Breathing directly from a tank at depth

[froggs]

I'm curious what the physiological effects would be of breathing a few breaths of air directly from a tank at depth...no regulator at all. It seems to me the high pressure air would damage your lungs, but that's about where my knowledge ends. Anyone have a more detailed explanation??

 

[GA Under Water]

Would it even be possible to seal your mouth over the valve with that amount of pressure to hurt yourself.


Edited hopefully for more clarity.

 

[nkydiver]

When I was going through my DiveCon course, one of the skills our instructor taught us was how to breath directly off a tank. It was more an emergency skill or just a fun skill, but it can be done. It's the same way as breathing off a free-flowing reg. Place your mouth directly over the free flow (away from the valve), open your mouth, close your teeth to strain out some of the water, and breath. It's a little uncomfortable, but manageable.

 

[Thalassamania]

It's been done fairly often as a stunt at the bottom of a pool.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

You can cup your hand around the valve and breathe at your leisure, it's not much different than breathing from a free-flowing regulator. A friend of mine often takes nothing more than a tank and his swimsuit into the pool and stays under for over an hour feathering the valve and breathing off of it.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[watercooled]

When I was going through my DiveCon course, one of the skills our instructor taught us was how to breath directly off a tank. It was more an emergency skill or just a fun skill, but it can be done. It's the same way as breathing off a free-flowing reg. Place your mouth directly over the free flow (away from the valve), open your mouth, close your teeth to strain out some of the water, and breath. It's a little uncomfortable, but manageable.

we did this in our ow course. not the easiest breathing i've ever done.
i wouldn't think doing this at depth would be much different, i'm no doc though.

 

[james croft]

It was a technique taught in the early days of scuba instruction. It can pose lung over expansion injuries if done incorrectly. The air should be turned on just barely and air "sipped" from the valve like a free flowing reg. Never attempt to make a seal with the valve. If done improperly injury/death can occur so you don't see it taught anymore. I have tried it as I am sure many older divers on this board have as well.

 

[nkydiver]

We did it in pool, then out in 30ft.... there really wasn't any perceivable difference.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Takes a bit of practice but you can do it. I would not recommend doing it without some instruction by someone who is proficient. It would be very easy to overexpand your lungs if you kept your mouth sealed directly over the valve and you accidentally bumped the valve a bit much...:11:

It's a good way to show just how much your breathing can impact your buoyancy. Get good enough and you can hold your trim and buoyancy while bare-tank breathing.

An older steel 72 with a Sherwood 5000 k-valve is about the perfect combination. Weighty tank so you don't float away but it isn't too heavy to carry around, trims out nicely, and the Sherwood valves tend to be very smooth to open -- very easy to control the flow coming out.

 

[robway034]

Okay, are we talking about breathing directly from the valve or from a regulator in a full malfunctioning free-flow? The latter of the two isn't a difficult issue at all and should have no adverse physiological affects if done properly. Everyone should learn this skill as a part of the OW course regardless of the cert agency. In the case of breathing straight from a tank valve without a regulator.......all I can say is "what the fugg for?!?" Then after whiping the bewildered look from my face, I'd say; Yeah, you could do and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible with minimal if any adverse affect.

Robway