floor) I am gasping for air. There is not an clear, open hole. You are breathing through a valve. I don't believe that I am getting 21% oxygen. There may be a possiblity of CO2 build-up.
Other issues I have heard but that don't bother me:
1. HUD may link to a different pack in close proximity.
2. Voice emmiter problems.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Used them when I was a volunteer, we shifted from MSA to Drager....never had a problem, in fact I liked the packs.
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Permalink Reply by John L. VanAuken on
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I like our Drager systems, the only thing we have noticed, is that the baterys in them, tend to go dead quick. Other then that I dont see much probs with them, and I do like the fact that they are light weight.
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Another problem:
Inadvertant turning of the bottle valve. While 30 of us were crawling through a tube with our packs and masks on, but OFF air. About 10 bottles were turned on, mine was fully open because I was crawling on my right side. This was not so much of an issue with the Scotts because of the push and turn design. I don't mind that it turns ON but I would really mind if it shut OFF!!!
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Another problem:
Inadvertant turning of the bottle valve. While 30 of us were crawling through a tube with our packs and masks on, but OFF air. About 10 bottles were turned on, mine was fully open because I was crawling on my right side. This was not so much of an issue with the Scotts because of the push and turn design. I don't mind that it turns ON but I would really mind if it shut OFF!!!
Umm, it is supposed to be easy to turn a bottle on and not off. What you experienced here sounds to be normal. Even the SCOTT will turn on easy, but have to push it in to turn off, that is a safety feature of any SCBA out there. Anyone should be able to reach back and turn a bottle on, but it should be difficult to turn it off. Doesn't sound like anything inadvertant with the training......try the same training while ON air, and you will probably see the bottle doesn't inadvertantly shut off.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Madairy on
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I have no experiance with the Drager pack, how ever I have heard stories of the valves and regulators freezing up in the cold and the not-so-cold weather. I tried one of the new packs on at harrisburg '10. and the swivel design on between the waist strap and back plate is pretty cool.
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Permalink Reply by Nenad on
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http://www.draeger.com/UK/en/products/personal_protection/breathing...
We have PSS 100 with Bodyguard device.
Low quality plastic parts on backpack, easy crashes.
Bodyguard device is a piece of crap. From day one we have problems with bateries, once a month we need to change no mater if device was used or not. Device also have problems with electronics.
If the battery goes off during usage device is useless. Only the alarm whistle is functional. Classic manometer with electronics like MSA did, for me is better solution.
The main problem with Bodyguard is that you never know when it will fail.
Older versions of draeger SCBA had beter quality plastic parts and metal fastening instead of plastic.
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Think about this. Try going down stairs on your valve side, you will be going feet first, the valve can and has turn off. I was told stories about this so I re-enacted the scenerio. However unlikely, the valve can spin in OFF direction fully. Try it out and see if you get the same results.
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