Bcd filled with water

[beth.conran]

Hi, I'm new to diving. Have 20 dives. I just purchased an Oceanic Hera BCD. When I returned after 2 dives I heard water moving around in tge bladder. I pulled the lower dump cord and there was a gush of water ( alot of water) that came out. Not a small trickle but alot water. I know water can get into the bladder but this seemed like an aweful lot of water. Is this normal?

 

[The Chairman]

It appears you try to adjust your buoyancy a lot. Try using breath control instead... but don't occlude your glottis.

 

[AJ]

Seems you're very new to diving. Possibly you are overweighted and need to compensate with your BCD. I would say it's not uncommon to have a lot of water in your BCD considering your experience.

My advice would be to try and shave of some weight gradually as your experience grows. You will find that as your experience grows you will need less weight and your BCD will be filled less with water.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

What the old man said. You're using your BCD too much for buoyancy. By all measures, you should only be tapping the button a couple of times to slow your descent and then leave it alone until you do your safety stop. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon.

This is the way.

 

[johndiver999]

I (think) I learned something recently.. I typically use a BC or wing with a pull dump on the inflator. I prefer that configuration due to how easy and quick it is to dump air. I add and dump air probably a dozen times during a drift dive where I am neutral and then dump a bunch of air to be negative on the bottom.

Anyway, I always ended up with a good bit of water in the BC maybe a almost a quart? Recently switched BC's and no longer have the pull dump. Now I get hardly a dribble of water in the BC during the whole day. The only difference seems to be elimination of the inflator pull dump?

Anyone else make a similar observation? Also getting a pound or so of water in the BC is not a problem, maybe just annoying.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

It's not uncommon, particularly if you use your dump valves to correct buoyancy (which a lot of new divers do). Nothing particularly bad or wrong with it; it's part of the learning process.

As said above, eventually you will reach the point where you correct your buoyancy primarily with breath control. Amazing things start happening then: your BCD will have significantly less water in it, you will consume less air, your hair will become radiant and have more body, your skin and nails will be flawless, you will become popular among certain religious sects who may worship you as their god. Your personal experience may vary.

In seriousness, regardless of whether you have a lot or little water in your BCD, make sure you are rinsing it out thoroughly with fresh water post-dive. I use a little bit of antibacterial detergent (maybe a capful) and water when rinsing; I put the solution in, blow air into the BC and slosh the mixture around the bladder (like shaking an unusual cocktail), empty it out, and then flush several times with fresh water. Hang it upside down in a dry room with air inflator hose disconnected for a couple days.

 

[Lorenzoid]

To state what others have said in a slightly different way, when you are trying to dump air from your BC and think to yourself "surely there is still some air in my BC because I'm not able to hold my depth," the problem is that there really is not any more air in your BC, and so water enters through the dump valve.

Oh, that may be a bit of exaggeration--your BC may not be completely empty--but you have probably emptied all you are comfortably able to. There may be some techniques for dumping that last little bit of air, but getting the last bit of air out is not as important as getting your weighting right, so you don't find yourself futilely trying to dump more air.

 

[BRT]

Seems you're very new to diving. Possibly you are overweighted and need to compensate with your BCD. I would say it's not uncommon to have a lot of water in your BCD considering your experience.

My advice would be to try and shave of some weight gradually as your experience grows. You will find that as your experience grows you will need less weight and your BCD will be filled less with water.

Nope, underweighted and trying to adjust BCD when it is empty.

 

[John Bantin]

If you raise your corrugated hose and open the manual inflation valve to dump air, as often taught by instructors, water will ingress in the other direction. This happens less with the pull-cord dump valve if you have one. Contrary to popular myth, this does not dump ALL the air from your BC. If you fully inflate your BC at the surface and pull a bottom dump valve while vertical, it will expel most of the water before any air before you exit. Try it.

 

[Still Kicking]

I (think) I learned something recently.. I typically use a BC or wing with a pull dump on the inflator. I prefer that configuration due to how easy and quick it is to dump air. I add and dump air probably a dozen times during a drift dive where I am neutral and then dump a bunch of air to be negative on the bottom.

Anyway, I always ended up with a good bit of water in the BC maybe a almost a quart? Recently switched BC's and no longer have the pull dump. Now I get hardly a dribble of water in the BC during the whole day. The only difference seems to be elimination of the inflator pull dump?

Anyone else make a similar observation? Also getting a pound or so of water in the BC is not a problem, maybe just annoying.

I never liked using the pull dump. Putting extra stress on the bladder/BC elbow/corrugated hose connection does not seem like a great idea to me. (I know millions of divers do this without an issue so I know I am just being a little paranoid.) I personally find it easier to do a duck dive and release some air through the lower dump valve as I kick down. Does some water get in? Sure .... but it's not a big deal.

For newer divers, I recommend using the BC inflator to release air gradually rather than the pull dump, which tends to be all or nothing. When on the surface, I have them hold the inflator up and release air in small spurts until their head goes underwater. At that point, they let go of the inflator and exhale as forcefully as they can ... hold their lungs empty lungs for a few seconds until they descend a few feet. At that point they can start breathing normally again. If they have trouble descending like this, they are underweighted. Using this method most new diver are able to achieve neutral buoyancy on their first dive with minimal air in their BC and hardly any yo-yoing.