Rapid Star
Contributor
Sounds intense!
PADI-Sipping Air Free Flow?
- Thread starter CptTightPants21
- Start date
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So you were doing an air share drill and you got a free flow in the process? Someone did not do the air share properly. Gilboa is that quarry up north somewhere isn't it? Our quarry is not near as cool to have just a single name like that, but on the 130' platform we did an air share and had no such issues. I still think some sweet flavoring would have made your situation much better.
I think you are confusing the CESA (during which you say AHHH continuously, to both keep your airway open and to audibly show it is open) and the free-flow exercise during which you sip the air. You can't both "AHHH" and sip at the same time.
The point is to keep one side of the mouthpiece in your mouth so the excess air flow can exahust through the other side. The "sipping" is from air that is coming at you, not from the bubble coming out of the mouthpiece and headed for the surface.
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CptTightPants21
Contributor
So it looks like it is more prevalent than I thought, but no one has really been able to give a good reason why a person can't/shouldn't keep the reg completely in their mouth?
I have pushed the purge button continuously down to simulate free flow and had no issues breathing normally even with the "extra air" coming at me.
I have pushed the purge button continuously down to simulate free flow and had no issues breathing normally even with the "extra air" coming at me.
Rapid Star
Contributor
That may work for you, but I think the common thought is what would be best for most, and I have to thing that they error on the side of caution (prevent lung over expansion) when this technique was considered.
During certification training, we were taught the sipping method also. When that training event was over, I thought to myself, "why not just switch to the octo?", but got distracted with the next training event and never asked the question. With a free flow on one reg, is there some reason the other would not work? With a good reg in my mouth, I might be able to deal with the free flowing reg more efficiently while ascending.
No good reason? Avoiding blowing out your lungs is a pretty good reason.
Look at it this way: you can drain an AL 80 is about 120 secs from a real 2nd stage free flow; that is is about 3/4 of a cuft per second headed for your lungs...with only the exhaust flappers in the 2nd stage being an escape route for all that flow. They are not designed for all that flow. You "simulated" a free flow with your purge valve. All you willing to trust your lungs to that simulation? The ;point is, you simply need to let some air escape from your mouth, which is why one side of the mouthpiece is NOT inserted in your mouth.
2airishuman
Contributor
As @tursiops implies, it is possible for a regulator to free flow at a rate that exceeds the capacity of the exhaust valve to exhaust air without raising the pressure at the mouthpiece to the point where it is not possible to exhale. Freeflows vary in cause and severity, and some may be worse than what you get by holding down the purge button. Perhaps higher performance regulators have worse freeflows -- I don't know. I can't breath my regs with the purge button down.
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