Regulator or Me?

[Mulepadre]

For those of you who know from experience...

I am a newbie recently certified for open water and have only about 10 dives.
I live in the Caribbean and I dive with a shop that has been real good to me so I do not want to complain, but I have had the following problem.

I seem to have difficulty breathing freely through the regulators I have been using, most noticeably on the last dive. Now I do not have a lot of experience and I do know that there is a psychological factor at play. But, apart from this annoyance, I am really quite relaxed underwater. In point of fact, if this is indicative of anything, i compared my air quantity at the end of our last dive with the Master Diver with us and I finished out about the same air level as him. Its just that I had to really drag to get air which is a bummer...

I also noticed on that dive that when i put the regulator in my mouth before jumping from the boat, as I tested it, I sensed the excessive drag right away and the effort i had to make to breathe. Now is this normal to have to drag the air and is just something you have to get used to? How easily is air meant to flow?

I want to see what I can learn about matching regulators and set-ups to individuals as I am returning to the states and intend to buy my first equipment before coming back. What kind of equipment gives the best flow and what kind of maintance would be expected?

At this dive shop I believe we are using quality Sherwoods at the second stage but I wonder how often they get tuned up?

 

[nwhitney2003]

Welcome to Scubaboard!
Is your air open all the way with a quarter turn back towards closed? Is your buddy checking your setup? I know it's a stupid question but you never know. I don't know enough about regs. to give an answer about drag except to say I've never experienced that.

 

[widget]

Not to get into too much detail, but sure, its possible for a reg 1st stage to be poorly maintained in that the intermediate pressure is very low, (on Sherwood its possible the flow controls are blocked which will cause hard breathing) or there is another mechanical issue which is causing a poor flow of air.

That said it could also be the demand valve (2nd stage) which is set too tight to eliminate a free flow possibly, or there is a mechanical issue there as well.

So to answer your question simply, Yes, it certainly could be the regulator.

.............a simple test is "if you have to forcibly suck air on the surface, (you will know when its hard to suck) there is a mechanical issue with the reg" - take another one.!

It appears to me you have identified the problem yourself, test your reg before you jump in, if you have to Suuuuuuuck air, its not right.!

 

[Sparhawk13401]

Does the second stage have a dial/knob on the side or on top of it?

Some second stages do, and it's so you can adjust the breathability of the reg. Maybe it's just set too low for your liking?

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Underwater, there should be no drag. If you have to pull hard on the reg to get air out, the reg is either a bad one or not tuned properly.

 

[divekraz]

There should be little if any effort to breathe on your regulator. If it's hard to breathe on the surface it can only get worse at depth. If there is a knob on the side of the regulator you must turn it to the level best suited for your depth, If not there is a problem. My old regulator which I used for a few years was always a bit hard to breathe on, especially under heavy exertion. I serviced it each year and had the shop set it to just about free flow setting but it still didn't make it suitable to me. My new set up is effortlees to breathe, even under exertion I can't over breathe it. I know there is a huge difference.

 

[Web Monkey]

I seem to have difficulty breathing freely through the regulators I have been using,

That's probably the first problem. If it's a rental, it's may not be properly adjusted (possibly on purpose to prevent freeflows) or it may just need service.

Now is this normal to have to drag the air and is just something you have to get used to? How easily is air meant to flow?

A properly tuned regulator will breath almost effortlessly. If you have to think about breathing, it's not working right.

Terry

 

[Gregordo]

Test out a bunch of reg's and buy the one you like the best. It's costly but you save on rental fee's and you know what you're diving with. 99.999 percent of the time a dive shop will keep up their equipment, but you don't want to be the one guy that year who winds up on a 2 hr boat trip and a five minute dive.

 

[Damselfish]

Rental regulators have a reputation for breathing like crap, which is one of the many reasons people buy their own. Not always true, but often, and that's quite likely what you're running into. Part of this is because rentals are usually lower end gear, and part of it is because the stuff gets used a lot and sometimes not maintained well enough.

It can be hard to test out a variety of regs, as the good stuff you may want to buy is often not available for rental. And lots of places don't want you trying their new gear even in the pool, as then it's not really new anymore. And if you try something that's good but badly tuned you may get the wrong idea about it anyway. Most gear is better to try but I think you can learn more about regs by doing research.

 

[Blackwood]

A properly tuned regulator will breath almost effortlessly..

Yup, and if it doesn't it can lead to potentially dangerous CO₂ buildup.