Brian from Iowa

[Brian Carrillo]

I have only dove once off French's Reef but absolutely loved and want to dive again. Problem is that I want my wife to be able to join me on future dives but when she tried last time her lungs were not strong enough to make the respirator work due to her allergies and asthma. My question to all of the experts out there is, would there be a respirator that is easier to actuate? We have looked at full face masks so that way she can use her nose and mouth but I don't know if those would be any easier or not. I also just read about a "constant flow" mask but am not sure how this effects length of dive if it is constantly pumping the air. Any thoughts or experiences with those? Thanks for any help.

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

May need a bit more info on the exact issue your wife is having because scuba regulators breath just as easy as you breath in and out. There is no work to make them breath and give you air (when properly tuned/adjusted) with the exception of either being out of the water which will usually be slightly harder to "crack" the valve, or a improperly tuned/adjusted regulator. Unless it is an anxiety issue where she feels like she can't breath...

 

[Brian Carrillo]

May need a bit more info on the exact issue your wife is having because scuba regulators breath just as easy as you breath in and out. There is no work to make them breath and give you air (when properly tuned/adjusted) with the exception of either being out of the water which will usually be slightly harder to "crack" the valve, or a improperly tuned/adjusted regulator. Unless it is an anxiety issue where she feels like she can't breath...

Thank you for the response. We were using the equipment from the dive shop so I can not be sure about how it was adjusted. I did notice that out of the water the one I was using took a little more effort to get the valve to "crack" so maybe hers was having a similar issue so that may have built some anxiety on her part and as soon as she went under and felt like it resisted she stood right up in the pool. This is the first that I am hearing about the valves being able to be adjusted. That gives me another avenue to research so thank you for that as well. I'm thinking that a full mask is probably what she will want anyway so ill head that direction.

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

Yeah, dive shop gear, although usually regularly serviced, will breath a little harder than someone’s personal regulator because they don’t want someone to have a free flow on them. The first stages and the second stages are both adjustable to tune and fine tune them. The procedure varies from one make to another and/or one model to another but they are all adjustable. Others will chime in as well here but keep us posted on the progress..

 

[kmarks]

A very lightly tuned cracking pressure will breathe very easily, but it does increase the risk of free flow. A lot of the better regs have an adjustment knob that will let you reduce or increase the work of breathing/cracking pressure. As Jonny said, rental gear is usually adjusted a little harder to prevent free flows, and a lot of rental gear is usually cheaper, too, so it might not be as easily user adjustable.

When you said you used the dive shop's gear, where was this dive shop? Most warm water dive resorts rent their gear out daily and use some really basic, unbalanced regs that can become noticeably difficult to breathe on as you go deeper. Most shops in the midwest (I'm near Iowa City) actually rent better regs that are more likely to be balanced and sealed, making them good for cold water as well as more comfortable in warm water.

Since your wife has issues with asthma and allergies, she will need to see a doctor before she gets into diving to make sure that it is controlled well enough to dive. 90 feet underwater is 6 minutes to the surface (minimum, safely) and not a good time to need an inhaler.