Me or the reg or both?

[ronski101]

Scenario:
Hadn't dove in 6 mo
Rental reg
1st dive of the trip
Checked tank valve on boat
3200 psi
Punta Sur great vis with very little current
As I decended I noticed that the reg was breathing hard which seemed to me to increase as I got deeper. Note: I switched to the octo and back but both seemed hard to breath. At about 85' I was getting anxiety/panic thoughts so I really concentrated on slow deep breaths with emphesis on exhaling completely and turned my attention to the fish and reef. After a few moments I felt ok and completed the dive. The second dive was shallower and the reg seemed to work ok then and the rest of the week.
My question is: Was it the reg(1st or 2nd stage), was I narced or starting to panic, was it the situation (1st dive) or a combination? This hasn't happened since.
Any experienced enlightenment would be appreciated.

 

[Walter]

Based on:

At about 85' I was getting anxiety/panic thoughts so I really concentrated on slow deep breaths with emphesis on exhaling completely and turned my attention to the fish and reef. After a few moments I felt ok and completed the dive.

my guess is it was all you. The good news is you dealt with it very well.

 

[ChickOfTheSea]

Could it be that the regs weren't balanced or that the Breathing Sensitivity was off on both regs? Or... perhaps a crappy reg... some info I found :

AIR FLOW THE KEY

Basically, what we want out of a regulator is air flow enough air under all conditions, and with little effort. There are several things that cause air flow to vary. First of all, it is important that you understand that air is a fluid, very much like water. If you cause it to turn corners or change direction, it will slow down. If you make an opening too small, it will restrict the flow, especially at lower pressures. (Where you may be able to force air through a small opening at 3000 psi, it will be harder to force air through that same opening when the tank pressure is 500 psi.) As we go deeper, the air becomes more dense, or thicker (Remember Boyle’s Law.) This makes it harder to move the air through the same size openings. A good regulator is designed to handle these problems better than an inexpensive regulator. This is done by producing a more finely designed and machined first stage. It is the first stage where the real action takes place. There are other tricks such as large diameter hoses and devices to create venturi flows in the second stage, that will also help the flow of air. Talk to the professionals at Underwater World and they will explain these features in detail.

This could explain why it was ok in shallower depths

 

[r&wc]

i had a similar experience (almost identicall actually) the only difference is that we encountered an extrmemly strong current when we got down to the wreck, this added to the already flowing, hard to breath thoughts, not only was my reg breathing hard now i was breathing hard! the two combined i aborted the dive and sat that one out, at the time it didnt even cross my mind that it was the reg, my first thought was " man im outta shape, im outbreathing my reg" the second dive was shallower with little current, this is where i realized my reg was breathing hard. i had it serviced and its better now, but it starts to breath hard at 80' and gets harder as you go deeper.

i am now looking to upgrade my mares proton to an aqualung legend

 

[BSea]

About the only time I've known this to happen was when someone didn't turn their air all the way on. If the valve isn't turned all the way on, you get decreased air delivery at depth. There have abeen a few threads on this in the past. One way to check is to breath off the reg before the dive & watch your pressure guage. It shouldn't fluctuate much. If it does, then there is the chance that your valve isn't all the way open. There was a report of this happening when someone checked another's ait to see if it was turned on. Instead of opening the valve (which I'm assuming was already open), they closed the valve & gave it half a turn open.

 

[cerich]

was it a Sherwood?

Lots of rentals are. If a Sherwood has been flooded and not serviced afterward they can behave the way described.

 

[DiveGal01]

About the only time I've known this to happen was when someone didn't turn their air all the way on. If the valve isn't turned all the way on, you get decreased air delivery at depth.

This was my thought, too, when I first read this post. Ambient pressure has a lot to do with airflow delivery.

 

[Diver0001]

Scenario:
Hadn't dove in 6 mo
Rental reg
1st dive of the trip
Checked tank valve on boat
3200 psi
Punta Sur great vis with very little current
As I decended I noticed that the reg was breathing hard which seemed to me to increase as I got deeper. Note: I switched to the octo and back but both seemed hard to breath. At about 85' I was getting anxiety/panic thoughts so I really concentrated on slow deep breaths with emphesis on exhaling completely and turned my attention to the fish and reef. After a few moments I felt ok and completed the dive. The second dive was shallower and the reg seemed to work ok then and the rest of the week.
My question is: Was it the reg(1st or 2nd stage), was I narced or starting to panic, was it the situation (1st dive) or a combination? This hasn't happened since.
Any experienced enlightenment would be appreciated.

I'm deliberately answering this without reading the other responses first.

My first impression is that the tank valve might not have been all the way open. The stiffness you felt might have been very real and related to not having your tank all the way on.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

was it a sherwod?

You're a man of great integrity.... You'd have to know that to not see it as a slimy jab at Sherwood.

Be careful what you suggest (implicitly or explicitly) about the competition.... In your position, your appearance of professionalism is critical.

R..

 

[Charlie99]

If your SPG was fluctuating, then it would be the partially opened tank valve that several people have mentioned.

My bet, however, is the same as Walter's: "my guess is it was all you."

This is particularly likely if you were more nervous than normal since you hadn't been diving in 6 months.

I've seen several cases where a diver thinks his reg isn't working, when in fact it is perectly normal. A typical example is a dive where it was another diver's first night dive, then he got rolled badly in the surf zone for 4 or 5 waves. Even after resting on the surface, he was absolutely convinced that his reg was messed up and not delivering air properly. Both I and his instructor found it to be completely normal when we test breathed it. It took a bit to convince him that he'd be better off doing the 45 minute one way drift dive to an exit place where the surf wasn't as bad, but once he got calm and underwater, everthing was fine.