Question How to behave after uncontrolled ascent
- Thread starter Herliyo
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Can’t be the cart!
In the days before any form of BCD. Nice. Remember my dad diving like that in the 60s
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
No bag to expand. No bag to mask overweighting.
No bag to self inflate or elbows to break off.
They solved one problem and created three more!
Four more if you count how much some of them cost.
If these guys can do it 7 mils, then anybody can do it.
RobPNW
Contributor
RobPNW
Contributor
Hypothetical mechanical question. If your inflator is stuck open and filling your wing, I think my first instinct would have been to pull on my dump valve and hold it open. Just keeping it real, that was the first thing that popped into my mind. The second thing was to detach the coupling to cut off the air. So here's my question... if the inflator is stuck open and a person was to pull on the dump valve, would there be any steady state change in the wing volume? In other words, can the dump valve dump air faster than the inflator can supply air, or would that be a futile effort?
On a normal wing, there’s only one dump at the bottom left hand side so you’d need to invert. However, you need two hands to disconnect the LP inflator hose from the K-valve and your left hand is now occupied with dumping from your left-hand waist.
Of course it’s more subtle as it’s unlikely to be a full-on free flow, more of a slow leak which will probably take a few minutes to diagnose.
OTF
Coney Island Whitefish Biologist
I experimented with runaway inflator tactics at one point, the fastest way to handle it with the shortest unintentional ascent was to tilt head down and swim downward while dumping air from the rear valve on the wing/bcd until under control, then disconnect the inflator hose. Not always easy in winter gear. Of course a in freeflowing drysuit you wouldn't pitch down but up for the shoulder dump.
Freeflowing inflators in heavy coldwater gear are a real concern. In my opinion it's not unreasonable to run inline shutoffs on drysuit and wing inflators if you're often wearing heavy coldwater gloves and going into deco.
Freeflowing inflators in heavy coldwater gear are a real concern. In my opinion it's not unreasonable to run inline shutoffs on drysuit and wing inflators if you're often wearing heavy coldwater gloves and going into deco.
RobPNW
Contributor
Yeah I get that. I was just thinking if I was in an uncontrolled ascent, I would rather immediately get some air out of the wing. Even if I had to go negatively buoyant and fin a little to maintain depth. And then detach the inflator hose. But, and this is why I asked the question, that depends on whether pulling the dump valve when the inflator is stuck open actually can deflate any volume. If the gas out exceeds the gas in, I can get some relief on the ascent, and then detach the hose. This has never happened to me so I'm trying to think it through in my head.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I think I would just grab the LP hose and bend it/kink it to stop airflow then fiddle with the disconnect. I dive with thick gloves though so undoing an inflator hose might he easier said than done. Kinking it though would be right away.
Well, since a horse collar IS a BC, this is not "Prior to BCs" So, yes, people may very well have been getting dragged to the surface by runaway horse collars in the '70s - especially the ones with the CO2 cartridges that could accidentally be set off or be set off in error by divers who did not realize these were intended to be used at the surface, not at depth.
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