Annoying exhaust bubbles

[divin'dog]

I love diving when I feel like part of the ocean. The buoyancy is perfect, it's a nice clear reef, lots of life and I'm just slowly floating around at about 75' taking it all in. Only problem is that on every exhaust, the bubbles come up in my face and around my ears and are an annoyance to what would be a great moment.

Is there any device that can be attached to my exhaust-T that can reroute the bubbles to behind my head so that I don't have to see or hear them? Anyone else with the same feeling?

 

[Nemrod]

Yeah, there is but your not going to like it. I am wearing it in the avatar. A good DA or Royal is very quiet, fish are often surprised to look up and see a diver and there are no bubbles beating the crap out of my ears or face and obscuring my vision.

N

 

[beanojones]

Just so you know such things are available:

Aqua Lung's King of Titans: Kronos is First Regulator with Lateral Deflector and Combined Adjuster - Sportdiver.com

And then all the poseidon regs

 

[Luis H]

I agree with Nemrod in that the double hose regulator is the best solution to avoid bubbles (with open circuit, and not jumping to the complexity of a re-breather), but I am not sure why Nemrod is saying that you are not going to like it…I like mine a lot.

The double hose exhaust and demand valve are both mounted directly to your tank. Therefore not only are all the bubbles exhaled out back, but any noise is also behind you.

You can get much closer to any marine life. Sometimes when I stay still I can get fish to come up to my mask to take a look in.

Also with the noise behind you, you can hear all the sounds around you a lot better. In the Caribbean is neat to hear very clearly the parrot fish when they are crunching on corral.


This is not a type of regulator you just find at your LDS, but if you are really interested, they are available. It takes a bit more commitment to locate one and learn how to use it properly, but it does have a number of advantages (and some disadvantages) over a single hose regulator. They are very easy, user friendly, and a lot of fun to use, but they are bit different.

 

[divin'dog]

Thanks, but all you guys are talking about a double-hose regulator. I really don't want to buy a new regulator and was wondering if there is something I can attach to my exhaust Tee to reroute the bubbles instead.

 

[Luis H]

There are a few regulators that have an optional larger exhaust T, but there is nothing generic that will fit over all regulators exhaust.

If it is the air over your ears that bother you, a hood may help you.

If it is that it blocks your vision, some of that is from using a very low profile mask. The mask your dog is wearing makes it worse. You can try a slightly larger volume mask. I personally like these new low profile frameless masks, but if you have issues with bubbles it makes things worse.

Some divers try to avoid the bubbles by looking down a bit more.


There was a thread of someone trying to make a home made remedy using collapsible hose, but haven’t heard if it ever worked. I am somewhat skeptical about the implementation of that solution without inducing a free flow. It is not impossible, but it can be a problem.


Good luck

 

[Scared Silly]

As Luis says, there are some regs with an optional wider T. Folks diving Atomics can get this, it is std on the M1. I have never heard of an after market piece that could be attached. I doubt that there is because the shape of each exhaust T is different as such it would have to be soft enough to go over any T. The other is that it does not take much - less than a 1" of extra width to move the exhaust bubbles far enough away that they would not interfere.

 

[RJP]

Thanks, but all you guys are talking about a double-hose regulator. I really don't want to buy a new regulator and was wondering if there is something I can attach to my exhaust Tee to reroute the bubbles instead.

What reg do you have? As mentioned some have options.

If your's doesn't you might upgrade/switch to one that does. If that's not appealing to you perhaps it's not as much of a problem as you think?

I find that I really don't notice it if I'm in nice horizontal trim. If I'm head up or inverted it's a minor nuisance, but that's not very often.

 

[Nemrod]

I dont see how you guys live with those single hose things, prying on your jaws, jacking on your teeth, blowing bubbles all over the place, stiff hoses running all over hte place, nosiy and unreliable contraptions. Not that there is anything wrong with that, you know.

N

 

[Luis H]

I dont see how you guys live with those single hose things, prying on your jaws, jacking on your teeth, blowing bubbles all over the place, stiff hoses running all over hte place, nosiy and unreliable contraptions. Not that there is anything wrong with that, you know.

N