BCD as a Breathing Bag

[Hillmorton Scubie]

On reading The Divers Handbook by Alan Mountain, I came across something new to me and not covered in the PADI OW course.
On Page 31 it states.
Using the BCD as a breathing bag is an emergency measure only, and requires special training, regular practice and a calm temperament.
As all of us are interested in having as much redundancy as possible, could you enlighten me on this extra air source. Also have you used it or have trained to use it.
Thanks

 

[victor]

Don't Do it :no :no :no
You have no idea what nasty fungui and bacteria are growing inside your BCD.

Then again if it was your only source of air while doing an emergency swimming ascent and it was that or drown. Go for it.

I think it is far to dangerous to practise this particular technique. It was talked about back in the 70's when the toilet ring had a mini inflator bottle on it.

 

[spectrum]

Don't Do it :no :no :no
You have no idea what nasty fungi and bacteria are growing inside your BCD.

Then again if it was your only source of air while doing an emergency swimming ascent and it was that or drown. Go for it.

I think it is far to dangerous to practice this particular technique. It was talked about back in the 70's when the toilet ring had a mini inflater bottle on it.

I think that sums it up.

Pete

 

[The Kraken]

Don't Do it :no :no :no
You have no idea what nasty fungui and bacteria are growing inside your BCD.

An occasional rinsing of the B/C with mouthwash and then a fresh water rinse will eliminate this potential problem.

the K

 

[Thalassamania]

IN the 1970s some BCs (FENZY) came equipped with an inflator bottle and a one-way breathing mouthpiece (inhale from the bag, exhale to the water). These BCs were known as Adjustable Buoyancy Life Jackets (ABLJ) which was the Britishism for them and they were popular within the BSAC, which at the time required an ABLJ ascent for the Club Diver rating (CMAS **).

Yes, some nasty things were cultured from the insides of ABLJs and there were even special rinses available for cleaning them (10% bleach worked just fine).

 

[Crowley]

We've had a couple of discussions about this before.

If you're dumb enough to run out of air and need to make an emergency ascent, you've got maybe one or two breaths from your BCD, assuming you had some air in it in the first place. Bacteria and crud in the bladder are secondary concerns when compared to - for example - drowning. It's not taught or recommended because it's not a reliable alternate air source, but if it gives you enough oxygen to surface in an emergency, for sure I'll take it!!

 

[scubatoys]

I hate to take the air from my BC so in an emergency, I break the glass on my watch and suck the air bubble out of that... Of course this only works on dives that are shallower than 300 feet... otherwise I need it filled with quadmix (hey... if 3 is good... 4 is better) before the dive.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Hit the autoinflator and oral inflator buttons at the same time. Air takes the path of least resistance--out of the oral inflator. You can breathe off that in an emergency situation. Realistically you shouldn't ever have to. You'd have to have 2 broken 2nd stages, and your buddy would have to be missing/dead/also have 2 broken 2nd stages.

 

[Tim Greaves]

I would say that breathing the fungi is probably better than drowning.. Get a Scubapro air2 and just use it for a power inflator.. If the need comes where you would need to breathe your bc air then you can just use that..

Use some anti-bacterial stuff in your bc to kill the germs. If you do need to breathe from it in an emergency then go for it..

 

[ffestpirate]

Bacterial lung infections are deadly. Remember the ESA