Sucking in water together with air

[johndiver999]

Perhaps, swishing is viable, if the problem is just the exhaust valve folded over, but pressing the purge will give them an opportunity to cough out the water that has been bothering them, catch their breath over a few cycles, and THEN decide if switching to an octopus or trying to fix the problem with the primary is a good idea.

A cracked housing, damaged or displaced diaphragm, torn or unattached mouthpiece are all potential causes that are not going to be fixed by waving the regulator around while you cough the last bit of air from your lungs.

Press the purge, suck down a few breaths and get respiration under control, get your hands on the octopus, see if the leak is resolved by a test inhalation, if not, carefully switch to the octopus, signal to your buddy, and then decide what to do. That's what I think I would probably do, depending on how much water went down the hatch.

We make light of the difficulty of switching second stages, but if a person has inhaled, even a little bit of water, the coughing and problems and potential for panic can go from zero to 100% in a few moments.

Being able to breathe from a freeflowing or leaking second stage (at least for a short time) is an important skill.

 

[The Chairman]

but if a person has inhaled, even a little bit of water, the coughing and problems and potential for panic can go from zero to 100% in a few moments.

Pharyngeal spasms complicate things. Remembering to do anything during this is spotty at best. The best offense would be a solid defense. I almost always take my first breaths off of any reg, trusted or not, with my tongue touching my upper palette. Regs rarely develop the problem after the dive starts. I made the mistake once of not doing that after a brief surface interval on a cave dive, in Peacock Springs. We had surfaced at the Cathedral {Citadel?) for brief break. Sidemounting, I found I had a rather wet breathing reg on my subsequent descent. I had just breathed off of that reg, so I was unprepared and had not touched the roof of my mouth with my tongue. The gagging was intense, I was confused, could barely see, and so I switched regs and knowing that I could not clear the reg, I hit the purge. What the hay, this one breathed wet too, and my tongue was not in the correct position for the second time in a row. I'm a few feet in the cave at this point, but if I err and silt the site out, who knows what would happen next. Tongue up for the next breath, I breathed in slow, but exhaled hard trying to clear the debris. Swishing didn't work either and neither did purging. I knew it was probably the duckweed that we surfaced through, so that's why I popped the top on the regs to clear them manually. I had the sense of mind to do this while neutral, with non-silting kicks and coughing my head off. It was nice to finally have one reg in my mouth that was not wet and I dutifully cleared the other one in the same way. I was still working through the spasms, for a good five/ten minutes, but I don't think my tongue left the roof of my mouth for the duration of the return trip.

That's what worked and didn't work for me in real life and why I shared what I shared. Now, every time I switch regs, which happens every 600 psi while sidemounting, My first couple of breaths is always protected with my tongue up. This stops any water from hitting the pharynx should you have developed a reg problem.

Learning from the mistakes and successes of others is a time-honored endeavor. It's easy to armchair quarterback what one shouda/woulda/coulda done, and criticize them for not doing it your way. Indeed, everyone approaches underwater problems differently. Some prefer to ascend to the safe surface for a variety of reasons. If you survived the incident, then you did good. Some, work the issue submerged. That's what I prefer. No one does it the same way and that's OK. Many can only speculate, having never encountered the problem personally, and that's OK too. We come to these threads to see how people have solved the problem we had, as well as to read the speculative "how-tos". It's all good.

 

[Honey Badger]

A wealth of information and experiences here. That's why I came here to learn and hopefully overcome my bad experience and continue my diving journey, albeit in a safer and more knowledgeable way.

Thought i share as well. After narrowing down after reading some earlier comments, i Came across this site. It listed some very clear steps in doing your pre-dive checks to avoid unseated or faulty diaphragm or exhaust valve. Not 100% but at least it minimise that risk.

Pre-dive regulator and first stage check - Sunkissed Divers

✅We have all learned how to set up our gear during our Open Water Diver course and how to perform a pre-dive safety check, Pre-dive regulator and first check

sunkisseddivers.com

This and many other alternatives, like using purge button, second stage, mouth up.. etc is definitely helpful. Hopefully other newbies like me will find it useful and prepare themselves better before their next dive.

Cheers

 

[The Chairman]

so that's why I popped the top on the regs to clear them manually.

Just wondering, how many have done this? I would guess very few. May I suggest that you take the time to learn how, and then practice during dives before you actually need the skill. I have no idea how many dozens upon dozens of regs I have rebuilt on the bench, so it seemed the right thing to do when I needed to. Most of you aren't working as a reg tech for a shop, so I would suggest you learn how first. It's quite easy and I'm sure there's plenty of YouTubes showing you how. Once you get the knack on the hard, be sure to practice it on your secondary in the suds. Just don't lose parts!

This shows the procedure less than a minute in. No, you don't need the rubber lid gripper, but notice the nylon ring: that's what you don't want to lose. I pull it out with my pinky (not a brass pick).

​

 

[Nemrod]

Pharyngeal spasms complicate things.

No kidding. Now three summers ago, due to a total CF, I managed to inhale enough water driven into my lungs by Venturi force to have a spasm. My airway was 90% closed for three minutes give or take. I did essentially pass out. And I was alone due to having lagged behind my buddies taking photos. Went into deco, then my computer went blank. When it rains, it pours! It took two courses of antibiotics, two antibiotic shots and two months to clear the resulting pneumonia. First course administered by a doctor in Marathon and the second here at home by my doctor after having constant fevers, a cough that would not go away and night sweats that would drench me. My doctor did not take me serious at first and of course assumed I had the Covid (which I have never had). He did a chest X ray after my Covid test was negative and he came running into the room, grabbed my arm and shoved a huge needle in it, which caused me to pass out yet again. He said the X-ray was "interesting" and I gather concerning .

The point being, a leaking regulator gets my attention really fast. Mouthpiece leaks and O-ring leaks are generally just annoying, but an unseated diaphragm or a damaged or stuck exhaust valve .

Yes, I have removed the purge cover underwater. Duckweed had gotten inside the regulator and had blocked the exhaust valve open. I switched off to my secondary and popped the cover, managed not to drop anything important and cleared the duck weed. Only a few regulators are suitable for this underwater repair, the G250/G260 for example. It has come to my attention that the AL Titan might be a candidate also with it's Tupperware pop top cover.