Dry Suit Death?

[Diver0001]

ok... so.... i was reading about how hard-hat divers in the old days could
get "squeezed" into their brass helmet by pressure if their suit somehow couldn't
keep up with the external pressure.

basically, they ended up as a ball of flesh in the helmet.

so... being new to dry suit diving, i got to wondering:

can suit squeeze kill you?

what if you accidentally drop down faster and faster, and somehow can't
hit the inflate button for the dry suit... will you be "squeezed to death?"

if so... how deep do you think you have to go before this happens?

I've been diving in a brass helmet suit. Helmet and suit are one unit. The suit doesn't have a neck seal and it's all open to the helmet. As long as air is still coming in then suit squeeze is next to impossible. I suppose if you cut the hose that it could be interesting but in normal operation I can't see how this would happen.

R..

 

[theskull]

lol... if the title of this thread didn't do that, nothing will

(yes.. shame on me... i was thinking "what will get their attention?")

next: giant octopus found whose diet consists solely of dry suits

It was an eye-catching title. And your initial question included some interesting graphics, too. I enjoyed both. Plus your real question was earnest and sincere, and probably something many potential drysuit divers wonder. . . well, not about being sucked into their mask and dying, but certainly about suit squeeze and the dreaded feet-first buoyant ascent.

So to answer the other, unasked, question: Yes, if you allow yourself to end up upside-down and become buoyant you could be facing a problem worse than suit squeeze. Fortunately it is just as easy to prevent and solve. Prevention--proper trim and distribution of weights so you will not accidentally be upside down. Upside down is still OK as long as you don't become buoyant at the same time. If you do, you simply get right-side up by kicking downward and either tuck-and-roll or arch your back to get the feet back under you. And sudden buoyancy can be quickly solved by opening the neck or wrist seal--cold is better than bent.

Proper training in diving the suit and a little practice on shallow dives should be all you need to prevent all of the above-mentioned problems. A runaway suit inflator is about as common as a runaway BC inflator--I've known a couple people who had one that creeped and slowly added buoyancy, but have yet to hear of one that suddenly went out of control. It's possible of course, but so are monkeys flying out of my butt. I don't bet on either to happen to me in my lifetime--but I'm prepared for both!

theskull

 

[diverbob]

but so are monkeys flying out of my butt. I don't bet on either to happen to me in my lifetime--but I'm prepared for both!

theskull

I have heard of the P-Valve, can you also get a poo valve? Or in this case, a monkey valve?

 

[theskull]

I have heard of the P-Valve, can you also get a poo valve? Or in this case, a monkey valve?

ROFLMAO!

 

[Web Monkey]

Actually, it can get more than uncomfortable. The suit can constrict enough to restrict movement of your arms. I can imagine that it could restrict your diaphram also (yes, your breathing diaphram!!).

Yes, you will feel it in advance. It should give you time to fix the problem.

I don't beleive you could lose the ability to move your arms at any recreational depth. I know for certain that I can still move pretty much everything at 80' with no added air in the suit. Although it's uncomfortable, it's still possible to move and breathe.

In any case, the immediate and generally obvious solution would be to either ascend or add air to the suit.

If you're somehow completely hosed up, that's what your buddy is for.

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

And sudden buoyancy can be quickly solved by opening the neck or wrist seal--cold is better than bent.
theskull

Pulling the neck seal really does work (we did it in our drysuit class).

It's certainly "refreshing" in 35 degree water, although as you said, much better than getting bent.

Terry

 

[pipedope]

Yes, the death by suit squeeze is a hard hat, surface supplied problem that doesn't apply to sport scuba dry suit diving.

Hey, have you seen the video from the ROV cutting a pipe in deep water and a crab walks by, almost?

 

[Bob3]

Then there was the guy sitting on the crapper in a chamber when someone opened the dump valve outside, extracting a couple feet of the guy's intestines. :11:
He did recover, but I wonder if he got the heebie jeebies every time he took a dump...

 

[lamont]

I wonder if he got the heebie jeebies every time he took a dump...

*I* am going to get the heebie jeebies the next time i take a dump after that mental image...

 

[jagfish]

Actually, I've got the answer to this one...

I had to do some research into bells and helmets and ran into all kids of morbid stuff. You'd be surprised how old dive bells are...

Anyway, those early helmets that could suck you inside were due to the fact that they had no check valve, so when the air pressure became less (or the surface stopped pumping), all the pressure was shot with great force up the hose. It was really more than a squeeze, it was like you were going up the drain with the last of the air...quite terrible, really...

Not long after this happened a few times, a one-way valve was develped that cut the flow of air back up the hose, even if the supply was stopped or slowed.

In the case of a dry suit, there is no place for the air to be drawn away to and take body with it, so no problems there. Regarding squeeze, You can only be squeezed by the pressure created from the relatively small volume of gas the suit contained before becoming pressurized. Not enough to start crunching flesh anytime soon, I'd venture...