Full Face Mask

[erich k]

Hi all,
I am with the Washington County Fire Dive in Minnesota. This is a group of fire departments that have organized and created a county rescue group. We leave recovery for the Sheriff. We have been involved with some interesting rescue calls the last couple years. Car flew off lift bridge with 3 souls on board. We also were part of the initial work at the 35W bridge collapse. I actually was the first and only actual diver down the night of the collapse. Wild situation. Can you say risk/benefit?

I have taken my time to get into the full face mask reg as I wanted to get comfortable with our dry suits and such before adding other gear that needs to be practiced with. I have the Ocean Reef Neptune II with communications and most of the team has the AGA's.
It was a price thing from my department that we went to the Ocean Reef and they are quite nice. The problem I have using either of these masks is the process of clearing my ears. I can not plug my nose good enough and I do have some form of congestion problems anyways. I am switching to a Scuba Pro Full Face with comms that has the nose piece available to actually plug your nose the standard way. I feel this will help me greatly.

If there is anyone out there in public service or rescue diving, we have a mask for sale that has about 1hour under the water. It has been serviced and is in mint shape. If you don't want to spend $1000.00 or more we are trying to get $400.00 for it and that would include shipping.
This would help fund our new mask. Let me know and I would be happy to help

 

[Yotsie]

Aga's have a nose block that can be added to aid in clearing... There is Homeland Security grant money available to fund underwater comms. FEMA wants the teams standardized, and the masks can be purchased as part of the comms. Might check with your grant writers or Chief to see if you can apply.

 

[BladesRobinson]

Aga's have a nose block that can be added to aid in clearing...

I was thinking the SAME thing! ...

One other thing to consider is the testing that is done by the U.S. Navy's Experimental Dive Unit. The USN has approved the Interspiro Mk II (AGA) mask for both warm and cold water environments. When I last checked, the Ocean Reef had not been approved for use by USN personnel. If something is not good enough for the Navy, I question if it's adequate for the rigors of public safety diving.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Erich, I haven't a clue on your dive experience, But one hour on a full face mask is not enough time to just give up. ocean reef, and aga have alot of space, I call it blow n go, the mask will clear up and not stay fogged.

You go down in sky dive position, your head a little in the down position, blow out your nose, breathe in, blow out your nose, breathe in, etc to your depth.


Find the best decongestion that does not race your heartbeat at depth. Most important take a halls (I like cherry) 10 min before you go down.

I have delt with this all my life. the water conditions you describe are the same as I have done in the past life in michigan. snowmobiles, bobcats clearing a skate rink, cars and trucks fishing on the ice, planes that land in the water (for emergency), No vis, toxic enviormental conditions.

The scubapro view is like a scuba mask and less air space, in freezing temps you are going to more help with the aga to your fellow teammates, the ocean reef has a surface valve so you can use it in freezing conditions, once under the surface then breathe and the reg will not freeze.

It seems like the team would fill you in on this analogy, of why they have aga.

No matter what you end up with, Try other methods of clearing ears.

The reason is if you have to use your hand to clear your ears, Im sorry I could not use you in an emergency, you need both hands. EXAMPLE, Years ago lowered a 80' colvert in a silted gravel pit to retreive the head on a grapple for digging(can't remember the name of it right now).
I took a cable to hook it up and a hose in the other hand, with a harness on, this was a instant death dive.
The hose was my bottom timer, turned on water for ten minutes, turn off for ten minutes, etc.
With no vis at all I had to leave the culvert and search in this silt muck bath. got extremely lucky at my culvert position on there info. It dropped a 100' in the air then sank.

It took 50 min to do what I needed, two days to prep, it cost 225'000.00 for a new one, it was only a few months old, I charged a little less than half. It was worth the risk for that kind of money.

The risk are not worth any money in the world if you can not use your self to the ut most.

so Im just saying to go down a few avenues and even borrow the teamates aga.

I blow n go in my scuba mask, the fog clears, I blow hard enough with head tilted down the air will release on my scuba mask under the eyes.

Hope this helps, Good luck to you and your team.

 

[dittrimd]

Sorry, I cannot help you with a mask.

It is a tough decision for a team but when our team made our intial purchase we decided it was better to purchase fewer masks of a higher quality. AGA Masks for our type of diving are by far the best in the business. I have never had a problem clearing my mask. Like anything new it does take some practice.

Good luck.

Mark D.

 

[grumpie]

give me a call at 763-428-7674
grumpie........

 

[erich k]

Hi all,
I get where you all are coming from and we are as uniform with all of our gear as possible. We are looking at writing a grant to help us even more. Luckily my personal gear was alot of the same as the other existing dive teams we mated with. Most of the gear used on Scandia is our own and funded alot personally. The decision for the mask I'm pursuing is due to clearing my ears, not the mask. The masks are great, my sinuses are not.
As I talked to other members on our team some are limited to the depths they can go due to the same reason. I had one tell me he uses his octopus during decent and then applies his mask at depth. Stupid to me!! The advantage with the Scuba Pro will be that I will get the good seal by physically pinching my nose instead of using the plugs that do not seal me too well. I would rather stray off the path of AGA use than not be able to dive at all.
I know there are differences of opinions and AGA users are devoted to them. I did learn that the National Park service is using the Scuba pro and seem to like them. The big thing we want to stay on track is that we do have communications, which we all have.
Thanks for all the input.
Erich