Mask with purge valve, dangerous?

[oldschoolto]

DON'T DIVE THAT MASK!!!!!!! You need to listen to your instructor.... I heard from a friend of a friend that knew someone who had a brother that lost his purge valve when diving a 1/128 scale mockup of the Titanic in a swimming pool and got water up his nose....

Jim......

 

[Colliam7]

Is a mask with a purge valve risky to use with scuba diving?

NO! It is no risky (or dangerous).

So, to go into that question some more, I was getting a refresher course about two years ago, and the guy said that my mask (with a purge valve) is dangerous to use for scuba diving because the purge valve can pop out of the mask when you're under, causing the mask to flood with water.

I suppose it is possible. And tracydr apparently has had this happen. I have had a mask with a purge valve for 12 years and it has never happened. Of course, that may be because I stopped diving it 7 years ago, when I went with a simple, dual lens, small volume, non-purge mask.

If your instructor / Scuba Review Divemaster had said, 'I recommend against a purge mask because it is not necessary, and there is at least the possibility of a failure of the purge valve', I would agree with him/her. As stated (that it is DANGEROUS), I would say that the instructor is a nitwit.

 

[flots am]

So, to go into that question some more, I was getting a refresher course about two years ago, and the guy said that my mask (with a purge valve) is dangerous to use for scuba diving because the purge valve can pop out of the mask when you're under, causing the mask to flood with water.!

The only dangerous thing your mask can do is shatter into jagged shards and poke you in the eye if it turns out that the lens isn't manufactured properly (not tempered glass or bad tempered glass). If your purge valve pops out, all that happens is that your mask fills with water faster than you like. It doesn't even flood. It's more like a fast leak.

Other that that, a mask is a convenience not a necessity. Except that everything would look blurry, you could easily do an entire dive without any mask at all. Having a purge valve or not is just a religious debate based on nothing but personal preference.

My best guess is that the guy who said a purge valve was dangerous either had a lot of non-purge masks he wanted to move, or learned to dive on the internet.

flots.

 

[Andrew Kinder]

Wow, thanks for all the responses! I'll probably end up getting a new mask sometime, but seeing as I live in Tennessee, I rarely am able to dive. Or able to dive at a good spot. So, everyone would agree that for my upcoming trip, which will include 3 dives, I should be fine with my current mask, without having to worry?

 

[DevonDiver]

I don't consider a flooded/flooding mask to be a critical safety issue. If such an issue were to cause an incident, then the underlying risk factor is probably diver skill-set and/or comfort level. Exceptions to that are overhead environments and decompression - in which case (1) the 'experienced' diver probably has no need for a purge valve and (2) the diver will decide appropriate redundancy versus the risks.

So, no, I don't support any notion that a purge mask is 'more dangerous'... for properly trained open-water recreational divers.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

If your skills are up to par it is no more dangerous than the sport itself. What would you do if you lost your mask?

 

[flots am]

Wow, thanks for all the responses! I'll probably end up getting a new mask sometime, but seeing as I live in Tennessee, I rarely am able to dive. Or able to dive at a good spot. So, everyone would agree that for my upcoming trip, which will include 3 dives, I should be fine with my current mask, without having to worry?

The only "safety" feature of your mask is that the glass is tempered. It should say "Tempered Glass" on the lens.

Everything else is related to comfort and happiness, so yes, you'll be fine.

flots.

PS. Wear it around the house for a while before your next trip and see if it fogs. If it's new and you don't dive much, you'll need to clean the heck out of the inside with "mask & slate cleaner" or toothpaste before the defog will work.

 

[TSandM]

If your mask has tempered glass, and fits so that it does not leak, it is a satisfactory mask.

If a mask full of water is "dangerous", then the instructor should reexamine how well he is teaching and evaluating mask skills. Coping with a flooded mask ought to be something even a brand new open water diver can do without panic. And it is quite possible to end a dive safely with a flooded mask, or no mask at all.

 

[PatW]

Hi, this is my first post here, so I hope I'm posting it in the right area.

I need some opinions on the following question: Is a mask with a purge valve risky to use with scuba diving?

So, to go into that question some more, I was getting a refresher course about two years ago, and the guy said that my mask (with a purge valve) is dangerous to use for scuba diving because the purge valve can pop out of the mask when you're under, causing the mask to flood with water.

I searched google for any topic regarding that, and I came up with nothing, and I've never heard that anywhere else before. It seems to me that since you can blow out, the pressure in the mask would stay equalized, and there would be no risk of the purge valve coming out. The only thing I can think of, where it could happen, is if the mask was cheaply made, and the purge valve was just never put in place very good to begin with.

So, has anyone heard anything like this, or had experience with it? I'm going diving on Grand Turk in a month, and I'd like to use my own mask instead of renting one, but I don't want to risk my mask flooding and ruining my dive. Thanks for any info!

I have had it happen twice. Both times the valve popped out on doing a giant stride or on the initial descent. Having a flooded mask in 15' of water was no big deal. I signalled my partner about the problem, surfaced got a loaner mask from the dive boat crew and completed the dive. My wife has always used purge valves and has never had it happen. I probably hold my head just right, or just wrong, to slap the purge valve. I do fine with standard masks and that is what I am now using. If you can handle a mask flood, it is not dangerous. It is merely an inconvenience.

 

[ams511]

I have had it happen twice. Both times the valve popped out on doing a giant stride or on the initial descent. Having a flooded mask in 15' of water was no big deal. I signalled my partner about the problem, surfaced got a loaner mask from the dive boat crew and completed the dive. My wife has always used purge valves and has never had it happen. I probably hold my head just right, or just wrong, to slap the purge valve. I do fine with standard masks and that is what I am now using. If you can handle a mask flood, it is not dangerous. It is merely an inconvenience.

Do you cover the valve with your hand when you make the jump?