Manipulating valves

[boulderjohn]

I was given a tip by my UTD instructior to "palm" the left valve and move it with the underside of your fingers. Think making a C shape with your left hand and pulling and pushing the valve with the C. I never had trouble in the pool, but being a bit chilled after 3 days and 10 or so dives I went for it and struggled... then thought about the tip, and got it turned off and on no problem.

Actually, Justin, he gave me a similar tip a couple of years ago when I was borrowing his 120s for that section of training. I still had a lot of trouble. Then I got my own tanks and realized he had omitted an important step in turning those valves--bring a wrench with you. (He also realized it when he used those tanks himself for the first time and did a valve drill of his own.)

For me, the key changes that helped me were

1. Greatly improving my flexibility, which has already been discussed. It took a long time and a lot of patient exercise, but I am now much more flexible in the shoulders than I was before.
2. Adjusting my equipment. Lynne once posted a web site that was very helpful in this regard. (I have since lost it, so perhaps she can do it again.) It was really clear to me when looking at people on film doing valve drills effortlessly that my valves were not in the same place their valves were. Making a few adjustments, minor as they were, made a world of difference.

 

[TSandM]

John, what was the site? Was it Garf's rant on valves? That's the only one I can think of that I've repeatedly posted, but it hasn't got any pictures or video associated with it.

 

[boulderjohn]

John, what was the site? Was it Garf's rant on valves? That's the only one I can think of that I've repeatedly posted, but it hasn't got any pictures or video associated with it.

The only thing I remember about it was a series of suggestions about things like where to put the tank bands, etc. There were no pictures.

 

[amascuba]

See for yourself. Here is how I manipulate valves.

 

[PfcAJ]

Well done

 

[TSandM]

Lovely job of valve manipulation, James! What undergarment are you using under that suit -- looks like you have quite a bit of mobility there.

David Rhea would eviscerate you for not keeping eye contact with your teammate through the drill. You are not to drop your head at all, not even long enough to put your fist behind it to push your hand back to the isolator knob. Anything else is unacceptable.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

It would also be a good idea to do valve maintenance and replace and/or lube the o-rings.....They should turn easily with the manipulation of a single finger

 

[Anti-Hero]

Well done

Agreed, well done!

 

[MonkSeal]

See for yourself. Here is how I manipulate valves.

Good, but keeping eye contact with camera man would make better If you take a closer look to video, you'll notice a little variance of depth. Besides breathing pattern, it's also a consequence of head-down posture.

 

[laurin]

I've noticed that I tend to rotate with my wrist when using my right hand, and roll with my fingers more when using the left hand. Closing the valve with left hand is a bit slower also... However, reaching the valve doesn't feel much more difficult with the left hand, so it might just be bad coordination, and could probably be fixed with more practice.

BTW, the upside of learning valve manipulation in cold water is that it feels ridiculously easy in warm water with thin undersuits - I found out that I could also loosen and tighten the DIN wheels of my regs on C2 in a pinch... (hitting the lost diver with an unfixable failure seems to be SOP )

//LN