Does everyone really need the LP BCD inflator?

[StefinSB]

Hilarious that the same guys that are against primary donate with the argument that you don’t take your primary out of your mouth are now all for manually inflating the BC during a dive. Good times.

 

[tna9001]

That is total lung capacity.

You can exhale as much as possible and you still have 2 l left.

Maxi mun air difference from full lungs to as empty is about 4 l.

Normal breath is around 2 l.

Of course averages so different people will have different volumes.

I need no air in my wing at 50 bar and 5 m deep. I can pass plus minus neutral just with my lung volume. However at full tank I can only get to neutral with a full lungs.

Basically I put 2 l of air in when I get to depth, and let it out gradually as I consume gas and assent through the dive ending up no air left around 100 bar. I dive no neoprene so no buoyancy issues there.

I w2ill keep the LP infiltrator hose because it is easier to inflate both routinely and in an emergency, available to someone not familiar with my gear or for me in a down current.

Great info, thank you!

 

[johndiver999]

For a stupid reason, I had no operable power inflator for diving this weekend. I've done oral inflation pretty many times, but to be honest have not practiced it much lately.

It is a pain in the butt, It (almost) takes three hands to manage your gear, the inflator, the second stage and it often took more than one breath to inflate when I reached the bottom. Plus, I guess I had forgotten, each time I blow in, I am injecting a slug of water that has flooded the mouth piece. I ended up with a bunch of water in the BC by the end of the day,

Also on the ascent, when you have use of the power inflator, if you dump a little too much air, you just tap the inflate button (to correct your mistake). Without the LP hose attached, you are forced to be much more precise with your dumping of air - if you don't want to have to go back to the three-hand juggling show or kick harder than you want.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Hilarious that the same guys that are against primary donate with the argument that you don’t take your primary out of your mouth are now all for manually inflating the BC during a dive. Good times.

I am one of those not employing primary donating. My "pro" setup had two first stages and three second stages, of which one mounted on the left shoulder, with long yellow hose, dedicated to being donated and never used by me.

However, manually inflating the BCD sucks. In fact I added a power inflator to my old Fenzy...
What we are saying, is that using the BCD in many cases is entirely superfluous, in fact I leave it on the boat and dive without suit, without BCD and all the stuff attached to it. At very shallow depth, of course, and in warm, clear and calm water. This is how I and my wife introduced our sons to scuba diving, when they were children aged 4 or 5... We continued diving this way with them for years, until they were 12. Only at that point we trained them using the BCD and had them certified JAOW.
The BCD becomes very useful, indeed, for deeper dives with a suit that compresses with depth.

 

[Rickk]

..... Plus, I guess I had forgotten, each time I blow in, I am injecting a slug of water that has flooded the mouth piece. I ended up with a bunch of water in the BC by the end of the day,

.....

My SOP is to inflate the bladder while pulling on the bottom dump at the same time as soon as I am out of the water and before I remove my BPW.

This flushes out any water in the bladder at the end of every dive. Sometimes I will get a litre or so, sometimes zero water but always empty at the end of the dive.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

For a stupid reason, I had no operable power inflator for diving this weekend. I've done oral inflation pretty many times, but to be honest have not practiced it much lately.

It is a pain in the butt, It (almost) takes three hands to manage your gear, the inflator, the second stage and it often took more than one breath to inflate when I reached the bottom. Plus, I guess I had forgotten, each time I blow in, I am injecting a slug of water that has flooded the mouth piece. I ended up with a bunch of water in the BC by the end of the day,

Also on the ascent, when you have use of the power inflator, if you dump a little too much air, you just tap the inflate button (to correct your mistake). Without the LP hose attached, you are forced to be much more precise with your dumping of air - if you don't want to have to go back to the three-hand juggling show or kick harder than you want.

Orally inflating a vest or BCD is now a lost art. Look at the oral inflators, and you should see several holes in the end, under the purge/oral inflate button. Those are water escape holes, and allow the diver to blow the water out of the mouthpiece area before pressing on the button to inflate the BCD. Simply start blowing slightly before opening the valve to inflate the BCD, and very little water will go into the BCD.

SeaRat