Atomic T3

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Clamutt

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Good morning,

I have an atomic t3 regulator. In relative terms my consumption rate has always been on the higher side but I went on a dive recently and my consumption was almost 30% higher than I was used to. I couldn’t figure it out so I played with the regulator knob, closing it significantly (still had no problem breathing effortlessly) but immediately my consumption rates came back closer to what I was accustom to.

when the knob was full open I wasn’t seeing/feeling any leaking.

Does this make any sense that consumption rates would decrease when the knob is tightened or is this something where I may need to have someone retest it? I don’t mind diving with is more closed but I just didn’t think it would or should impact consumption rates…am I wrong? I’d love thoughts on this
 
What that knob does is to control how much of a flow assist you get from the reg. The more open it is, the more assistance you get. Hence why you will consume more gas. Generally you only want it open just enough for comfort and the deeper you go the more you may have to open it as the density increases.
The other reason you may need to open the valve up is if you are working a little harder, say through current. This will help you get more gas in each breath without you having to work to get it.
 
I suspect it's a coincidence. My SAC usually drops significantly perhaps 5 or 10 mins into a dive. (This is outside of the inflated values arising from adding air to the BCD.)
 
What that knob does is to control how much of a flow assist you get from the reg. The more open it is, the more assistance you get. Hence why you will consume more gas. Generally you only want it open just enough for comfort and the deeper you go the more you may have to open it as the density increases.
The other reason you may need to open the valve up is if you are working a little harder, say through current. This will help you get more gas in each breath without you having to work to get it.
 
The more open it is, the more assistance you get. Hence why you will consume more gas.
I don't see how the second follows from the first. EDIT: if the "hard" setting causes you to breath shallow, I think your breathing rate would increase just from increased CO2 levels.
 
Thank you so much. Logically I was thinking that even though easier your lungs are only so big so you wouldn’t be getting more air so to speak but you’re probably correct. I bet when it’s excessively easy you may end up taking faster inhale and deeper breaths or something like that so you’re just taking more air than you actually need. Thank you again and I agree I’ll just close it down a little more.
 
when it’s excessively easy you may end up taking faster inhale and deeper breaths or something like that so you’re just taking more air than you actually need.
That's not my experience. The knob controls how easy air flow STARTS.
 
I don't see how the second follows from the first. EDIT: if the "hard" setting causes you to breath shallow, I think your breathing rate would increase just from increased CO2 levels.

my understanding of it is like this...if you have it turned in just right, breathing is easy and natural. Tightening the valve will make you have to work a little harder on the inhalation. Either from depth, hydrostatic pressure, and gas density increased or through harder work, you will have to work harder to breathe.
If you open the valve more than needed you get more of an assist and the reg forces more gas into each inhale than needed. I have played with the valves on my regs to experience this first hand, but that is anecdotal evidence. I am sure the more engineering savvy guys around here can get more into the details.
 
That's not my experience. The knob controls how easy air flow STARTS.

That is the other valve. There are two on some regs. The atomic OP is using has that valve build into an automatic internal device. Though I could have them backwards...
I also have an Atomic M1.
My Apeks has both valves as user controllable.
 
The adjustment knob on the T3 second stage is for adjusting the cracking pressure of the second stage valve (effort required to open the valve to get the air flowing). You can make the effort you make to open the valve less by turning the knob out and make it more by turning it in. The normal position for the knob is all the way out when the second stage is in your mouth (or during storage) and all the way in when you are on the water's surface and the second stage is out of your mouth. With the knob in all the way for the most effort you will actually build up more CO2 because you will be exerting more effort to open the valve to get the air flowing which is not good. The ONLY time I turn the knob in is if there is an air leak with the knob out and I only turn it in just enough to stop the leak. You may not notice the difference between the knob in the all the way out or all the way in but there is a difference and your chest muscles and lungs will know it after a while if the knob is in all the way.

Your appearing to consume more air with the knob all the way out is probably coincidence unless the adjustment knob isn't adjusted properly and it is leaking air when it is all the way out. If it is leaking air, then a qualified service tech. should take a a look at it and determine if just needs a simple adjustment or if it needs full service.
 

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