Dry suit diving malfunction has me scared

[StreetDoctor]

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.

Maybe you didn't read my entire post?

that's why it's important to have a wing that can support you in the event of a suit failure

If you aren't diving with a wing (besides cave diving I guess because you could always crawl out) that is able to support you in a suit failure you aren't diving safely. This is a whole dfferent topic though and there are plenty of posts regarding it.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

If you have on double 130s you will sink.. I have witnesses.. I was soo mad I even walked up stairs.. My suit was full up to the neck. When you inflated it water bubbled out of the neck seal. Worst experience I have had. Only takes a few minutes in 68 degree water to get chilled.

@Kevin Carlisle:
I don't think anyone here is disputing whether you sank fast while wearing double 130s. I really don't see the mystery in this. It's simple math.
Buoyancy of two full Worthington X8-130s: -11.7 x 2 = -23.4 lbs.
Buoyancy of aluminum BP: -2 lbs.
Buoyancy of other gear on your rig (regs, manifold, can light, etc.): -5 to -10 lbs. (probably more negative than this)
Buoyancy of fully flooded drysuit: neutral to slightly positive (inherent buoyancy of suit material + undergarments)
Add it up, Kevin. You were threatening "dirt dart" status.
I guess the one unknown is to what extent your BCD was inflated. My guess is that your wing had 50-60 lbs. of lift capacity. Did you inflate it to slow down your descent? Just curious.

As for walking up stairs with lots of water inside your drysuit...uh...why didn't you just doff your gear and then crunch down in a little ball to force as much water as possible out of your exhaust valve? I know, I know. [sarcasm] It must have been pretty cool to have bubbles coming out of your neck seal. [/sarcasm]

Thanks for sharing your drysuit flooding experience. I think we've all been there, just probably not as extreme as your experience.
In case this discourages the OP from buying her own drysuit, she should know that I have been bone dry during the vast majority (>98%) of my drysuit dives. And I don't think that my experience is out of the ordinary.

 

[300bar]

In case this discourages the OP from buying her own drysuit, she should know that I have been bone dry during the vast majority (>98%) of my drysuit dives. And I don't think that my experience is out of the ordinary.

With you all the way on this.
Bonedry on all but a few.WET on one or two and I dive dry for 20years now.:cool2:

 

[heidihart88]

Wow- all of these replies and some really good points I hadn't thought of, glad I made the post, in particular it makes sense that the inflator should be a slow or slower air stream, and at the time of the first incident my exhaust was set to fully open with a slight turn to closed, so mostly open, I'd say 80% at least open. When I was at the top of the water waiting for help, I really could not move because the suit was literally ballooned out my feet at least a foot from the boots the belly a good foot or two above my actual body, the instructor couldn't stop laughing he thought the suit was going to explode, I can't imagine if the deflator value had been functioning correctly even with a runaway inflator this should not have happened. Am I right?They had to haul me to shore and push the air out of the suit before I could move my legs.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Wow- all of these replies and some really good points I hadn't thought of, glad I made the post, in particular it makes sense that the inflator should be a slow or slower air stream, and at the time of the first incident my exhaust was set to fully open with a slight turn to closed, so mostly open, I'd say 80% at least open. When I was at the top of the water waiting for help, I really could not move because the suit was literally ballooned out my feet at least a foot from the boots the belly a good foot or two above my actual body, the instructor couldn't stop laughing he thought the suit was going to explode, I can't imagine if the deflator value had been functioning correctly even with a runaway inflator this should not have happened. Am I right?They had to haul me to shore and push the air out of the suit before I could move my legs.

Uh. Something doesn't make sense here. You were at the surface doing your best impression of the Marshmallow Man. Why didn't the instructor or your buddy just disconnect the drysuit hose? Then, it's just a simple venting of your exhaust valve to get your suit back to normal size. It also helps to fully inflate your BCD before doing this so that you don't end up inverted at the surface with your feet sticking up. I would have preferred doing this...rather than dragging you back to shore.

FWIW, most exhaust valves are designed so that you can leave them fully open and the suit should still accommodate enough air inside to offset squeeze. If the exhaust valve is not the highest point on your body, you're going to have a difficult time dumping air from it. The instructor probably showed you how to "chicken-wing" your left arm to make it easy to dump air from the exhaust valve. That puts you in a great position to dump air from both your drysuit and the BCD (via deflator button on end of power inflator assembly) when necessary.

It sounds like your drysuit was ridiculously ill-fitting. I'll say it again: try out the Whites Fusion (in the appropriate size of course). I'm not sure if 2XS-XS or the SM-MED would fit you better. Here's a link to the Fusion sizing chart.

If you do attempt another dive in the same ill-fitting rental suit, I would ask to borrow someone's gaiters. Gaiters are elastic calf wraps that prevent air from pooling in your lower legs. With a baggy drysuit that is too big in the legs, I would consider them a necessity. I'm sure that your dive instructor has already made this suggestion.

Have fun out there.

 

[Delta74]

take this how you want, I have 5 dives with a dry suit shell style not Neo., used it for my AOW, was given the suit and told its easy, that's it, I am 6'2" 210 pounds and dive with an AL80, I only wore 26 pounds of weight, 2 pounds on each ankle and 22 in my BCD, and was only slightly underweight when my tank was at 250 PSI, ( hand flutter kept me down) and only had 1 foot first ascent that needed a roll which was the first dive of the course doing Peak performance Buoyancy of all things.

sounds like your suit was way too large and you were massively over weighted causing you to need large amounts of air in the suit leading to increased sensitivity to your Buoyancy.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I didnt drop any gear mainly due to the fact I was unhappy at the moment LOL..( no way I could do it and not be mad ) I wanted out of the water to check over things. I could only sink 4 inches until the mung ( nasty organic silt bottom ) then another 6 inches of mung. I went to the floor and blacked out the system before I could hit my inflator. Had there been much more weight there I would have had to ditch gear, I had the wing maxed out at the end. You had no choice but laugh at it after. It was funny after to hit your inflator and it blow water and gurgle at you. Made for an interesting exit of that system .. I have been wet wet twice. Usually bone dry unless its hot out.

@Kevin Carlisle:
I don't think anyone here is disputing whether you sank fast while wearing double 130s. I really don't see the mystery in this. It's simple math.
Buoyancy of two full Worthington X8-130s: -11.7 x 2 = -23.4 lbs.
Buoyancy of aluminum BP: -2 lbs.
Buoyancy of other gear on your rig (regs, manifold, can light, etc.): -5 to -10 lbs. (probably more negative than this)
Buoyancy of fully flooded drysuit: neutral to slightly positive (inherent buoyancy of suit material + undergarments)
Add it up, Kevin. You were threatening "dirt dart" status.
I guess the one unknown is to what extent your BCD was inflated. My guess is that your wing had 50-60 lbs. of lift capacity. Did you inflate it to slow down your descent? Just curious.

As for walking up stairs with lots of water inside your drysuit...uh...why didn't you just doff your gear and then crunch down in a little ball to force as much water as possible out of your exhaust valve? I know, I know. [sarcasm] It must have been pretty cool to have bubbles coming out of your neck seal. [/sarcasm]

Thanks for sharing your drysuit flooding experience. I think we've all been there, just probably not as extreme as your experience.
In case this discourages the OP from buying her own drysuit, she should know that I have been bone dry during the vast majority (>98%) of my drysuit dives. And I don't think that my experience is out of the ordinary.

 

[D_B]

Training, and Practice ... Practice ... Practice until your sure of yourself and recoveries.
.. be agressive with your recovery.
also, sounds like you are way heavy, do a weight check at the end of your dive

not being able to recover from a stuck inflator valve is not a fault of using the drysuit for buoyancy, its going to inflate ether way and .. if you can recover from such a scenario starting with that much air in your suit, then doing so with a less air in the suit should be even easier

I had the same problem with my suit inflating my boots ( Seasoft Stealth) and feet coming out of them ... I learned my lesson and got rock boots that will not expand and let my feet come out

Here is my post on how my drysuit class went and the training I got .... http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/260824-dry-suit-class.html
my understanding is that it was a good class

 

[mikerault]

Posit: In water a suit full of water weighs as much as a suit empty of water. Wet clothes in the water weigh as much as dry clothes in the water, it is only above the water they weigh differently. Now, as was said, you will loose the buoyance from the displaced air. Your wing should compensate for the lost buoyancy. A suit full of water will weigh in excess of 100 pounds more out of the water with you equipment and such you are talking maybe 200 pounds, show me a wing that can compensate for that!

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

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.

How did you figure you have to "lift" a suit full of water when it floods? You are surrounded by water, and so you have some in your suit...sounds like a wetsuit to me now. There is no additional lift needed for a flooded drysuit, it is neutral in the water, it only gets heavy when you walk back up the beach or on the boat.