Heyhey I want to run something past you guys that I feel is suspect information...
Today I was doing the in-class portion of my Nitrox class and as part of the presentation one of the things the instructor covered was CO2 retention and the problems associated with it.
Now, I'm familiar with CO2 retention and had believed that it was encountered Purely as a result of ineffective/incomplete breathing patterns (ie. breathing too shallow/not fully emptying the lungs)
BUT he also trys to tell me that its related to people who dont service their regs regularly...
er... huh? Dammit. my BS alarms were in the red and I'm feeling like I'm being lied to/misled in order to sell shop services I probably dont need. (I am of the 'dont fix it if it aint broke' mentality and until I have a problem with my regs I dont intend to have them overhauled, plus for what they'll charge for the Regular service plan I could buy a brand new reg every 3-4 years)
So my question is... does not getting your reg serviced have ANYTHING to do with CO2 retention? (I'm guessing !@#$ no it doesnt)
I'd really hate to think that the instructor Truely believes this, but if the choice is ignorance vs. deceptive salesman its a lose-lose proposition.
that the reg Itself is NOT causing CO2 retention , only that it COULD be a factor IF its Making you breath hard at Depth, but if its not hard to breath has absolutely NOTHING to do with CO2 retention.
I see no discrepency between the two bolded statements.
that STILL doesnt sound like the Reg thats doing it to me...
to me it sounds like your talking about ineffective/incomplete breathing , working hard, and at depth breathing... yes all of those are factors, but how about this...
Given 40' depth, no exertion, no ineffective breathing how does an un-serviced reg make my CO2 higher?
Those Arent my typical dive profiles... it was simply an example scenario in an attempt to discover How exactly an unserviced reg could be contributing to elevated CO2 levels even with a diver that was Not working hard to breath, or exerting himself, and clearing his lungs effectively...
Did the instructor state that this would be the case for 40' dives? A lot of regulators that work fine at 40' won't function so well at 100'. Different circumstances ... different results.
Ok so your suggesting that someone could be working hard to breath and Not know it?
Because there seems to be a discrepancy in that the diver says its working perfectly/Not having any breathing difficulty but the Flowbench says it IS making the diver work hard to breath? Wouldnt the Diver be the one to know if he/she is working to breathe?
The idea that I could be "working hard but dont Know it" seems like so much fearmongering scaretactics.
Actually, it can be reality, depending on the diver and the dive profile.
Really? I think thats Extremely debatable based on the Tons of posts that say otherwise... ie. that they didnt have problems UNTIL they serviced their reg.
That suggests to me that these people are just turning their regs over to a dive shop and "trusting" that the person working on them knows what he or she is doing. Do you get your car or computer serviced that way?
realize this doesnt nescessarily make me Wrong.
Not necessarily, but the real answer is ... like most things involving scuba diving ... that it depends on the circumstances. He could easily be right.
Right now, you've got very limited experience to draw from ... and from your profile it sounds like you've only ever experienced diving in a quarry. Differences in dive conditions, salt water vs fresh water, cold water vs warm water, etc will eventually help you realize that almost everything about diving is situational ... and the answer to most diving-related questions depends on the conditions in which you dive.
It's good to question what you are taught ... I encourage my students to ask "why" if I say something they don't understand or accept ... on the other hand, if you so doubt your instructor as to question his motives for what he's telling you, then you are clearly with the wrong instructor. My recommendation is to find someone else to take your dive classes with.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)