Things You Learned but Never Had to Use (or Had to Use)

[Wibble]

I turn mine back a tiny bit.

Then it doesn’t jam.

 

[boulderjohn]

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.

This is an issue with double tanks, especially in technical diving. If you have air bubbling out of a valve, you want to be able to shut it off quickly, and I can affirm that it can be hard to do easily if the valves are jammed open.

Does that sort of thing happen? It has happened to me twice, once when I was diving a wreck at about 200 feet and my alternate went into free flow, and I could not stop it. The other time was when I was scootering in a cave and whacked the left post valve.

 

[TMHeimer]

This is an issue with double tanks, especially in technical diving. If you have air bubbling out of a valve, you want to be able to shut it off quickly, and I can affirm that it can be hard to do easily if the valves are jammed open.

Does that sort of thing happen? It has happened to me twice, once when I was diving a wreck at about 200 feet and my alternate went into free flow, and I could not stop it. The other time was when I was scootering in a cave and whacked the left post valve.

Thanks. Did not think of that. Not a tech. diver, but I can see that this could be a big concern at deep depths. I'm surprised that I haven't seen this concern about a valve being jammed open here on SB. I've been a member 15 years and this Quarter Turn topic has been discussed quite a bit.

 

[mdwalter]

I don't remember why (maybe Mark does) but we staged our oxygen inside the Silver Comet at Dutch Springs instead of carrying it. On the way back from somewhere south of the island, we had the choice of going a more direct route home or going the long way around. We chose the long way. When we started picking up the O2 bottles, we both were on fumes.

I don't recall if we were training, or if we were having fun and just got cocky because it was Dutch Springs. Dutch was practically in Mark's backyard & it was my Pennsylvania office. We did a lot of diving as friends and as instructor & student at Dutch, the St. Lawrence River, and in caves.

All I remember about this one was that we left the bottles knowing it was considered a no-no, went for a swim that was long enough and deep enough to exhaust our back-gas, and the look on Mark's face when he inhaled from my long hose and acknowledged, "Oh! You're OOG too!" We ascended di di mau and switched gas on the move deeper than the MOD of the gas.

We just disrespected Dutch Springs was all. The quarry (I can say that now since Stu sold it) reminded us that it was still a bear capable of poking back.

Yeah, well actually I was not completely out of gas, but close. I had been keeping close tabs on it for a while and knew I was low, but also knew we were on our way back to the exit. We were in open water, so I was not too bothered and I don't think we even had any mandatory deco to do (not sure why we had O2 along in the first place). When we got back to where the bottles were cached, I wanted to let Trace know I was low on gas, so we would not keep puttering around and start ascending to exit. But I lazily signaled out of air instead, even though I was not actually out yet. I assumed Trace would have more gas than me so when he handed me his long hose I figured I would just take it for a minute or three while we went up to 20 ft and then hop onto my O2 for the swim back to the dock; so yes, I was surprised to find out Trace actually had less gas than I did. Had I known or even suspected that, I would not have signaled OOG as I did. I guess this taught me some sort of lesson about communicating more accurately and not making assumptions about my buddy's current status; I have not since signaled OOG, because I never have been. I have, however been low on gas and signaled that to my buddies to let them know it's time to head up and out, and I have had to donate to others a bunch of times when they have gone OOG or low on gas while I still have plenty for both of us.

 

[Ayisha]

...I'm surprised that I haven't seen this concern about a valve being jammed open here on SB. I've been a member 15 years and this Quarter Turn topic has been discussed quite a bit.

I'm surprised that you haven't read about the concern over valves being jammed open, as it is expressed in many of the quarter-turn threads. It's one of the reasons that some people, myself included, open the valve fully but just a smidgeon back, just off the stop.

It also helps to prevent someone from forcibly trying to "open" a valve that is already fully open, since there's a slight give when turning lefty-loosy/counter-clockwise.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm surprised that you haven't read about the concern over valves being jammed open, as it is expressed in many of the quarter-turn threads. It's one of the reasons that some people, myself included, open the valve fully but just a smidgeon back, just off the stop.

It also helps to prevent someone from forcibly trying to "open" a valve that is already fully open, since there's a slight give when turning lefty-loosy/counter-clockwise.

Yeah somehow guess I managed to miss those. Anyway, that's what I do as well, just a smidgeon back.

 

[tarponchik]

The good old days. I think Resusci-Annie was the first girl I ever kissed in 6th grade. She had alcohol all over her mouth.

Well, I can't complain. The instructor paired me with an attractive blonde, some 20 years younger than me.