Do you use your SAC for anything? POLL

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SAC rate measured over numerous dives gives you a very good idea of how much air you will use over time. I think a rate tested at the surface is pretty useless but can be a good starting point. In tech diving consumption rates are used to plan gas reserves and total gas needed for dives. On recreations dives I use some quick averages to determine tank size needed.
 
I use my SAC all the time to calculate gas matching/planning.
 
I don't tech dive (yet), but I do use SAC rate (recorded after every dive) to plan air consumption, rock bottom and turnaround pressure (given the dive plan).

I'm at a point where at any given point in a time (based on elapsed time), I can predict within 100-150 PSI where my tank pressure is at.

Works for me.
 
I had not thought of doing that....problem is, I just slow down when narc'ed, so at say 130 ft, I would be using up the whole dive figuring out my usage....

Thank goodness for trimix.

Hmmm, I use my SAC rate to figure out how narced I am. As I get closer to 100 feet, I make sure I calculate my current consumption rate by taking 5 minute PSI readings and the calculations generally go something like this:

a. Depth -- 100 feet

b. ATA -- 4

c. Pressure 2475 psi -- minute later 2200 psi -- that is 275 psi used

d. Uh, what was I doing? Oh, right -- depth 100 feet. Uh, How many psi was it? Uh, uh, uh...

If I can do the whole calculation, I know I am either on trimix or I am NOT at 100 feet!
 
European holiday diving (Metric), my SAC is 16-20 litres/min. I know the variables that affect this, & my buddies SAC 11-15 litres/min. Result I normally dive a single 15 Litre Nitrox 32, he uses twin 5 litre (prefering the balance).
Maybe 1 dive per holiday would be below 22 metres, when I would use a 12 litre max. Does this answer the survey?
 
I calculate my SAC, but assume 1.0 for gas planning. Unfortunately, I know that my working SAC is above 1.0, so it's sort of like I calculate it only to ignore it. All my buddies have casual SACs of 2/3 or less of mine, so I assume that their working SACs are also 2/3 or less of mine (I know that's not a great assumption), but that comes pretty close to 2.0cf/min.atm for the pair of us.

Just out of interest aquaregia what do you mean by "working SAC"? Is that your SAC while swimming or something more strenuous than that?
 
I'm not aquaregia, so forgive the intrusion. When you plan for deco dives it is common to use 2 different SAC rates:

1. Working SAC rate -- for the non-deco portion of the dive when you might be swimming or moving around with a regular degree of physical activity

2. Deco SAC rate -- for the deco portion when you are not supposed to be doing a lot of physical activity. You are supposed to stay mostly idle while offgasing.

Logically, your working sac rate will be greater than the deco sac rate.
 
Greetings LakeCountyDiver I personally use SAC to plan most every dive not just DECO dives.
As Slamfire has mentioned actually on a DECO dive there several different SAC rates one needs to address to plan your dive conservatism in terms of gas.
Some may feel that is over kill for REC dives but it adds fun to the dive for me and keeps me sharp using the calculations and applying the plan vs the post dive debrief.
My interest in this has lead me to some pretty interesting tests personally.
I have found that in some instances two smaller tanks will get you further than two large tanks. How did I determine this? SAC rate and trail and error.

One of the greatest parts of diving for me is to always seek out new things learning the whole time.
Some people like to veg out and I am not talking badly or making fun if that is what they enjoy then that is awesome. Being slightly OCD is not for everyone and thank God for that!
What it does for me is gives me a outlet for my crazy fast thinking brain where no sound is there to distract me only the sound of my breathing.
It is probably the reason that cave diving has been so enjoyable for me because you are always thinking. Awesome! Not for everyone.

CamG Keep diving....Keep training....Keep learning!
 
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