Air consumption vs regulator ease of breathing

[rick00001967]

I dont think that is a stupid question at all.

All the comments above relating to work of breathing of course are correct. We certainly do not want to have the reg set to the point where it is difficult to inhale.

But myself personally, i also do not set my dial on the 2nd stage to the absolute minimum resistance either. Hopefully yours has that feature (not all do) so you can adjust it as you require.

 

[BRT]

I'm going to disagree with the easy breathing=low air consumption crowd. For a buddy of mine, going to an adjustable reg and tuning it down dramatically improved his air consumption.

 

[BlueTrin]

I used to have a higher sac rate when I started making my reg easier to breathe but that’s because I had no control of my breathing.

I think over time you’ll develop a pattern of breathing that works for you (for me it is still a work in progress).

So yea I think there is a possibility you breathe a bit faster at first if you are a heavy breather naturally (like me) but longer term it’s better to reduce your work of breathing if that makes sense?

 

[RobPNW]

Might be overthinking it but it seems like if you have more breathing resistance, your respiratory system will have to work harder to get enough air, burn more calories, and consume more air.

 

[grf88]

I'm going to disagree with the easy breathing=low air consumption crowd. For a buddy of mine, going to an adjustable reg and tuning it down dramatically improved his air consumption.

Increasing the chance of CO2 retention and the possibly increased risk of IPE (IPO) sounds like a brilliant idea.

 

[RobPNW]

Unless you're the air hungry human equivalent of a golden retriever, where if you open a 50-pound bag of food on the floor, will eat until it pukes, eat again until it pukes etc. I guess some folks with easier breathing will become hoovers.

 

[scubadada]

I have done entire dives without remembering to turn down my resistance knob to minimal. My RMV does not change.

 

[Fastmarc]

For what it's worth...
Being covid cautious, I did only two dives (1 dive day) in 2021, didn't feel comfortable with my exposure, so didn't try again until last year, but my reg free flowed and I didn't end up diving. Got my reg serviced and finally hit the water in April this year. On that 1st dive I did notice that my reg breathed better, a bit easier though I didn't think it was bad before. I am blessed with good SAC, never air limited, so I do not watch my air consumption during the dive. No need to. However, looking at the recorded SW data after the dives since April there seems to be an improvment and considering that I hardly dived for the last few years, I'm leaning towards the better, easier breating reg.

 

[scubadada]

It is very easy to use your gas consumption to calculate limiting factor, NDL or gas

 

[USdiver1]

Could an exceptionally easy breathing regulator actually make a diver more likely to use MORE air (gas) than just a good regulator? Is a slight bit of breathing resistance a good thing? Maybe a crazy question. Any ideas or experience on this????

Anecdotally, yes, yes, and yes. This is exactly what Dacor attempted to achieve with their Dial-A-Breath double hose regulator back in the 1960s. The idea was to make divers "conserve" their air by increasing breathing resistance. Was it a good idea? The regulator's nickname was Dial-A-Death. YMMV.