Have you ever sucked the bottom out of your air tank?

[Bear Hunter]

While diving on one of my first dives after I was certified I ran out of air at 60 feet deep.

My father,uncle and I were diving on a reef that was 60 feet deep looking for lobsters!

After catching a few and about to run low on air, I found a hole on top of the reef that had 5 big lobsters in it!!!!

After cantching 2 of the lobsters I noticed that it was very hard to breath, so I look down and my air guage was less that 100lbs.

Trying not to bolt to the top after being down for 40 minutes I did a rapid ascent because I could not breath anymore!

after getting on the boat I got the worse head ache ever and a little nauseated.

I feel that I was luck, because that was all that I got!

I chalked that one up to inexperiance.....also havent came close to doing that one again either!

So what has you exp. been?

later
Jason

 

[herman]

Hi Jason.

My short answer is NO! I have never even came close to running out of air. Please forgive me, but I feel there is simply no excuse (other than catastrophic equipment failure), for running low on air, ever..I would also consider different buddies, if you had been diving with me, you would have started up long before you got that low. I make it a point to know the air pressure of everyone I am directly diving with and they know mine. At any given time I know fairly closely how much air everyone has and how their air consumption relates to mine. Before a dive, everyone that I am diving with knows I will be asking for their air pressure fairly frequently and if I don't ask then they are to ask me mine. We also have predetermined air pressures at which we start back, start up, ect. These vary based on the dive but we stick to them. That one last picture or lobster is not worth getting hurt over, much less getting killed for. For the sake of yourself as well as that of your buddies, make it a habit to frequently monitor both of your air supplies, your lives depend on it. (Turns and climbs off soapbox)

 

[100days-a-year]

I'll bet few people wil "fess up" to this one.I can relate tho,even knowing better when you see those last bugs it's hard to focus sometimes.I've come up pretty close to empty after doing some 95'-125' lobster dives.Once had to do a 5 min deco stop from 99',I left the bottom with 250 psi in an 80.Did the stop and decided to use doubles or a bigger tank.Still leaves with a procedural problem tho.I do try to leave the bottom with 500 psi anymore,the excitement is less.My buddy Billy said to me years ago"you'll only run out of air deep once".Either Darwin gets you or you change tactics.My commercial spearfishing buddies regularly surface with nothing but fumes,but it's just not that important to get one more to me anymore.

 

[mirage]

nope
runnin out of air is if my tank goes below 500psi, it rarely reaches below 1000psi, but as long as you learned. the good thing is the more u dive the less air u use cause you get used to being u/w, and 1 day u start to sprout gills.

 

[TexasMike]

One of my instructors shared with me a good rule of thumb about when to start your return to the surface based on the amount of air...

Multiply your "max" depth by 10. Thus number is your "start heading" up number so you as you get shallower, you will have enough for any required safety stops or a below surface swim to the boat.

 

[Warhammer]

Almost sucked one dry in a pool a while back. Does that count? I'd been in the pool most of the day and just wasn't paying any attention to my computer. I looked at the computer and it was flashing a big 0! Funny thing is that I could still get air from it and hadn't noticed any increased restriction in the flow.

 

[Iguana Don]

Nope, never been there, never done that, don't want the T-shirt either.

ID

 

[scubabunny]

I've drained a tank a few times, but it was usually "snorkeling" back to shore when it wasn't a life threatening issue. Just didn't want to miss anything by going on my back (no, I didn't have a snorkel with me *bad girl*!) Except once...and that scared the crap out of me!

We went on a "Discovery" dive, where the boat only takes experienced divers (rescue or above) to find new dive spots. They have one of those thingys (I know...such technical terms) that track the depth and can see reefs and mounds and such. Well, they dropped us off above a "reef" and said we just drove over another, and directed us to the other one.

When we got in the water, the "reef" ended up being a few rocks with some coral and small fish. It was nice...but only for about 5 minutes. Nothing else but sand. So, we headed off in the direction of the other reef, but a slight current kicked up after we got in the water. Not a bad one, but one I had to work against. Most of the time we were in blue water at about 50-70ft and then we finally saw the other reef...way in the distance. I checked my air, and had about 1100psi, so I went down with my buddy to check the reef out.

The reef ended up being at 120ft (vis is great here!). All I can say is we were both narced. We poked around the reef for about 10 min. (I didn't even check) and the next time I looked at my air, I was down to 400psi and in deco. He had about 700psi, but we were still deep. We came up slowly, and did our stop (4 min.) Breathing started becoming harder just when I got out of deco..but I wanted to pad the stop as much as possible. My buddy still had a little air, and was ready to give his octo to me, but I managed to squeeze another minute out of my tank, and then headed up. I had to orally inflate my BC. Talk about close.

Truthfully, this really did scare me. I realized just how stupid I can be! True, my buddy should have been aware of my air and whatnot..but ultimately, it is my responsibility to take care of myself. And that time, I didn't. It definitely was a "learning experience". I'm VERY paranoid now when I dive. I just keep thinking...if I had waited 1 more minute to check my air...

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Jason,

Down to perhaps 100 psi on very, very rare occasion, and then only on the surface, but never empty.

DocVikingo

 

[DennisW]

Jason,

I've never run out, although my brother, Walter made me use his regulator once when I got pretty low. Just below 500lbs. I was pretty narced, so I may have been closer than I remember. This was on a dive off Key Largo on the Duane. However, I dove with a guy once that used the empty tank as his clue to surface. He wasn't my buddy, but he was on the same boat. As far as I know, he is still living and dives. I don't like to get too low, you lose too many options.