Things Scuba Instructors teach that are either bad or just wrong.

[broncobowsher]

The turn the face away from you comment, I think someone is taking that a little too literal as in pointing 180°. Turn off to the side, is still turned away from you.

Given the choice of being hit with the face of a gauge that is blown off, possibly in fragments, or getting hit with a rubber plug. I'll take the rubber plug.

No matter what, the instruction of not aiming the gauge face at your face is the correct one.

 

[saxman242]

The turn the face away from you comment, I think someone is taking that a little too literal as in pointing 180°.

What I was trained wasn't to turn it away, it was to point it to the ground.

 

[DogDiver]

Nothing her instructor said or taught was 100% wrong. A lot of old time folks were trained in the said techniques above. I know I was. Heck, I still back my valves 1/4 turn off even though I know it’s not current practice. As for Nitrox, I haven’t breathed air in a scuba cylinder in over 20 years. Just a matter of personal opinion and use.

 

[gamon]

. Just a matter of personal opinion and use.

Opinions can be wrong. There’s a more than slim chance that breathing Nitrox on shallow dives is a useless waste of money and there’s even the possibility that the oxygen is toxic albeit to a very small degree.

To those who suggest breathing Nitrox on 20 foot reef dives is beneficial, why not walk around breathing off an oxygen tank?

 

[James79]

Opinions can be wrong. There’s a more than slim chance that breathing Nitrox on shallow dives is a useless waste of money and there’s even the possibility that the oxygen is toxic albeit to a very small degree.

To those who suggest breathing Nitrox on 20 foot reef dives is beneficial, why not walk around breathing off an oxygen tank?

There are many people that feel better/less tired after a nitrox dive than on air (I'm one of them)... Though there's no real research on it, and it could be placebo, for many it is a benefit. There's more than a slim chance that it is reducing decompression strain on tissues (albeit from low strain to lower strain). I'm too cheap to do it all the time, but if it's offered I'm more than happy to take it.
As to your facetious "why not walk around breathing off an oxygen tank".... If it was cheap enough, I would under the right conditions (hangover, post workout, etc.). Professional athletes use it for recovery or prep.... I don't see why pre and post diving is unreasonable. It's just not cheap and readily available enough to make it practical.

To be fair, I've seen instructors say a lot of BS, but nitrox for every dive is less BS than an opinion based on perceived effect.... No an instructor that I heard telling a student that if their tank wasn't fully open then they couldn't get all the air out of the tank... That showed a frightening lack of understanding of the equipment.

Respectfully,

James

 

[boulderjohn]

To those who suggest breathing Nitrox on 20 foot reef dives is beneficial, why not walk around breathing off an oxygen tank?

Breathing 100% oxygen for prolonged periods of time is hard on the lungs. Breathing even greater PPO2s for the shorter periods of time in a dive is usually safe, but technical divers switch off of O2 for occasional air breaks during long decompression stops.

 

[Dark Wolf]

Opinions can be wrong. There’s a more than slim chance that breathing Nitrox on shallow dives is a useless waste of money and there’s even the possibility that the oxygen is toxic albeit to a very small degree.

To those who suggest breathing Nitrox on 20 foot reef dives is beneficial, why not walk around breathing off an oxygen tank?

They can also be right. I am not a world class (or even world travelled) diver.

With that being said, what is "right" often changes depending on the person/location/conditions.

Just my opinion.

DW

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

• For the SPG issue, I had always taught students to press the faceplate facing and on the side of the tank before pressurizing SLOWLY. Maybe that was just a PADI thing.
• Pure O2 on the surface can be a great help with a hangover......!!!

Regarding the OP's question, I think that one of the worst things taught is to turn your tank valve fully on and then back 1/4 turn. This stupid rule can result in a tank being partially or "barely" on. Just open the valve or close the valve till it stops.... No need to crank on it. A tank that is barely on can be a problem. Fully on or fully off and there can be no confusion or uncertainty.

 

[icechip]

I back the knob a bit on my tank, don't give a crap about Nitrox, face my spg away from me, occasionally touch the bottom, VIP my own tanks, often have my mask on my forehead at the surface and don't usually carry a snorkel.

The horror...the horror...

 

[boulderjohn]

I think what we have seen so far is nothing in actual, standard scuba instruction that is bad or just wrong. Everything we have seen so far is individual instructor quirks. Lots of instructors are misinformed or out of date on some topics, and they therefore as individuals teach things that are wrong. I listed a couple of instructor errors in the other thread, and I could list some more here, but those errors are not in any official literature that I know of.

The same thing is true in most areas of instruction. After a career in education, I assure you that there are many thousands of teachers who are teaching things that aren't true because they were either misinformed or did not understand it themselves. When I was in graduate school, I learned that many of the things I was taught in college were not true.