Breathing the gas from your BCD

[rick00001967]

my first reaction was that this had to be a miscommunication.

from reading some of the comments it seems some divers actually do this.

i personally have never heard of anyone doing this, and have never been asked to do this. further, i see no point in doing it.

i understand the request to do a "hot drop" under certain circumstances. but there is no need to literally use your mouth the suck every last drop of air out of your wing or bcd.

if for some reason you feel the need to make sure the bladder is completely empty, why not just submerge it in the water while holding open the deflate valve before you assemble your gear? that will push all remaining gas out.

our shop teaches students to wet their bcd straps anyway before assembling their gear, so it would be quite simple.

as far as the other topic of breathing gas from a bcd in an emergency......if it came down to it, i think the last thought in your mind right before you pass out would not be whether you might get a lung infection if you were to take in some of the gas in your bladder. but lets try to make sure it doesn't come to that.

 

[rongoodman]

I vent my wing before doing negative entries but I've never felt the need to suck the air out of it. Kicking down is sufficient and as soon as you go head down any remaining air is right under the rear dump.

 

[johndiver999]

I see no reason to do that and advise against it.
If you push the button and hold the hose up, the air will get out.

only if your boat has already sunk -

 

[justinthedeeps]

As if SCUBA wasn't kinky enough, now we're taking pre-dive bong rips off the BCD?

Fun fact: if you belong on a 'negative entry' dive, you then don't need a negative entry. You just need skills & experience in promptly descending in the right direction.

Noob customers/DMs go ahead and blow your eardrums out while flailing around at ~2 metres, I'm already waiting for you at the bottom...

 

[LI-er]

Guessing his first language wasn't english and you were taking him too literally

He speaks reasonably good English, he meant exactly what I posted, and as I said I questioned him on the safety aspects and he maintained his position.

 

[LI-er]

my first reaction was that this had to be a miscommunication.

Absolutely not.

our shop teaches students to wet their bcd straps anyway before assembling their gear.

Why? Unnecessary work.

i think the last thought in your mind right before you pass out would not be whether you might get a lung infection

Yes as a last resort prior to dying it's an option.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've done numerous hot drops. I've never needed to do more than physically squeeze remaining residual air from my bcd prior to donning. Then drop at appropriate time, blowing as I go.

Smh

 

[Blackcrusader]

This has been a frequent discussion on SB as I am sure you know. To my knowledge there has been 1 documented case of infection from breathing from BCD over the history of scuba diving.

Taking a breath from the BCD for a good negative entry was something I was told diving WPB Florida many years ago and maybe a few times since. For the average diver it is totally unnecessary. Just give the BCD a good squeeze with the vent/valve open.

But would I do it in an emergency or truly needed for descent? On my own BCD absolutely. No worries. On a rental? Only for a true emergency.

I was taught this life saving procedure by my BSAC instructor who was also a commercial dive instructor. Basically a last resort if you are separated from a dive buddy or other tanks where you need to get to the surface. Keep yourself alive was the motto. I have brought this up on SB.

One freak death from a guy who breathed from a moldy BCD, his own.

Emergency Breathing from Your BCD: Undercurrent 06/2011

 

[34109411]

Guessing his first language wasn't english and you were taking him too

 

[boulderjohn]

As a last resort with myself being in a out of air situation , breathing off my buoyancy compensator instead of dying makes good sense to me . Been there done that Rumdumb

This has been discussed many times on ScubaBoard. It is hard to conceive of a scenario where this makes sense. If you are OOA in the open water and have no alternate air source available, then your choices are the CESA or the buoyant ascent. Both of them call for you to be exhaling all the way to the surface.