LDS BS in Nitrox class today...

[PvtStash]

Heyhey I want to run something past you guys that I feel is suspect information...

Today I was doing the in-class portion of my Nitrox class and as part of the presentation one of the things the instructor covered was CO2 retention and the problems associated with it.

Now, I'm familiar with CO2 retention and had believed that it was encountered Purely as a result of ineffective/incomplete breathing patterns (ie. breathing too shallow/not fully emptying the lungs)

BUT he also trys to tell me that its related to people who dont service their regs regularly...

er... huh? Dammit. my BS alarms were in the red and I'm feeling like I'm being lied to/misled in order to sell shop services I probably dont need. (I am of the 'dont fix it if it aint broke' mentality and until I have a problem with my regs I dont intend to have them overhauled, plus for what they'll charge for the Regular service plan I could buy a brand new reg every 3-4 years)

So my question is... does not getting your reg serviced have ANYTHING to do with CO2 retention? (I'm guessing !@#$ no it doesnt)

I'd really hate to think that the instructor Truely believes this, but if the choice is ignorance vs. deceptive salesman its a lose-lose proposition.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Actually, it does. Poorly maintained regs tend to breathe hard at depth. Having to work for each breath combined with any exertion including swimming can increase CO2 retention. A leaking reg can lead to anxiety, causing the diver to breathe too quickly.

 

[PvtStash]

that STILL doesnt sound like the Reg thats doing it to me...

to me it sounds like your talking about ineffective/incomplete breathing , working hard, and at depth breathing... yes all of those are factors, but how about this...

Given 40' depth, no exertion, no ineffective breathing how does an un-serviced reg make my CO2 higher?

 

[tc]

The reg would be just one factor- if everything else is fine then it probably wouldn't be an issue.

But if you were deeper or working harder or ineffectively breathing and the reg was breathing harder it could be an issue/contribute to a problem.

And who wants to use a reg that breathes hard anyhow?

 

[gcbryan]

The real question and the one that you've effectively answered is does your reg need servicing. If it does then it could be harder to breath but servicing a reg that doesn't need it does nothing.

 

[PvtStash]

that the reg Itself is NOT causing CO2 retention , only that it COULD be a factor IF its Making you breath hard at Depth, but if its not hard to breath has absolutely NOTHING to do with CO2 retention.

Specific examples to the contrary ?

 

[japan-diver]

A reg that is hard to breath or not delivering the right amount of air due to poor adjustment could cause CO2 retention. Now many new divers I have seen bring there regs in for service have told me- its breathing fine but I haven't had it serviced in awhile so can you do a quick check. Putting these "perfectly" working regs on the flowbench we see very high WOB scores compared to after the servicing. This undetected increase in WOB could cause CO retention especially if during a dive you had to exert yourself swimming againsts a current or by going deep.

If you think the cost of servicing your regs is high learn how to do them yourself. Regs are not hard to service and can be done with few specility tools.

 

[Bubble Junky]

(I am of the 'dont fix it if it aint broke' mentality and until I have a problem with my regs I dont intend to have them overhauled, plus for what they'll charge for the Regular service plan I could buy a brand new reg every 3-4 years).

Prevention of problems is much better than waiting for things to eff up......

 

[PvtStash]

A reg that is hard to breath or not delivering the right amount of air due to poor adjustment could cause CO2 retention. Now many new divers I have seen bring there regs in for service have told me- its breathing fine but I haven't had it serviced in awhile so can you do a quick check. Putting these "perfectly" working regs on the flowbench we see very high WOB scores compared to after the servicing. This undetected increase in WOB could cause CO retention especially if during a dive you had to exert yourself swimming againsts a current or by going deep.

If you think the cost of servicing your regs is high learn how to do them yourself. Regs are not hard to service and can be done with few specility tools.

Ok so your suggesting that someone could be working hard to breath and Not know it?

Because there seems to be a discrepancy in that the diver says its working perfectly/Not having any breathing difficulty but the Flowbench says it IS making the diver work hard to breath? Wouldnt the Diver be the one to know if he/she is working to breathe?

The idea that I could be "working hard but dont Know it" seems like so much fearmongering scaretactics.

 

[PvtStash]

Prevention of problems is much better than waiting for things to eff up......

Really? I think thats Extremely debatable based on the Tons of posts that say otherwise... ie. that they didnt have problems UNTIL they serviced their reg.

Dont fix it if it aint broke... in the event of an acute, catastrophic 2nd stage failure to both my primary, secondary AND pony 2nd I'll surface breathing off the free-flowing reg.