Breathing from freeflowing reg

[jham2081]

I was taught to kind of bite down on the one side of the mouth piece so the air flows across your lips. Both hands free, and you can still sip in some air. Imagine getting a drink from a water foutain (bubbler?) spout and thats how the air would kind of flow across your face.

I hope that made some kind of sense.

 

[somewhereinla]

Newbie question? I did practice breathing from a freeflowing reg. in my OW class, however reading threw this post, 2 questions came to my mind:
1/ is free flowing a problem with the 1st stage or the second stage(I thought it was a 2nd stage problem)?
2/ If it is a second stage problem, then why not use the octo to breathe, and somehow bend the hose of the second stage to prevent the air to escape?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Good question, somewhereinla.
When it happened to me, it was a second stage problem (the adjustment knob blew-out resulting in an unfixable free-flow). Actually had time to think about pinching-off the long hose primary after switching to my necklaced back-up reg (I was only 6 meters deep), but decided to "modulate" the tank valve instead on the ascent to the surface. . .

 

[Tigerman]

You turn your head to one side to keep the freeflowing bubbles from knocking your mask out of place.

Take the sides of the mouthpiece and spread them apart.

Hold the opening of the reg close to the lips and "sip" the air as it exits from the second stage.

the K

Thats how we where instructed to do it and practiced to do it. Supprisingly easy and effective..

 

[haha49]

just hold the purge button and you will see what it is like dont hold it a little put it full on and you be suprized how fast you lose your air.. the one thing that suprized me was that why didnt people just switch over to there secondary reg and surface... its hard to breath off as you cant see but if you dump the greg and get your backup it be easyer..

 

[TSandM]

My freeflow occurred at 30 feet, and by the time we got to the surface, the tank was empty. That was okay, because I was on my buddy's long hose. THAT's a reason for not just switching to the octo.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Almost got to practice this tonight, when I turned off my right post and breathed it down, and went to put the secondary in my mouth, knocked the purge valve and started a freeflow. I'm looking at the freeflowing reg and thinking my other reg is turned off, and my buddy's not thinking much of my emergency signal, since such a signal is part of the valve drill . . . And you CAN breathe off a freeflowing reg. But in the meantime, I got the other one turned on. Whew.

Lynn, did it keep free flowing after you put in your mouth? Did you try completely blocking the mouthpiece?

the reason I ask is that bumping the purge will start a free flow on some regs if the mouth piece is open due the venturi design of some regs. Since the reg may not be frozen, sometimes providing some resistance to flow is enough to stop it. Of course, it the free flow causes it to freeze that isn't going to work.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Newbie question? I did practice breathing from a freeflowing reg. in my OW class, however reading threw this post, 2 questions came to my mind:
1/ is free flowing a problem with the 1st stage or the second stage(I thought it was a 2nd stage problem)?
2/ If it is a second stage problem, then why not use the octo to breathe, and somehow bend the hose of the second stage to prevent the air to escape?

The problem could be in either the first stage or the second stage. If it's the first, kinking the hose isn't likely to work. That hose is designed to hold intermediate pressure (140 psi or so), not tank pressure. It might be exciting to try though. LOL

 

[ontario-diver]

A couple of pointers that I have been taught while doing cold dives, doing one tomorrow in Lake Huron, low to mid 30's.
Do not breathe off your reg while slashing in. Just put it in your mouth and stride in, pop to the surface take reg out and breathe.
Wait for buddy head to anchor line
When its time to descend, get with buddy,take a breath, put reg in your mouth, dump BC and exhale to start descent, only take a breath when your a few feet under water.
Leave your adjustment knob on your reg closed.
Breathe slowly
Never inflate your Drysuit while you are taking a breath

 

[Web Monkey]

How about not diving in 30-something degree water without a cold-water reg? While it's great to not try to provoke a freeflow, what happens if you actually need to breath heavier due to exertion or stress, or another diver needs to share air with you?

Would you fly in a plane where the captain told everybody to "leave their reading lights off so the engines wouldn't stall"?

Terry

A couple of pointers that I have been taught while doing cold dives, doing one tomorrow in Lake Huron, low to mid 30's.
Do not breathe off your reg while slashing in. Just put it in your mouth and stride in, pop to the surface take reg out and breathe.
Wait for buddy head to anchor line
When its time to descend, get with buddy,take a breath, put reg in your mouth, dump BC and exhale to start descent, only take a breath when your a few feet under water.
Leave your adjustment knob on your reg closed.
Breathe slowly
Never inflate your Drysuit while you are taking a breath