Soloist
Contributor
Oh boy, I've got 3 questions...
1.) Why do folks turn their air off on the boat? I can understand folks who use transmitters, because they don't want to run the battery, but for folks who don't use them, is there a point? And I've also heard that some DM's turn the air off -- WHY would they do that? Especially without telling the diver??
2.) You still had 3600 psi on your gauge even after turning the valve off? Did it read that simply because you didn't purge all the air?
3.) Does surfacing to turn off the air mean it's difficult to do underwater, or just that it would take too long to do and you would be sinking too much while turning it off?
Oh, actually a 4th question:
4) WHY DID MY INSTRUCTOR NEVER TEACH ME ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS?
1) I hate that sickening sound of a regulator free flowing on the deck because someone bumped into it or if you are in “sporty” seas and something else happens, so I turn my air off at the valve and purge the system until I am ready to dive. You can prevent most free flows by turning the adjustment knob to limit air flow, if your reg has that feature, but I do both out of habit.
2) Yep, the reg was still pressurized between the first and second stages even though the tank was off.
3) No difference in turning the tank valve at 100 feet down or on the surface. I just instinctively headed for the surface in case I couldn’t fix my screwup on my own.
4) I think most instructors assume you will dive with your tank valve open. What do they know?