What is your opinion of drysuit dump valve location on the upper versus the lower arm? Is there more to it than the forearm is crowded with gauges versus being able to get higher differential pressure to get air out of the suit?
Drysuit dump valve location?
- Thread starter Akimbo
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You can have both: Apollo Sports: Dive Gear: Drysuits: 4.0mm EX Drysuit
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Peter_C
Contributor
Most of my dives have been with a cuff mounted exhaust valve on a CF200. Now I have a shoulder dump and with at least 80 dives or so in my Fusion, I think I still prefer the cuff dump, or maybe it is the venting properties of the CF200? When scootering the cuff dump rocks. Throw your arm back and up, and you vent without even hardly moving, and I did not have to come of the trigger. Shoulder dump requires a change of angle and is much more difficult while on the trigger, and sometimes I have to stop for a few seconds to move the bubble around. Much of this though could be due to the suit material. Even when not scootering though I found the cuff dump worked nicely.
The only gauge I run on my left wrist is my compass, so it is not something that I consistently need while ascending.
The only gauge I run on my left wrist is my compass, so it is not something that I consistently need while ascending.
There's no right or wrong here, ultimately it is the diver. Apollo adds lower leg dumps which directly address the biggest safety concern in any drysuit class, the inverted uncontrolled ascent. Beyond that, though, any upper or lower arm dump works, the key is the diver getting proficient in its use.
Elvistheking
Contributor
Generaly shoulder dumps (actually upper arm) are auto dumps i.e. you set at what pressure it dumps and it should automagicaly dump as you ascend, that being said a lot of the people I know simply dive with it fully open and simply lift an elbow to dump as required. Most wrist dumps a simple one way valves, lift the wrist to dump they are however a lot smaller and more unobtrusive. As a very very general rule the "old school" way is a wrist dump, and the shoulder auto dump is the more "modern" way.
That being said there are a few alternatives, you can have both an autodump on the upper arm and a wrist dump however I have heard from people that have done this that there can be a strange airlocking effect that can make them leak more if setup this way. Equally some people have replaced the standard cuff dump with a auto dump in the cuff dump position so that they can prevent it dumping when for instance positioning a camera.
That being said there are a few alternatives, you can have both an autodump on the upper arm and a wrist dump however I have heard from people that have done this that there can be a strange airlocking effect that can make them leak more if setup this way. Equally some people have replaced the standard cuff dump with a auto dump in the cuff dump position so that they can prevent it dumping when for instance positioning a camera.
Peter_C
Contributor
My suit came with an adjustable auto dump valve on the cuff. Eventually I replaced both inflator and exhaust valves with SI Tech valves that were used by Mobby. I like to be able to close the valve at the surface no matter what type of drysuit I have. Keeps it from shrink wrapping around me as much.
I have used both the shoulder and cuff dumps, and my conclusion was that, if a shoulder dump is properly located, it is much more desirable. I have found that, with the shoulder dump, it is easy to use my left hand for things (like, say, venting my wing) WITHOUT dumping the suit if I don't want to. With the cuff dump, every time I raised my hand at all, I lost gas from the suit.
With the dump located where I like it, all I have to do when scootering is put my left elbow behind me and raise it a little, and the suit dumps itself.
I found the cuff dump a nuisance, and I would never have one again. It was in an inconvenient place, interfered with my compass, and vented when I didn't want it to.
With the dump located where I like it, all I have to do when scootering is put my left elbow behind me and raise it a little, and the suit dumps itself.
I found the cuff dump a nuisance, and I would never have one again. It was in an inconvenient place, interfered with my compass, and vented when I didn't want it to.
Elvistheking
Contributor
Yer I tried my new drysuit that I got MTM and went for what they described as the "DIR positon" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) sooooooo much easier to control when and where I want to dump than my old Northern Diver one with the shoulder dump in the "conventional" position, especially when in horizontal (or as close as I ever get) trim.
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