Slow and Deep (Another Air Question)

[PADI Knight]

Recently spent the day diving at Ginnie springs (great days diving). Dove 4 and a half hours till my buddy called diving secondary to trouble equalizing ears. Started the day with 3000PSI and finished with 1800PSI. Deepest dive was 50Ft but my question is this. I've always breathed slow and deep I mean I take a 5-6 second inhale and then about a 5 second exhale after a short 1-3 second pause to actually "circulate" the air I just inhaled. My instructor always said I had good air control during OW classes since I never finished with less than 1000PSI during any of the training dives. Even after the last training dive when he gave us the "congratulations your a diver you can now go out into the quarry and see the sights" after changing tanks I had 2500 in the old tank and came back after about 2 hours with 2750psi.

I found at Ginnie that a few times especially when I met up with other divers that I suddenly became conscious of breathing and took more breaths. Strange??

Bought a 79 steel and took it to the pool for a check out dive after service and fill of 2300PSI. Spent about 3 hours in the pool used 500 PSI. Anyway reinforcement of consumption does this sound good?

 

[landlocked]

Recently spent the day diving at Gennie springs (great days diving). .... a 5-6 second inhale and then about a 5 second exhale after a short 1-3 second pause to actually "circulate" the air I just inhaled. ...

Is this pause a conscience thing or is it natural? Perhaps a little worry if you are purposely lengthening the pause between breaths or if you are forcing the length of the breaths. As long as it is natural and relaxed it sounds fantastic to me. Are you a long distance runner by chance?

 

[PADI Knight]

Pause is natural, not long distance runner but played football from 5th to 12 grade and on my squadron's fleet team in the Navy for two years.

 

[TSandM]

If I read your question right, you are wondering why your breathing sped up when you ran into other divers?

Anything that causes anxiety or apprehension will raise your respiratory rate. I know when I was first diving, encountering groups of divers was an anxious situation for me, because I was trying to keep track of which diver was MY buddy and, given the poor viz we dive in, it could be difficult. This still happens to me at night, where it's more confusing. And when my respiratory rate goes up, I become aware of it because it isn't normal.

I AM trying to figure out how you could go out and dive with 2500 in your tank, and come back with 2750 . . . That's quite a trick!

 

[H2Andy]

I AM trying to figure out how you could go out and dive with 2500 in your tank, and come back with 2750 . . . That's quite a trick!

sweet trick indeed... i want whatever he smokes :14:

i believe he is talking about two tanks, both at 3000 psi. first tank came back
with 2500 psi. changed tanks to another full tank, and that one came back
with 2750

two hours with only having used 250 psi seems awful low, even if real shallow

also, i don't know of many gauges that can accurately read in more than 100
psi increments, so... maybe he came back with 2700. still, that's a phenomenal
air consumption, assuming these are single aluminum 80's.

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

yeah, I've got to start exercising if I'm going to compete with you on a consumption contest.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If he can do 3 hrs underwater and use 500 psi, he should only need a 30 cuft tank for just about any dive. I would not believe someone could use this little air without seeing it myself.

 

[do it easy]

Recently spent the day diving at Gennie springs (great days diving). Dove 4 and a half hours till my buddy called diving secondary to trouble equalizing ears. Started the day with 3000PSI and finished with 1800PSI. Deepest dive was 50Ft but my question is this. I've always breathed slow and deep I mean I take a 5-6 second inhale and then about a 5 second exhale after a short 1-3 second pause to actually "circulate" the air I just inhaled. My instructor always said I had good air control during OW classes since I never finished with less than 1000PSI during any of the training dives. Even after the last training dive when he gave us the "congratulations your a diver you can now go out into the quarry and see the sights" after changing tanks I had 2500 in the old tank and came back after about 2 hours with 2750psi.

I found at Ginnie that a few times especially when I met up with other divers that I suddenly became conscious of breathing and took more breaths. Strange??

Bought a 79 steel and took it to the pool for a check out dive after service and fill of 2300PSI. Spent about 3 hours in the pool used 500 PSI. Anyway reinforcement of consumption does this sound good?

What tank size? single? doubles?

4.5 hours on a single AL80, and using 1200 psi is roughly a .12 SAC rate AT THE SURFACE. It would have to be lower at depth. It think we seen one person in that ballpark on SB.

If you have a SAC rate that great and you don't get headaches, good for you, it raises the bar for the rest of us.

 

[andydiver06]

I will never try to hold my breath in any shallow dives with surge because you never know when you will injure yourself. Normally on a 12m dive starting at 200 BAR I come up with 120 BAR after 60 minutes. On 30m 25 min dive including safety stop I come up with 90 BAR from 200. Is there any point in trying extra hard to save your gas supply more than that. Anyway I'm always paying for my two tank dive and might as well use the second tank for my second dive instead of using the same tank.

 

[ItsBruce]

The math says Padi Knight could just have the breathing rate he claims.

Using 500 pounds of 2300 pounds is roughly 22% of the tank. If it’s a Steel 79, then 22% of that is roughly 17 cubic feet. Three hours of diving is 180 minutes. That means roughly 0.09 cubic feet per minute.

Microsoft Encarta states: “The amount of air normally taken into the lungs in a single breath during quiet breathing is called the tidal volume. In adults the tidal volume is equal to about 0.5 liters (about 1 pt). The lungs can hold about ten times this volume if they are filled to capacity. This maximum amount, called the vital capacity, is generally about 4.8 liters (about 1.3 gal) in an adult male, but varies from one individual to the next. Athletes, for example, can have a vital capacity of as much as 5.7 liters ( 1.5 gal). The vital capacity is reached only during strenuous exercise.”

Thus, the amount of air normally taken into the lungs in a single breath during quiet breathing is roughly 0.02 cubic feet. This, of course, assumes 1 ATM

Using 0.09 cubic feet per minute with a normal breath of 0.02 cubic feet per breath means a bit more than 4 breaths per minute at 1 ATM, which is consistent with a pool.

When I sit and relax and breath by my watch, I can do just under 4 normal capacity breaths per minute without holding my breath. I assume most around here can. I don't know how long one could maintain this without excessive CO2 buildup. Apparently Padi Knight can. Kudos.