I used to do snorkel to regulator exchange until. Was at the shot line with the buddy Getting ready to descend. The inflatable came over and grabbed the shot buoy and did a 360° pinning me to the shot line and pulling me underwater. The not being able to breathe for what felt like forever was a little panic inducing. With a 2nd stage on my mouth it is just a minor inconvenience. Now a snorkel is not attached to my mask to stop temptation.
Things You Learned but Never Had to Use (or Had to Use)
- Thread starter Trace Malinowski
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Rollin Bonz
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During AN/DP in side mount, the scenario was you only had 1 functioning reg, the one you were breathing on, and had to switch to a deco bottle. We had to shut down the tank, breath down the pressure, remove the 1st stage from the back gas bottle and install it on a deco bottle, open the valve to start breathing again. We did this sitting on the side of the pool, so as to not damage the regs, which actually made it more difficult I think. We were fully geared up, mask on and reg in (so as to be unable to breath), with 2 main tanks (LP95s) and 2 deco tanks (AL80s). Seemed like overkill, as that scenario would require the failure of not 1 but 3 regs (2 if you only had 1 deco bottle), but good to know that I could do it if I had to.
I keep trying to get my wife to do #3 with me after a long dive but all I get is the "Ya right, look".
We do #2 when shore diving in Bonaire and Curaçao to get to and from the reef without using up tank air, (fold up snorkels).
PADI taught to turn tank valves all the way on and then back 1/4 turn. Stupid rule that can result in a tank being barely on. I want it to be CRYSTAL CLEAR that my tank is either all the way on or all the way off.
3 Reg Failures
While diving solo on a wreck of the B-17 I had a interesting experience. The wreck is 50 meters of shore in 70 meters of water. I was diving sidemount with 2 bottom gas tanks and 2 deco gases. First a group of 8 divers jumped in, after passing all the stages to them in the water I kitted up...
OP
I had the first stage of a Poseidon regulator practically explode when I turned it on. Sounded like a gun shot and failed at the surface. I was deaf in my left ear for a week. Hearing was muffled for about 3 days, then as it improved, it was like hearing inside my head rather than the external world. A week or so later, it resolved. Good thing it wasn't underwater at the time.
Not jammed open yet? It’s hard to reach behind to do a shutdown if the valve’s jammed against the end stop.
Edit:
As in the problem you may face underwater is having to do a shutdown on a valve if you've a leaking hose/reg/whatever. You cannot do a shutdown if the valve is jammed open. This has happened to me where a valve had jammed open probably due to temperature differences between the surface and depth. Had to get another diver to put his full strength to turn the valve off.
Turn a valve on, then back it back a gnat's tadger so it's not jammed against the endstop.
“Things You Learned but Never Had to Use (or Had to Use)?”
There are quite a few things; but what immediately springs to mind would have be the ditching of weights, which in over four decades, I have yet to perform — outside of a pool exercise at the YMCA; though I knew of many who have -- nor have I ever had to swap out a failing FFM for an octopus at depth.Additionally, none of the standard rescue, CPR or emergency O2 administration has ever came into play.
On the flip side, I have performed a couple of controlled ascents, over the years — one from around ten and another around twenty meters; the shallower one due to an idiot who managed to turn my tank off, unbeknownst to me; and the second, from the only failing regulator that I had ever experienced — an old shop paperweight that hadn’t seen service in years, pressed into use at the last minute . . .
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Not sure why you'd be doing a shut down, but I suppose it makes sense that doing that would be difficult if it's jammed open. I turn mine back a tiny bit. Don't know exactly why other than I may have been instructed to do so way back when. Also don't know why this issue is discussed so much -- I suppose because DMs may mistakenly turn off your air on a boat, thinking it was already off. Of course they shouldn't be touching your stuff, but that's been discussed to death as well.
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