Dry suit diving malfunction has me scared

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heidihart88

Registered
Messages
26
Reaction score
2
Location
Seattle
# of dives
100 - 199
I'd be grateful for any input anyone has on this situation. I'm a recreational diver who likes to dive maybe a few times a year and last spring took a wonderful trip to Palau, Yap and Chuuk. I have about 60 dives altogether, not too many I admit. Living in Seattle I decided it was time to get my dry suit cert and adv open water. This past weekend I did the dry suit dives and I had TWO suit malfunctions.

The first (obviously not my fault) the inflator valve stuck and inflated my suit uncontrollably fast. Even had I been able to disconnect the hose (I couldn't due to the thick gloves I didn't want to wear) it all happened so fast and the force of the air made it nearly impossible to even move my arms enough to grab the hose. After the incident I was given a different dry suit to wear for my second dive.

A little nervous from the first incident I deflated my suit as fully as possible, decended, spent about 5 minutes doing "skills" at about 15-20 feet and then proceeded to look around. I was at about 35 feet and felt fairly "empty" I was barely able to hover two feet off the bottom so I gave a quick burst of air, waited about a minute, then gave another short burst of air, wanted to wait some more and see how things were, so I kept swimming with my buddy about 10 feet, then all of a sudden both my feet went up behind me and I was zipped to the surface, this time I was able to get the hose unhooked but still not until after I surfaced. The whole thing happened so fast. When I reached the surface my suit was again full of air, puffed out like the stay puff marshmellow. I don't believe there was any chance the two tiny burst of air I took could have expanded that much. My instructor told me it could have been a slow leak of air into the suit from a faulty hose.

I really want to figure this out. I am supposed to do my advanced open water dive this weekend in a dry suit, but if that had happened any deeper I don't want to think what could have happened. Does anyone have any information, ideas, anything that would help. If there was something possibly that I did, or could have done to avoid I really need to know. My instructors said that there was nothing I could have done with the first, but they were also looking straight at me when it happened and could tell I hadn't done anything wrong, the second time I was behind the instructor and they couldn't see what I did. Any input would help!
 
Well I dive one in caves but I dont wear gloves. Perhaps the suits you tried needed the inflators rebuilt. That does happen after a certain period of time. I NEVER use my suit for bouyancy, thats what my wing or BCD is for. Put air in the suit to eliminate the squeeze and leave it alone, only adjust when necessary. If you go head down in one you will send all the air to your feet. Only lots of practice will help that. You cant dive one like a wetsuit, the air in it keeps you from that in most cases. I have had a full flood in one, whick tries to drown you due to all the weight in the suit. Lots can go wrong but they are worth the extra hassle. Just do what your instructor tells you and have him go over any questions you might have like what you asked here.
 
Don't use your suit for buoyancy, I don't believe in PADI's reasoning for teaching that in their book and luckily neither did my instructor. That's what your wing/BCD is for. Did your instructor not teach you emergency procedures for a runaway inflator? If completely necessary you can lift your neck seal (you'll end up with a flooded suit but you wont shoot to the surface). Also no matter how flooded your suit is it'll never be negative, you'll only lose whatever buoyancy your undergarments had that's why it's important to have a wing that can support you in the event of a suit failure. Surely the incident you described about ascending feet first uncontrolled was also went over with your instructor? Sounds like you might need to look for a new teacher...
 
My guess here is, both suits are rentals ?

Question,what kind of suit was it,Shell or neoprene.
Where you wearing a weightbelt (some only wear integrated weights)
What position was you dumpvalve in.

In the 1st mishap the inflator stuck,poor maintenance but these things (can) happen.

In the second mishap it's a bit unclear,multiple things could have gone wrong.
An other stuck inflator...Not very likely, but you gave a second BURST of air, here is a problem,how BIG was the burst,where you
(maybe) already accending (a bit)

As to the solution on the second mishap,1 of the skills you where/should have been, thought is the forward roll.This skill is just for this kind of situation.

Now I'm gonna start a flamewar but when you dive a single tank on a reg dive,it's good practice to use your suit as a buoyancy device.When weighted properly getting rid of the squeeze is enough to stay in propper trim.:D
 
If your wing is not capable of lifting a suit full of water you will be negative. I have been there but I had that covered with a classic wing. If you have a seal fail and your suit floods totally you will sink like a brick.

Don't use your suit for buoyancy, I don't believe in PADI's reasoning for teaching that in their book and luckily neither did my instructor. That's what your wing/BCD is for. Did your instructor not teach you emergency procedures for a runaway inflator? If completely necessary you can lift your neck seal (you'll end up with a flooded suit but you wont shoot to the surface). Also no matter how flooded your suit is it'll never be negative, you'll only lose whatever buoyancy your undergarments had that's why it's important to have a wing that can support you in the event of a suit failure. Surely the incident you described about ascending feet first uncontrolled was also went over with your instructor? Sounds like you might need to look for a new teacher...
 
Thanks for your input to both of you who have responded. We did go over the emergency procedure for this very issue. The problem was, at least the first time, the inflator valve "broke" and the amount of air that went into the suit actually filled the suit so fast that the arms and legs "popped" out (I'm small and the suit was to tall- and for my size I would need to special order a custom suit) quickly flinging me upsidedown, I could not "tuck and roll" I couldn't even move my legs, I could not have grabbed my neck seal and pulled it fast enough to stop the being upsidedown so I don't think even if I had been able to pull the neck seal if that would have released enough air.

Both the instructors did suggest the not using the suit for bouyancy and in the future using the BCD for this, but I guess PADI makes them teach it this way first.

I've got three more "shallow" dives in the dry suit before I go deep, maybe I'll see how I feel after those and decide whether I want to go wet the last two deep dives....
 
Heidi,
It does sound as if the shop might have issues with the maintenance of their suits. If I were you I'd insist on doing a couple of try dives in a drysuit before you start the AOW. Explain to them why ie your previous experience and if they are not willing to help go to a different shop.

Second as other people have suggested another way to dive a drysuit is to use the BC for buoyancy (instead of the drysuit) and add a little gas to take off the suit squeeze.

Third, if you feel your feet rising, swim head down immediately and then manually dump the air in the suit. Please note that in shallow water you need to react very quickly otherwise you won't have time to stop the ascent. Your instructors should have already told you this - if not then their instruction may not have been as clear to you as it should have been. You might want to ask them questions on runaway ascents just to refresh your memory.

If you feel uncomfortable at any time thumb the dive ! Some people handle drysuits very quickly but it took me a few dives before I was comfortable enough to go past 35 feet or so in a drysuit.


Fourth, when you are diving with someone try swimming side by side - if the instructor is finning at a faster rate than you are, signal him/her to slow down. A decent instructor won't have to do this and will stick to you.

Above all, a drysuit is not something to fear but it does take a little practice and my final tip is ask your instructor to do a weight check - did your instructor do a weight check on your drysuit dives? It is important to make sure that you are NOT overweighted so if the instructor has not done this yet ask them how to do it.
 
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New drysuit divers often have a hard time telling how much gas is in the suit. What you think is "normal" may be quite inflated, and the only real way to tell is to keep diving and get a feel for it through experience. I think everyone has experienced the dreaded "feet-first ascent" at least once. While you may have had a slow inflator leak, generally you'd be surprised at how much "fuller" the suit is at the surface from 33ft. You could test it by disconnecting the inflator hose at the surface and seeing if it bubbles, or venting all the gas from the suit and seeing if it fills up again.

While runaway inflators do happen, they're not too common and having two in a row during a new drysuit class does make me look towards other possibilities.
 
When I first was working with a drysuit, it was ill-fitting and I had lots of air in my feet. It was hard to maintain and I found myself trying to roll out of it or failing that, surfacing. The second suit fit better in certain spots but not others. It was better but still not easy to use as I had to much room again. I was having a hard time maintaining my buoyancy at around 20 feet or less. At this point, I just started using my bc for buoyancy and used the suit to prevent a squeeze. I now have my own suit that was custom for my size. I have 2 dives on it so far. My first dive was ok, but the buoyancy was horrible. I need to work on that. I was able to manage the suit and not have any crazy issues but working with buoyancy and trim was a pain as I was over weighted. The second dive was better, as I dropped 4 lbs. I was able to work out the air in the legs and feet better and the entire dive was in less than 25 feet. It was great. Did one roll to get the air out of my feet but I was able to hold the dive without surfacing.

I find that it is easy to manage my drysuit if I use my bc for buoyancy. When properly weighted, I rarely have to use air in my bc when diving wet so I am hoping that with practice I will get the same way with my drysuit. Practice, practice, practice. A little puff of air in the drysuit to get rid of the squeeze and stay horizontal with my knees bent at a 90 degree angle to keep the air from traveling. I also wear my bc very tight at the waist. The cummerbund is very tight at the surface and even at depth, I will tighten it even more just to have less room for the air to travel.

As for using gloves, if you are diving in places that a drysuit would be most useful, gloves are going to be a must. Try using a different hose connection. I have one that looks like an upside-down wok. I had a different hose connection and changed it to this one. Much easier to grip with gloves and while underwater.

I also find that the suit is easier to manage when I am deeper than 25 feet. At least that is how I feel. I put air in to get the squeeze of me and then just go with the flow. Its when I am shallow that I was having the hardest time with it.

Keep trying the drysuit.This past Saturday was a horrible weather day for being topside after diving in 55 degree water in my area. It was refreshing to be dry after the dive was over. My buddies were shivering a bit. Gearing up for dive #2 was a breeze compared to the clammy feeling of putting on damp neoprene. I for one am sold on it and cant wait to dive again and again in my suit.

Good luck to you and let us know how the suit works for you. Try in the pool some more before you do the open water portion of the AOW.
 
Both suits were rentals.
I believe they were neoprene with a fleece inner suit, the suits were thick and felt like the same material as a wet suit, just thicker and very unflexible.
I am 5 feet tall and weigh 140, I was using 30 pounds of weights between a weight belt and integrated in the BCD.

The first incident the instructors said was definitely a malfunction and that they will re-build the inflator valve. One of them was watching as it happened and he said that as fast as it was there was nothing I could have done.

The second: as for the burst of air, I did do two, both very small, as small as I could, just a tap, and I did them about a minute or two apart, I was slowly decending from 25-35 feet, I was trying to let the first take effect before I did the second. I'm wondering if I was so horizontal, or maybe even slightly head down (I thought I was almost perfectly horizontal) that when I gave the second burst it went to my feet without my noticing, then as I ascended the air in the suit expanded, but when I reached the top I had gotten the inflator valve un hooked but the suit was still billowed out like a balloon about to burst. This seems to me like a lot of air for being empty enough to sit on the bottom at 16 feet then decending to 25 ft and giving two short bursts.

I have to admit that the shoulder deflator valve on the second dive may not have been in the right position. On the first dive I had the instructor help me adjust it, on the second dive I did not. I could have screwed it up. I'm glad you brought that up, but even so, I don't think I should have had that amount of air in the suit, both instructors said it could have been a leaking hose, possibly the inflator valve when I tapped it the second time kept slowing adding air with-out my realizing until I was feet floating up.

As for the forward roll, I had just practised that, three times about 5 minutes prior. I actually was doing the rolls from a hand stand position, I admit they weren't the best, but I was able to do it and stand up after the roll. When the air filled the suit so fast the legs, which were too long and had been bunched up around my ankles, lengthened popping my feet out of the boots as soon as my feet started to rise, which was my first inkling something was wrong, with the legs extended out past my actual feet I no longer had control of the fins and even though I tried to tuck, I really couldn't actually move my legs enough to do anything.

I really appreciate this help, I think maybe I did screw up with the second dive not making sure the deflator value was right, and maybe even by being too horizontal. In a dry suit are you supposed to maintain a more angled (trim I guess) posture?
 

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