Freeflow at 100fsw

[Dan The Man]

I was doing my usual Thursday night Seadeucer's dive at Scripps Canyon. My team consisted of myself (200+ dives), Ron (younger brother, divemaster, 100+ dives), and the lovely Ms. Cat (great dive buddy, 1000+ dives). The three of us were about 15 minutes into the dive, 100 feet down, and cruising along the wall enjoying the 40+ feet of visibility. I was hovering near a crack and looking for the Moray Eel I had seen last week. I didn't see it, and so I started to do a frog kick to move along the wall and my fin bumped something so I stopped and turned to see what it was.

Apparently, Ron had been right behind me and I had bumped his regulator out of his mouth. Unfortunately, it started violently free flowing and was whipping all around, jet propelled by the air blast. Ron switched to his alternate and then managed to catch his wayward primary. He tried all of the usual tricks, pointing it down, covering it with his hand, etc. Nothing worked and it kept flowing.

While Ron was doing all of this, I had grabbed hold of his BC, switched to my alternate and got ready to donate my primary. At this point I got him to switch to my donated regulator and then I reached around and shut off his tank valve. Finally the noise and bubbles stopped and it was relatively calm again. We exchanged some OKs and then some ThumbsUps and began a bluewater ascent.

It was a little disorienting because we had a tendency to spin in a circle from the way we were grabbing on to each other and such, but Ron stayed focused on me, I stayed focused on Ron and my computer and we slowly spiralled to the surface without a hitch. Cat had noticed the commotion and was following us up.

After we surfaced I checked that everyone was OK. Ron had to orally inflate his BC because his air was off. We swam back in on the surface and talked about the dive. Cat said it was the calmest emergency situation she had ever seen and that Ron and I looked textbook perfect, like we practiced it all the time. We have actually practiced it a few times but usually only from 20fsw and without all the commotion of a free flowing regulator and the adrenaline rush of a real emergency.

After we got back to shore and dropped our gear we tried turning Ron's air back on. No more free flowing, but only about 150psi of air left. When Ron & I got home we hooked his regulator up to a fresh tank and rinsed and adjusted it. We adjusted the breathing effort knob so that the freeflow tendency is gone, but it will still be going in to get serviced next week.

--Dan

 

[ShakaZulu]

Good job guys..............So that Stop, Breath, Think, Act thingy actually works.

 

[Gary D.]

Outside of the first stage PSI being set a little to high it may have freeflowed long enough to ice up.

Anyway, Good job.

Gary D.

 

[aquaoren]

Well done.
Just out of curiousity: How cold was it and what kind of regs does Ron use?

 

[Dan The Man]

Well done.
Just out of curiousity: How cold was it and what kind of regs does Ron use?

It was 52f and it is an Aqualung Legend LX Supreme.

I don't think freezing was an issue. More likely it was a too agressive setting of the breathing effort knob. When we were cleaning it after the dive, we were able to get it to freeflow again, but it would stop if you placed a hand over it. The freeflow may have been more agressive at depth because it is an overbalanced regulator....

We adjusted the breathing effort knob so it won't freeflow on the surface and it seems OK for now, although it is about due for it's yearly service.

--Dan

 

[netmage]

... switched to my alternate and got ready to donate my primary. At this point I got him to switch to my donated regulator and then I reached around and shut off his tank valve.

Dan,

Glad to everything worked out - kudos to the two of you for keeping the level head and working through it.

What type of setup were you wearing? You mention you donated your primary - which leads me to think you either dive a 7ft primary and bungied necklace secondary - or an inflator mounted safe second on a normal length hose.

I had my first and only freeflow at around 35 degrees & 110' in the bowels of Lake Michigan. I was fortunate to have a good buddy w/ a 7ft primary. He donated it and we did a safe ascent - definately alot more comfortable to have the extra length to control your bouyancy vs. nose to nose on the shorter hose.

 

[HammerNoMore]

What type of setup were you wearing? You mention you donated your primary - which leads me to think you either dive a 7ft primary and bungied necklace secondary - or an inflator mounted safe second on a normal length hose.

Intersting question and no, this is not a troll. If you use an octo-inflator, I'd be real interested to hear how it affected the ascent?

James

 

[Dan The Man]

Intersting question and no, this is not a troll. If you use an octo-inflator, I'd be real interested to hear how it affected the ascent?

James

We both have the Seaquest AirSource (octo integrated with the power inflator). It was really no problem with the ascent, as you are still able to dump air while you breath it. It would be nice to have a longer hose for donating the regulator, and we found it was best to breath off the donated regulator upside down as it makes the hose routing more natural. It still breathes nice and dry inverted (I love my Apeks ATX50/DS4).

The practice also helps. I usually breathe off my backup at least once every few dives so I am familiar with how to operate all of the controls if the need arises. (It is a little strange trying to dump air while it is in your mouth the first time you try it.)

Ron and I are both planning to switch to a long-hose / necklace configuration and take the DIR-F, but it will have to wait a bit as our discretionary income has been temporarily diverted toward the purchase of a new condo. Quite a few of my regular buddies have now gone that route; Ron and I will likely be "assimilated" by the end of the year.

--Dan

 

[pufferfish]

Maybe one of the reg techs could comment here. I was reading Vance Harlow's Regulator Maintenance and Repair manual and in it he says the proper second stage adjustment for an Apeks reg (very similar to AL Legend LX Supreme) is that "when properly tuned, depressing the purge button should institute a powerful freeflow with the venturi in the "+" position. Turning the venturi to the "-" position or covering the mouthpiece should stop the freeflow. The stage should also freeflow slightly when the ext. effort adjustment is turned all the way out. Freeflow should stop within 2 turns from the furthest out position."

Can someone explain the rationale behind this tuning. It would seem to me that if the purge button was accidentally pushed or the resistance knob dialed all the way out one would always get a freeflow.

 

[HammerNoMore]

We both have the Seaquest AirSource (octo integrated with the power inflator). It was really no problem with the ascent, as you are still able to dump air while you breath it. It would be nice to have a longer hose for donating the regulator, and we found it was best to breath off the donated regulator upside down as it makes the hose routing more natural. It still breathes nice and dry inverted (I love my Apeks ATX50/DS4).

The practice also helps. I usually breathe off my backup at least once every few dives so I am familiar with how to operate all of the controls if the need arises. (It is a little strange trying to dump air while it is in your mouth the first time you try it.)

I'm not a big fan of octo-inflators. I dove one for a while and now do the 7'/bungee thing. I learned my lesson when I did cavern training. I put on a 7' hose but kept the octo-inflator as a backup, and I didn't like it all. But this is one of the big arguments. There are a lot of people who have simulated OOA's with these and found them not to be a problem, but it's nice to take a look at a real life situation complete with stress. (Even though you remained calm, you were no doubt stressed somwhat.)

Would you consider this a fair assement to sum it up?:

Because you practice (something many divers do not do), sharing the octo with the dump valve was not a major inconvience. However, the shorter hose for sharing was an inconvience and probably was the source of the twirling you described?

Again, I'm not bashing or trolling. Just trying to put a real world example with a "hot" topic.

James