Improving my air consumption

[Deefstes]

Hi all, noob here.

I've done only a hand full of sea dives and will return for another go at it in two weekends' time. My air consumption was really bad on the first dives and I'm sure it will improve with time but I was hoping I could get some tips here as to what I can try to bring down my air consumption.

I've averaged about 35 minutes on a 12 litre cyllinder filled to 220bar (that's roughly equivalent to 90cuft), most of these dives at around 15m (50ft).

I don't know just how bad that is exactly but what I do know is that I had to surface well before the rest of the diving party on every dive - very annoying.

 

[seaducer]

Welcome to SB, welcome to diving!

I am sure you will get lots of great advice here, but really it is pretty simple.

1- control your bouyancy
2- trim
3- relax
4- breathe normally
5- slow down

Most new divers are up and down constantly in the water column, not only can this ruin visiblilty if you are close the bottom, but it means more work for you, which increases your respitory rate.

Trim, if you are trimmed properly, you need less movement to hold your position. Along with bouyancy is IMO the leading cause of new divers sucking their air down so fast.

Relax, you are probably keyed up with everything that diving is. You will learn to calm down in time adn take it in stride, but if you find yourself a little excited, rpactice a calming ritual you may be familiar with. Count to 10 or whatever works for you.

Breathe normally. Many new divers feel the need to fill their lungs completely every breath. For one thing this will throw off your bouyancy, secondly you use more air that way. You are not free diving, not need to load up. How you are breathing now is how you should breathe UW, slow, steady, comfortably.

And stop swimming. Diving is about floating around looking at cool stuff, it isn't an Olympic event. Unless the dive site requires lots of swimming, don't. You will see more stuff that way anyhow...

Good luck...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Don't worry about it ... most new divers go through exactly the same "learning curve". I can remember celebrating the first time I made it to 30 minutes on a standard AL80 cylinder. Now I can easily get over an hour at the same profile out of the same cylinder.

Air consumption boils down to learning how to relax and use good technique. Often this simply comes with practice. It also comes with reducing unnecessary hand movements, with proper weighting, with using good basic trim, and with basic comfort in the water.

My advice is to keep diving, work on the things I mentioned above, and enjoy the time you spend underwater. As you gain experience, your air consumption will improve.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scott Riemer]

I'd say seaducer pretty much covered it. Also, pay attention to your physical fitness level. Being in good fitness can help with air consumption.

 

[TSandM]

One of the biggest determinants of how much gas you use on a dive is how much muscle activity you have. Moving muscles burns oxygen and generates CO2, and CO2 determines how much you have to breathe. Reducing the amount of work you do underwater dramatically decreases your gas consumption.

So, how can you reduce the work you do? The first one is to get into horizontal trim. Many new divers are both overweighted, and have their weight incorrectly distributed. I don't know where you are diving from Johannesburg, but if it is in cold water, you are likely to be carrying quite a bit of weight because of the need for exposure protection. Putting all that weight in the integrated pockets of most BCs will overweight you low on your body, and require a position in the water where your feet are below your head. When you are in that position, every kick drives you UP in the water column. In order not to ascend, you must keep your buoyancy negative. That means that a portion of every kick is completely wasted effort.

Moving some weight up into trim pockets, if your BC has them, or into weight pockets on the camband of your BC, will allow you to maintain a horizontal position in the water. Then, every kick drives you FORWARD, and your efficiency is much higher.

New divers often do a lot of swimming with their hands, as well. Hands are very ineffective, but waving them about uses gas. Try clasping your hands in front of you for a few dives -- That will help break the habit.

Work on learning to hover without moving. Most new divers can't do this, and they're committed to constant finning, even when they want to stop and look at something. This is another place where you can reduce exertion and therefore gas consumption.

And finally, Drew got it right when he said not to swim fast. Diving is tourism, and often best done by moseying. You'd be surprised how much more you can see when you move slowly -- After all, camouflage is a survival trait for a lot of marine life. They work hard to make themselves difficult to see, and if you rush past them, you miss a lot.

And the best part of all this is that getting it right requires frequent diving!

 

[Igodeep]

I agree with everything Drew said. I will add a few things though.

Everybody's air consumption is pretty bad when they start diving, and you are about average for a new diver, so don't get too upset.

When you breath, practice breathing deeply, and slowly. You want to exhale at about the same rate you inhale (yoga is a great way to master this). This takes some practice, and it will also make you rise and fall in the water column. Ideally, if you get your buoyancy sorted out, you should be able to make most depth adjustments by breath control; you will rarely need to use your inflator.

Streamline your equipment! This makes a huge difference. Don't buy a lot of danglies. Do you really need a 2 lights, a slate, a whistle, an air horn, a safety sausage, a reel, etc. etc. on every dive? Keep it simple, only take what you need.

Most divers (even experienced ones) are over-weighted. Get weighted out properly using an almost empty tank and your regular dive gear. This will make controlling your buoyancy so much easier.

A high performance regulator can reduce the work of breathing significantly over many out of tune, low end rental regs.

The best thing you can do to improve is just to go diving, relax and have fun.

 

[perdidochas]

Hi all, noob here.

I've done only a hand full of sea dives and will return for another go at it in two weekends' time. My air consumption was really bad on the first dives and I'm sure it will improve with time but I was hoping I could get some tips here as to what I can try to bring down my air consumption.

I've averaged about 35 minutes on a 12 litre cyllinder filled to 220bar (that's roughly equivalent to 90cuft), most of these dives at around 15m (50ft).

I don't know just how bad that is exactly but what I do know is that I had to surface well before the rest of the diving party on every dive - very annoying.

1) Optimize your weight. Extra weight slows you down and makes it harder to swim.
2) Optimize your buoyancy control. You should not have to use energy to stay level.
3) Get in good cardiovascular shape.
4) Swim more.
5) Relax as much as you can.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

1) Optimize your weight. Extra weight slows you down and makes it harder to swim.
2) Optimize your buoyancy control. You should not have to use energy to stay level.
3) Get in good cardiovascular shape.
4) Swim more.
5) Relax as much as you can.

Good advice from everyone. I find that the more you drop weight the better your bouyancy gets. The more you dive the less likely you are to look like a power walker waving your arms about. Have fun and relaxing just happens eventually

 

[knotical]

I was hoping I could get some tips here as to what I can try to bring down my air consumption.

A favorite tip: Deep exhalations.
CO2 drives the urge to breathe, and deep exhalations eliminate more CO2.

 

[Jim Kerr]

Seaducer was pretty much dead on. The only thing I would add is weighting. Most new divers use more weight than they need. You should be able to hover at 15 ft with NO AIR in your BC. When you can do this you will "feel" how much easier it is to dive and you will be more relaxed. You would be suprised on how much harder you have to work for every extra pound you don't need. The harder you work the more air you use. Once you have your weighting right you can easily control your bouyancy with your lungs.