Water stream in regulator

[Slonda828]

Hi Slonda, I think you mean "face up", like on your back looking at the surface, or upside down, head towards the bottom. Face down is more like a normal swimming position. Basically any position that puts the mouthpiece at the lowest point will make the reg more susceptible to wet breathing, as the small amount of water that leaks in the exhaust valve will drain into the mouthpiece flange rather than back out the exhaust valve.

I'm sure you meant that.

Dang it, that's what I meant. Thanks for not letting me slip up Matt.

 

[Slonda828]

Well since we have digressed so nicely, an industry professional who does 100 dives per month probably better know an awful lot about reg maintenence and repair in the same manner that a professional pilot may want to know na awful lot about airplane design and maintainence. They don't have to be an A&P but they better know an awful lot and they need to know enough to spot a bad mechanic or an unsafe airplane. The same applies to a dive industry "professional".

I'll be honest that I am both biased and jaded. The industry professional terminology and all the "I wanna go 'pro'" threads pretty much annoy me as many DM's and recreational instructors are anything but professional in terms of either diving being their primary source of income or in terms of profesional knowledge, experience and conduct.

You can get a DM or instructor card and get a job in diving but that is not even 1/10th of what it takes to be a "professional".

DA, I think the term industry professional is pretty flawed generally as well. I am a professional teacher because I spent over 8 years in college. As long as you can become a dive instructor anywhere in the world in two weeks or less, most actual professionals (lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc.) are not going to consider a diving instructor a serious "professional". I think that one of the reasons that the pay is so bad is because it is so easy (comparatively speaking) to get to a very high level of qualification in diving in a short period of time, and people are willing to work for such little money. I know that I did that, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. It's just like being a divemaster. I work for tips, and that is crap. A good car mechanic gets paid a salary, he is in a labor job, and he doesn't make sure that you do not get lost at sea.

There are other qualities ascribed to being a member of a profession. Officers in the military, for example, are expected to assist and defend one another on the basis of professional courtesy, on or off duty. That (in my opinion) does not exist in the diving industry. It is just not a very professional atmosphere (here at least). I mean let's call a spade a spade here, when you allow people who have unskilled or labor type jobs to become instructors, they may carry that mentality with them. I always ask an instructor what their day job is. Maybe I do not want to learn to dive from a trucker or a secretary, maybe I want to learn to dive from someone who has a college education. I understand that a degree does not make you a better person, but to me it means that you have the capacity and ability to learn difficult things. These are just my opinions though.

It would be nice if some time in the future diving was somehow organized differently and I could quit my job and make a living out of it. But as long as people are willing to live off of 18,000 dollars a year, it is probably never going to happen for me.

 

[Stu S.]

Looking at the mouthpiece and diaphragm is easy for most people. If you can obtain a new exhaust valve, try that. I had one that looked good, but had lost flexibility. Most folks can change that themselves. A dive shop should charge very little to change one.

Good luck with it.

 

[helimvee]

As I said earlier though, lots of wets breathe a little wet when you are totally face down. The exhaust valve design and case geometry on some second stage regulators is such that a small amount of water can enter the second stage while you are exhaling, depending on the angular relationship of the second stage to the water column. An LDS will be able to verify that his valve is good, and that his mouthpiece and diaphragm are serviceable, but they typically are not going to be able to dive the regulator for him to subjectively evaluate if the wet just simply breathes wet.

I agree with you, that it may just be the reg design. I was more concerned with the "stream of water" comment - although that could be just a figure of speech. Being that he hasn't provided any specifics on the reg, I would hate to see him make the assumption that it is normal.