Have you ever run out of gas, or been close?

[TSandM]

So many accidents involve running out of gas . . . and I shake my head, because it seems as though it should be so easy to avoid.

I'll confess: I have been out of gas once, when I had a freeflow no one could stop. I ascended on a buddy's gas. I ran my tank down to about 2 or 300 psi once, in 6 feet of water at the end of a dive so spectacular I didn't want it ever to end.

Otherwise, I have NEVER been close to out of gas. How about you?

 

[Scott L]

I have run out of gas in my SUV twice in the past year. However, not remotely close in 20+ years of diving....

 

[Cave Diver]

If your question is have I ever unintentionally been out of gas, the answer is no. I've intentionally ran my tanks either very low, to almost completely empty on several occasions.

 

[drdaddy]

Only Once - when I did not "dive my plan" and intentionally ran out grabbing "one more crab" (a big dungeness). This was just one piece of a series of foolish choices on this dive that put me into a very dangerous situation. It also taught me not to be so cocky and that my life is not my own to throw around/away.

I have never ran out by accident.

 

[vladimir]

I was mid-ascent in Palau, 10 meters deep, when I spotted a large ray 10 meters below me. I was already on fumes but decided to dive back down to take a few pictures. (If this is starting to sound like a DumpsterDiver post, let me just say that I am no longer so reckless.) I exhausted my air on the bottom and made a free ascent from there. I was (am) fit, and it was an easy thing to do, but I certainly didn't think it through thoroughly--didn't consider what I'd do if there was boat traffic, for example, or the ramifications of a yo-yo ascent with a significant nitrogen load.

 

[kathydee]

My first several dives were on rental equipment in Indonesia. It was customary to spend the end of the dive in 10-15ft water looking for juveniles while breathing our tanks down to about 300psi

On one dive my SPG still read about 400psi but I ran out of gas. Surfacing was easy from that depth, but I'll never forget the lesson of how inaccurate a pressure gauge can be.

 

[redacted]

I once got down to just a few breaths left but I basically did it on purpose. I was at 15 feet depth and about 25 feet from the exit point in aquarena springs trying to locate one more hydrilla plant I had seen when I started the dive. My SPG showed about 350 psi and my Mk7 started honking but I knew it was right there somewhere. By the time I found it, my primary had gotten hard to breath (normal with a Mk7 when tank pressure falls to IP so I had to switch to my alt, bag the plant, and make the exit. I had done the same thing a few times before (intentionally) in a pool so I was confident I knew exactly what was going on and how to handle it.

The last breath after I exited was difficult and there was not much hiss when I opened the valve afterwards to check just how low I had gotten.

 

[elan]

When testing my double hose regulator I wanted to experience the feeling of being out of gas and intentionally run out of gas at 10 ft. But that was in a pool. Contrary to the popuar believe the gas was not cut off sharply, instead I felt that the reg was breathing harder and harder.

My friend almost ran out of gas in his right post after fooling with the valves and not doing the flow check. He felt it was breathing harder and harder, checked his isolator and we all heard the sound of the cas cascading through the manifold

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Probably kind of similar to what Cave Diver said; every time I've felt "breathing resistance" I'd been "expecting it" for 4-5 breaths.

 

[davetowz]

Nope. I have shared gas with a buddy when he had a freeflow problem and once when a buddy got really low( we didnt wait until he was OOA, his SPG read maybe 150, and accuracy at that point.... well...)