How would you handle a free flowing reg?

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

I have been chatting with someone about how to handle a free flowing reg.

Please state the following before your answer:
Years certified:
Certifications held:
Agency:
Number of dives:
And if you are an instruc or DM how long have you been one:

Situation 1: A buddy team of 2 divers begin a dive. A minute or so into the dive one diver has a free flow. After several attempts to stop it, the reg continues to free flow. Divers are about 15' deep. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member

Situation 2: A buddy team of two divers are on a dive and 30 minutes into the dive at 55' one diver begins to have a free flow and after several attemps it will not stop. Both divers have 800 psi. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member.


Next:
What skills should one have or practice that would help a diver to be able to follow the outline you have listed above?

 

[HowardE]

In situation 1 - is the their backup (octo) or is it their primary??

Situation B - Same question... and why isn't it situation #2??

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Good question. How would it be handled if it was the primary or if was the backup on a bungie around the neck? Same or different outline of steps to take to deal with the problem?

I changed it to situation 2--long day

 

[Scuba Ken]

Well as long as only one person has a free flow and your keeping a reserve in in your tank like you are taught in open water. I would go with have the free flowing diver take his buddies octo - call the dive nd head to the surface. At 800 PSI free flow essentially equals an OOA situation so follow that procedure.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Please state the following before your answer:
Years certified: 8
Certifications held: about 30
Agency: YMCA, NAUI, GUE, TDI, IANTD
Number of dives: about 2,200
And if you are an instruc or DM how long have you been one: Instructor, four years

Situation 1: A buddy team of 2 divers begin a dive. A minute or so into the dive one diver has a free flow. After several attempts to stop it, the reg continues to free flow. Divers are about 15' deep. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member

Diver without problem passes backup reg to diver with problem
Once verified that diver with problem is on backup reg, shut down tank with free-flowing reg
Wait about 10 seconds, then turn air back on again
If reg doesn't free-flow, diver goes back on their own primary reg, buddy stows backup, and dive continues
If reg does free-flow, shut down again, surface while sharing air and attempt to resolve problem.
If problem can be resolved, continue dive.
If problem cannot be resolved, thumb dive.

Situation B: A buddy team of two divers are on a dive and 30 minutes into the dive at 55' one diver begins to have a free flow and after several attemps it will not stop. Both divers have 800 psi. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member.

Diver without problem passes backup reg to diver with problem
Once verified that diver with problem is on backup reg, shut down tank with free-flowing reg
Wait about 10 seconds, then turn air back on again
If reg doesn't free-flow, diver goes back on their own primary reg, buddy stows backup, and get shallower
If reg does free-flow, shut down again, make an orderly ascent sharing air and end the dive.

Next:
What skills should one have or practice that would help a diver to be able to follow the outline you have listed above?[/QUOTE]
Basic air sharing skills, modest buoyancy control skills, and the ability to think and respond with a lot of noise and distracting bubbles in your face.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dtaine]

By how you ask your question I doubt you would care about my response.

That said, if you haven't already, I'd recommend taking a look at this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-single-tank-divers-air-supply-free-flow.html There's a lot of good discussion there about what two single tank divers should do with a free flowing regulator.

 

[sabbath999]

I have been chatting with someone about how to handle a free flowing reg.

Please state the following before your answer:
Years certified:
Certifications held:
Agency:
Number of dives:

Years certified: Less than one (NOOB)
Certifications held: OW, AOW
Agency: PADI
Number of dives: 30ish (don't know exactly without looking it up but about that including training dives)

I can only answer what I would do (as I understand my training), and since I am a total NOOB.

Situation 1, share air and do a normal ascent with both parties FIRMLY holding on to the other one assuming the OOA person is calm, going up together at 30 FPM at the quickest. Shut off the air on the surface, establish buoyancy for both of us (the person with the bad air first) THEN take a look at the situation to see if it is something we can fix (doubtful). My share air procedure is to pass my main reg and use my octo. At the moment I have an AIR2 but when I upgrade I will use the bungied octo around my neck.

Situation 2, I would share air, ascend slowly (30 FPM at best) with both parties FIRMLY holding on to the other one assuming the OOA person is calm, and skip the safety stop to insure we didn't get into a CESA situation. I would surface, establish buoyancy (the person with the bad air first) and then we would head on the surface back to the boat and/or shore.

I am not trained to be an underwater mechanic, my NOOB level of training is to go to the surface via a slow normal ascent.

NEXT

What skills should one have or practice ...

Well, the obvious ones of course... knowing where your pressure is all the time so you don't have to start digging around to find out how many PSI you have left to help an OOA person. Controlled ascents with other people from depth using shared breathing (I personally have practiced this one with my buddy more than 20 times since we are certified), learning to recognize the panic cycle and what to do to help people get past it, practicing CESA preparedness "just in case", practicing making slow ascents while task loading, all of which my buddy and I do on every training dive we do together both in the quarry and in the pool... we do four pool dives together a month right now in addition to what open water stuff we can manage.

If you want all that fancy stuff about turning on and off air under water, you will need a buddy with more experience than me... fair enough, I have never claimed to be anything but the most raw NOOB.

My way may cost you a dive, but it will work and both parties will be safe.

 

[NudeDiver]

Please state the following before your answer:
Years certified:
Certifications held:
Agency:
Number of dives:

Info is in my profile - feel free to go look.

Situation 1: A buddy team of 2 divers begin a dive. A minute or so into the dive one diver has a free flow. After several attempts to stop it, the reg continues to free flow. Divers are about 15' deep. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member

The number of tanks you have for the day doesn't seem to be relevant. The possibility of having to discontinue diving for the day shouldn't affect safety procedures.

At 15' and 1 minute, you can safely surface with no stops. Use octo, get to the surface, get buoyant. While disabled diver COULD CESA, there is no reason to when using octo is perfectly reasonable.

It's not specified if this is a boat or a shore dive. If it is a shore dive, continue using octo to get to shore. Once on shore, turn disabled diver's tank off.

If it is a boat dive, continue using octo to get to boat. Once on boat, turn disabled diver's tank off.

Personally, I would not want to dive on the faulty regulator again and would not be inclined to buddy with someone who would, assuming there is no obvious reason for the fault (such as very cold water, improper technique, etc.). But if the reg can be made to be operable, or if a spare is available for use, then go diving as air permits. Be cautious with the faulty reg - stay shallow until confidence in the reg is acquired.

Situation 2: A buddy team of two divers are on a dive and 30 minutes into the dive at 55' one diver begins to have a free flow and after several attemps it will not stop. Both divers have 800 psi. It is a one tank dive and each diver only has one tank. It will be the only dive of the day. How should each member of the buddy team respond to this situation? Please outline a step by step response for each member.

Same answer as before, except safety type at 5m for 3 minutes, as air permits. If disabled diver's air gets too low, then share air as needed.

What skills should one have or practice that would help a diver to be able to follow the outline you have listed above?

It depends a lot on why the reg freeflowed, and whether this can be determined. If it flowed because it's very cold outside, and he breathed off it before submerging it in water, then he should stop doing that. If he overbreathed it in very cold water, then he should stop doing that too. If it flowed because needs maintenance, then he should maintain his gear better (or have it serviced more often).

Practicing a CESA, using octo (and switching regs), sharing air, buddy communication, long surface swims using a snorkel, and similar skills could be useful - whether or not these incidents occur.

 

[TSandM]

Years certified: 3
Certifications held: OW, AOW, mult specialties, DIRF, NAUI Helitrox, GUE Cave 1, TDI Cavern/Intro
Agency: PADI, NAUI, GUE, TDI
Number of dives: approx 700
And if you are an instruc or DM how long have you been one: Not either.

I completely agree with NW Grateful diver.

 

[captain]

Years diving 51
years certified 38
Agency YMCA scuba diver, no such thing as OW, AOW. Rescue, etc in 1970

Situation 1
Continue to breath fro freeflowing regulator, why waste the air by switching to octo
Swim to surface, resolve problem.

Situation 2
Same as situation 1 except if tank goes empty than share air with buddy or do CESA.

Skill. Fully depress purge button on regulator while continuing to breath from it, not hard to do.