Free-flowing Regulator

[StSomewhere]

Doc, I gotta say that it (a freeflowing reg) may be a rare occurance, but the OW class is designed to teach you what to do when the brown stuff hits the rotating blades. Its very useful to know that in the event of a freeflow you may still have a lot of gas to be breathed despite what *looks* to be a catastrophic amount of bubbles. This greatly increases the amount of time you have to figure out the situation and develop a correct course of action (i.e. "Don't Panic!").

Think about this, tech divers with redundant gas are actually taught to continue to breath off that supply while it lasts, and only then switch to another supply.

 

[Tom Smedley]

The high pressure seat in all regulators is a thin piece of neoprene that seats against the brass cone. Failure of this part is not common but does happen in all regulators regardless of price or newness or having just been serviced. This causes high pressure air to go down the hose and the second stage to free-flow. The downstream valve design is done so the air will vent safely and still be breathable in the event of a high pressure leak. Which ever second stage (primary or octopus) that is tuned the most sensitive will free flow first. This is an important skill that is reqired by PADI and SSI among others. To delete it is a standards violation.

The instructor may also use the free-flow exercise to show how to properly vomit at depth. Another useful skill.

Breathing through a funnel, breathing from a tank without a regulator, breathing from a regulator without a second stage, BCD rebreathing, and buddy breathing with a snorkel for 200 yards are all skills that old timers talk about. So were pushups with weightbelts and tanks on. As well as surface dives with a wetsuit and no weights.

They are still great party games and such but have no place in entry level training.

 

[jbd]

His instructor chose to skip that skill because "today's regulators never free-flow -- so you'll never find yourself in that situation -- so we're not going to learn the skill..." Or something to that effect...:11:

A regulator is a manmade item and therefore inherently subject to failure at some point, with or without warning. What the regualtors now a days are designed to do is fail in a free flow mode. In other words they fail by giving you air instead of cutting off the air. The instructor should know this and should know the difference between the upstream design and the downstream design. If the instuctor doesn't know this, its time to find a different instructor. Any time you enter an environment that you are not naturally intended to be in(underwater, in the air, outer space) you should learn how to deal with "the brown stuff hitting the rotating blades" as StSomewhere so aptly mentioned.

 

[knotical]

The high pressure seat in all regulators is a thin piece of neoprene

I don’t think it’s neoprene. But I enjoyed the rest of your post.


Dochueb,

Your profile says PADI. If your friend’s instructor was also PADI (probable since you said it was in the same shop), then as others have said, he violated standards.

But interestingly, the Recreational Scuba Training Council (which sets minimum standards for its scuba training agency members) does not require this skill for Open Water Certification.

Not all training agencies even belong to the RSTC (but PADI and SSI do).

 

[pipefish]

Hi all.

I have a question for the masses. I recently finished my OW training (pool & classroom) & have a friend taking the classes at the same dive shop, but with a different instructor.

I was warning him in advance about the "breathing from a free-flowing regulator" exercise that I described as "drinking from a fire-hose". I was all excited to hear how he handled it, as it was one of the more interesting moments in my pool training.

His instructor chose to skip that skill because "today's regulators never free-flow -- so you'll never find yourself in that situation -- so we're not going to learn the skill..." Or something to that effect...:11:

I would admit that with a grand total of 1 resort dive and 4 pool dives "under my belt" that I've never had a free-flowing regulator that I didn't create with the purge button -- but does this seem like good advice?? :06:


DocHueb

Hey Doc -

First of all, welcome to the wonderful world of diving and congratulations on getting through your Open Water class! In my humble opinion, I believe that the free flowing regulator skill is important. First of all, when a regulator fails, it is designed to fail safely. What this means is that it will free flow rather than shut off the air supply. Since a regulator is a mechanical device with moving parts, there is a remote chance that it can fail. If you don't have your regulator serviced regularly, the chances become less remote. I've never had my regulator fail (nor any of my students) but I feel comfortable in that I know what to do if that were to happen. I'm curious... What agency you got certified through?

Thanks for the post!

PF

 

[Dochueb]

Hey Doc -

...I'm curious... What agency you got certified through?

Thanks for the post!

PF

PADI.


Thanks for all the responses. I forwarded this thread on to the friend in question. We're planning on doing our open water dives elsewhere -- so I assume he'll have to pick up this skill prior to these...

 

[emtdan]

I completely disagre.... I have had a reg freeflow before, and had to deal with it. (Last time I service my own equip!) My octo was leaking but my primary was fine so I ended up switching it breathing out of it. I do think that the excercise is a little strange though....

 

[Squalus]

Had a free flow this past weekend. Didn't have a problem with it, just had a good buddy that had a 7 foot hose and we did a controled ascent after shutting off my tanks sharing air and waiting about for 2 minutes to see if it would reverse itself. After turning the cylinder back on still flowed open. We did a controled ascent and called the dive, a long swim back to the entry/exit. Btw the water temp was 39F, getting an enviromental 1st stage and an apex reg now. The thing to remember the most important is the enviroment and type of equipment you use. When this happens keep a cool head and keep your wits about you and your dive buddy is within reach especially below 60 fsw.

 

[scubapro50]

Hi all.

I have a question for the masses. I recently finished my OW training (pool & classroom) & have a friend taking the classes at the same dive shop, but with a different instructor.

I was warning him in advance about the "breathing from a free-flowing regulator" exercise that I described as "drinking from a fire-hose". I was all excited to hear how he handled it, as it was one of the more interesting moments in my pool training.

His instructor chose to skip that skill because "today's regulators never free-flow -- so you'll never find yourself in that situation -- so we're not going to learn the skill..." Or something to that effect...:11:

I would admit that with a grand total of 1 resort dive and 4 pool dives "under my belt" that I've never had a free-flowing regulator that I didn't create with the purge button -- but does this seem like good advice?? :06:


DocHueb

"TODAYS REGULATORS NEVER FREE FLOW" ??? ....... must be teaching PADI ..... the same bunch that deceided that teaching "buddy breathing" and wearing a snorkel durning your dive is now out of date.

 

[StSomewhere]

"TODAYS REGULATORS NEVER FREE FLOW" ??? ....... must be teaching PADI ..... the same bunch that deceided that teaching "buddy breathing" and wearing a snorkel durning your dive is now out of date.

I don't think you have your facts straight. Padi doesn't require teaching "buddy breathing" where two divers sharing the same second stage, they teach you to pass your octo to the OOA diver instead. And I for one never heard them mention anything about *not* wearing a snorkel, in fact surface swims switching back and forth between regulator and snorkel are required both in one of the pool sessions and one of the OW dives.

I'd definitely want to learn to breathe off a freeflowing reg if I dove a ScubaPro in cold water, though. j/k