Average Gas Consumption

What is your average RMV?

  • less than 0.3 cu ft/min, 8.5 l/min

    Votes: 12 1.4%
  • 0.3-0.39 cu ft/min, 8.5-11.2 l/min

    Votes: 99 11.7%
  • 0.4-0.49 cu ft/min, 11.3-14.1 l/min

    Votes: 225 26.6%
  • 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min, 14.2-16.9 l/min

    Votes: 254 30.0%
  • 0.6-0.69 cu ft/min, 17.0-19.7 l/min

    Votes: 125 14.8%
  • 0.7-0.79 cu ft/min, 19.8-22.5 l/min

    Votes: 88 10.4%
  • 0.8-0.89 cu ft/min, 22.6-25.4 l/min

    Votes: 18 2.1%
  • 0.9-0.99 cu ft/min, 25.5-28.2 l/min

    Votes: 11 1.3%
  • greater than or equal to 1.0 cu ft/min, 28.3 l/min

    Votes: 15 1.8%

  • Total voters
    847

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I don't have a SAC rate, I have rates... Warm and happy in Mexico, I can be under 8.5 LPM, doing training there it's more like 17. I have rates for teaching tech, diving tech, teaching rec, diving rec in both warm and cold water. Teaching and cold add stress and increase consumption pretty dramatically. Voting on my SAC rate is based on the best dive I've ever had in warm water, however :wink:
The thread asks for average RMV, you have a much broader range of dives than most of us do. However, entering your best RMV is not very accurate. If that were the case, I would be <0.3 cu ft/min, a reasonably uncommon rate for me, just 66/1841 dives.
 
The thread asks for average RMV, you have a much broader range of dives than most of us do. However, entering your best RMV is not very accurate. If that were the case, I would be <0.3 cu ft/min, a reasonably uncommon rate for me, just 66/1841 dives.
I was having a little fun with the survey. I expect that there's more than a little halo effect when it comes to one's SAC rate anyway.

If we really want to know what an average is, I can all up all those dives and all those SACs and find an average... It doesn't really tell us anything though, if they aren't internally consistent; that is, consistent with themselves. My average SAC is only internally consistent when it's measured against the environment and stressors - I suspect that this is generally true among most people.

Think of it this way: if it's 70 in Florida, you'll find people wearing winter clothing. It feels cold to them. A few years ago, I was in Atlanta during a snowstorm. I saw two people outside, walking along in shorts and tank tops. They didn't look distressed, and I assume that the Canadian passports they held were indicative of what cold feels like to them.

Diving is the same. I was showing a friend who teaching in Mexico, video from a dive I'd done in 16C/61F water. He was flabbergasted that I wasn't wearing gloves and a hood. . . I've trained folks with hundreds of dives in the Caribbean, good divers, who had a constant stream of bubbles going to the surface due to the cold. Everything's relative. I can't match the SAC rate of a recreational DM with 5000 dives in warm water, when (s)he's at home, but they can't match my SAC in chilly waters.

And don't get me started on median vs. mode please :wink:
 
I was having a little fun with the survey. I expect that there's more than a little halo effect when it comes to one's SAC rate anyway.

If we really want to know what an average is, I can all up all those dives and all those SACs and find an average... It doesn't really tell us anything though, if they aren't internally consistent; that is, consistent with themselves. My average SAC is only internally consistent when it's measured against the environment and stressors - I suspect that this is generally true among most people.

Think of it this way: if it's 70 in Florida, you'll find people wearing winter clothing. It feels cold to them. A few years ago, I was in Atlanta during a snowstorm. I saw two people outside, walking along in shorts and tank tops. They didn't look distressed, and I assume that the Canadian passports they held were indicative of what cold feels like to them.

Diving is the same. I was showing a friend who teaching in Mexico, video from a dive I'd done in 16C/61F water. He was flabbergasted that I wasn't wearing gloves and a hood. . . I've trained folks with hundreds of dives in the Caribbean, good divers, who had a constant stream of bubbles going to the surface due to the cold. Everything's relative. I can't match the SAC rate of a recreational DM with 5000 dives in warm water, when (s)he's at home, but they can't match my SAC in chilly waters.

And don't get me started on median vs. mode please :wink:
Average SAC meant to me your working SAC (not resting SAC) in average "finkicking" conditions at a normal pace (not fighting a crazy downward current). But true, would have been good to define it
 
Now, over 49,000 views and 709 votes in the poll

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Best of diving
 
Wow, now 50,000 views and 716 votes in the poll

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Good holidays to all
 
More than 51,000 views, 718 votes in the poll

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Best of diving in 2024
 
More than 52,000 views and 723 votes in the poll

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Good diving to all
 
Wow, a burst of activity. Now more than 54,000 views and 729 votes in the poll

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Best of diving
 
Over 55,000 views and 734 votes in the poll.

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The median, mode, and weighted average remain 0.5-0.59 cu ft/min or 14.2-16.9 l/min

If you have not voted in the poll, please consider doing so. If your average RMV has changed, please change your vote.

Enjoy your diving
 
I currently use a whole lot of air. It is what it is for now. With more time in the water, that should come down quite a bit. It seems like I use somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cubic feet/minute in a dry suit, and somewhere around 1 cubic feet/minute in warm water. I could also be calculating wrong, but I doubt it. It's all about efficiency which I don't have just yet. Experienced divers are a whole lot more efficient under water than I am, but it will happen in time.

Physique matters, too. It always amazes me when wiry women barely dent their air supply in the same time I use enough that it's time to come up. I'm not exactly a huge person, but big enough to use more air. That's unlikely to change.
 

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