Yelled at for MOF

[Dan]

I've got probably a half dozen of those slimline gauges and pretty sure mine all have opv's on them.

these are the larger brass and glass gauges, but you can clearly see the OPV there. I'll check the slim ones when I get home

View attachment 428194

Yeah, please do check your slim ones. There is a reason why they call it submersible pressure gauge, than just pressure gauge. You don't want to corrode those fine gears inside.

I think the Lexan (polycarbonate) lens will be the relief device, so I may be careful when I use it above water by not looking closely or directly, may be wearing my glasses or mask.

In underwater it is different story. The hydrostatic pressure and the water density between you and it and you wearing mask would give enough protection.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

There is no floor limit on bacon. Unless the floor is dirt.

Depends on the dirt. Some dirt just adds a little seasoning.

 

[KevinNM]

If I see a diver waving their arms, shouting, looking like they are struggling to maintain buoyancy or a combo of them, I might think they are in distress.

That's a diver having a problem, but not yet a critical issue. The signs of a diver (or swimmer) in severe distress is much less obvious.

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

 

[boulderjohn]

but I don't recall being taught that it's commonly used as a distress signal.

OK, we have to be clear on our terminology.

• A sign is something you observe in someone else that gives an unintended indication of their situation.
• A signal is an intentional message sent to you by someone to indicate a situation.

As indicated earlier in this thread, agencies do teach that equipment rejection, including mask removal, MIGHT be a sign of a distressed or panicked diver. No agency teaches that by itself it means the diver is distressed or panicked, although some instructors have interpreted it that way.

No agency ever teaches that in distress you are supposed to place your mask on your forehead to signal that situation. In such a situation, divers are taught to wave one or both arms up and down to send that signal. Incredibly enough, some people have so thoroughly misunderstood the instructions described above that they believe this really is an accepted intentional signal. I have an urge to call these people imbeciles, but in reality it may be just a simple acceptance of what they were previously taught by someone they trusted. We would have to work our way down the line of instruction to find the first true imbecile.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I was helping as a PADI DM with a couple classes on a day where both OW and rescue students were being certed. I was practicing with the rescue students doing diver tows while stripping gear. The instructor was with the OW class.

Between OW dives 1 and 2 I led the rescue students over to listen in to the briefing. He saw us coming and simply turned back to the OW students. There was myself and the 4 rescue students plus one "victim".

I held up my hand and counted to three with my fingers just as he was finishing the OW surface briefing. When he turned to look at us guess what? Yep, we all had our masks on our foreheads.

He was not happy but said nothing. I don't think the OW students even noticed. If they did nothing was said. He looked several times that weekend like he was going to say something but never did.

I tell all my OW students that they will hear others saying that a mask on forehead IS a sign of distress and to ignore them. It can be when coupled with other things. More often it is a sign that the owner has the disposable cash to keep buying masks, or just wants to be more comfortable.

 

[Lorenzoid]

OK, we have to be clear on our terminology.

• A sign is something you observe in someone else that gives an unintended indication of their situation.
• A signal is an intentional message sent to you by someone to indicate a situation.

As indicated earlier in this thread, agencies do teach that equipment rejection, including mask removal, MIGHT be a sign of a distressed or panicked diver. No agency teaches that by itself it means the diver is distressed or panicked, although some instructors have interpreted it that way.

No agency ever teaches that in distress you are supposed to place your mask on your forehead to signal that situation. In such a situation, divers are taught to wave one or both arms up and down to send that signal. Incredibly enough, some people have so thoroughly misunderstood the instructions described above that they believe this really is an accepted intentional signal. I have an urge to call these people imbeciles, but in reality it may be just a simple acceptance of what they were previously taught by someone they trusted. We would have to work our way down the line of instruction to find the first true imbecile.

Right. As I understood Stuart's story, the imbecile harassed Stuart because the imbecile believed that it's a distress signal, and because he could see Stuart was not really in distress, concluded that Stuart was abusing this specially reserved signal just as though he were yelling "help" instead of "pizza" during the Rescue exercise.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

OK, we have to be clear on our terminology.

• A sign is something you observe in someone else that gives an unintended indication of their situation.
• A signal is an intentional message sent to you by someone to indicate a situation.

As indicated earlier in this thread, agencies do teach that equipment rejection, including mask removal, MIGHT be a sign of a distressed or panicked diver. No agency teaches that by itself it means the diver is distressed or panicked, although some instructors have interpreted it that way.

No agency ever teaches that in distress you are supposed to place your mask on your forehead to signal that situation. In such a situation, divers are taught to wave one or both arms up and down to send that signal. Incredibly enough, some people have so thoroughly misunderstood the instructions described above that they believe this really is an accepted intentional signal. I have an urge to call these people imbeciles, but in reality it may be just a simple acceptance of what they were previously taught by someone they trusted. We would have to work our way down the line of instruction to find the first true imbecile.

Yes!

 

[dmaziuk]

Right. As I understood Stuart's story, the imbecile harassed Stuart because the imbecile believed that it's a distress signal, and because he could see Stuart was not really in distress, concluded that Stuart was abusing this specially reserved signal just as though he were yelling "help" instead of "pizza" during the Rescue exercise.

You've just been drilling the "MOF is the sign of distress" mantra into you classful of students and now there's some random a-hole MOF'ing happily right in front of them. Challenging the validity of everything you've ever said and done. What'cha gonna do, let it slide?

Act submissively, reasserting his authoritah and re-establishing the proper order of things in the world. It's the only way to respond. (Followed by a warning shot to the head if he persists.)

 

[lowviz]

Obviously 'tongue-in-cheek'.

I, too, see the nucleus of the problem as being how the MOF interacted. If minding own business, I go with the crowd. If intentionally flying in the face of an instructor just to be a PIA, deserves what was given.

If that happened to me, as a totally uninterested solo diver, I would slowly submerge and fix the mask U/W.

 

[Dan]

take a picture of the back. It's on there somewhere. It usually looks like a button in the middle of the gauge

Here it is. Do you see any hole back there?

From what I understood from reading their spec:

The "built-in over-pressure relief for safety" would be an expanded section of the Bourdon tube that would bust if the pressure is over 1.5 x 5000 psi. If that section burst, then the scale plate would push onto the polycarbonate lens & may pop it off the gauge.