Hot water suits for scuba?

[Zef]

US Navy divers just stick a hose with surface supplied warm water down the neck of their wetsuit when diving pier-side to inspect ships and whatnot. I have seen them dive this way mid-winter at both Naval Station Norfolk VA and the submarine base in Groton CT...seems to be comfortable enough while maximizing flexibility and efficiency of getting in the water to get the job done.

-Z

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

I don’t think you’d need undergarments, just a swim suit. Your body would be surrounded with warm water so flooded undergarments would serve no purpose.
What about donning a crushed neoprene drysuit then filling it with body temp water 98.6 degrees and building a water pump with a battery operated heating element with a thermostat that would circulate the water and keep it at a constant temp for the duration of the dive. There would be no need for a weightbelt and the ballast wing would be used minimally just to compensate for the gas used in the tank.
I suppose it would be murder to try and deal with a suit full of water topside so flooding would have to take place as the diver enters the water. Water could be filled into the suit via the neck seal until the suit is full. Air would be displaced as water enters the suit. Getting out of the water would be another challenge, but just think how luxurious it would be to dive in bathtub warm water in a 48 degree ocean.

Circulate where?

You want your limbs to be warm. This means that you would need to get warm water to the end area of each limb. Seems like you need an internal piping system that would transport warm water to dump at the end of each limb (just like your blood system). Pump would scavenge and reheat water from the torso area.

Too complex to be practical?

 

[broncobowsher]

The simple part of it, you will never be able to carry enough energy with you to keep the flow of water warm.

There are some heated vests that work with wetsuits. I've seen the skin burns they can cause. Heated undersuits for drysuits are more common. But those have much less mass to heat, just air and not a flow of water. Those are still heavily limited by the amount of battery they carry.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

US Navy divers just stick a hose with surface supplied warm water down the neck of their wetsuit when diving pier-side to inspect ships and whatnot. I have seen them dive this way mid-winter at both Naval Station Norfolk VA and the submarine base in Groton CT...seems to be comfortable enough while maximizing flexibility and efficiency of getting in the water to get the job done.

-Z

This could work with commercial urchin harvesting in my area. They are on hookah anyway so another hot water line sistered up on the airline wouldn’t be that much more and provide a more comfortable dive. The water could be heated and pumped down from the boat. Right now they’re stuffed into either very thick wetsuits or multiple wetsuits pulled over themselves. A warm water infused suit could solve a lot of problems.

 

[Zef]

This could work with commercial urchin harvesting in my area. They are on hookah anyway so another hot water line sistered up on the airline wouldn’t be that much more and provide a more comfortable dive. The water could be heated and pumped down from the boat. Right now they’re stuffed into either very thick wetsuits or multiple wetsuits pulled over themselves. A warm water infused suit could solve a lot of problems.

The divers I saw pierside at both bases were using 5mm suits at most. I believe the prevailing thought was that the 7mm+ suits available to them were too cumbersome to work in....not a problem for a recreational dive when one is just floating along but if you need shoulder and elbow mobility the extra thickness of the neoprene can make getting things done a chore.

-Z

 

[boulderjohn]

How would this be different from the electric heaters already available? People wear them under both wetsuits and drysuits. When I dived on a liveaboard in Roatan a while ago, I work a full 3mm suit, and by the last dives of each day I was getting cold. One of the other divers just work a vest and a swim suit, but he had an electric suit under the vest, and he reported being toasty warm on each dive.

 

[CT-Rich]

I don’t think you’d need undergarments, just a swim suit. Your body would be surrounded with warm water so flooded undergarments would serve no purpose.
What about donning a crushed neoprene drysuit then filling it with body temp water 98.6 degrees and building a water pump with a battery operated heating element with a thermostat that would circulate the water and keep it at a constant temp for the duration of the dive. There would be no need for a weightbelt and the ballast wing would be used minimally just to compensate for the gas used in the tank.
I suppose it would be murder to try and deal with a suit full of water topside so flooding would have to take place as the diver enters the water. Water could be filled into the suit via the neck seal until the suit is full. Air would be displaced as water enters the suit. Getting out of the water would be another challenge, but just think how luxurious it would be to dive in bathtub warm water in a 48 degree ocean.

What you are describing is a semidry suit. you can flush it with warm water before going in. During the early part of the dive season, After I ditch the drysuit, I will bring a gallon jug of hot water to pour in my suit pre-dive. It saves me me using body heat to warm the water infiltrating during entry. Water is going to conduct the heat away from the core, and warm water isn't going to stay warm for long.

I was reading that some people are using Sodium Acetate heating pads inside their wetsuits to help them stay warm on dives. They activate them and place them over their kidneys before going in the water. I haven't tried them myself.

 

[berndo]

It would have to be an independently/internally heated system with some sort if heating element and pump.
I wonder if it’s doable?

Making hot water eats up a lot of energy and you would have to do it continuously throughout the dive.
You would have to carry a massive battery.
Why not just get a drysuit?

 

[boulderjohn]

Making hot water eats up a lot of energy and you would have to do it continuously throughout the dive.
You would have to carry a massive battery.
Why not just get a drysuit?

Why is the water necessary? Why not get an electric vest?

 

[The Ruttmeister]

I’ve heard of hot water suits for commercial divers that are on umbilical lines. But what about a hot water suit for scuba diving? It would have to be an independently/internally heated system with some sort if heating element and pump.
I wonder if it’s doable?
No more suit squeeze and one less air space to have to worry about, or neoprene smashing out at depth.

It's possible, but a self contained system that uniformly distributed heat similar to what astronauts wear would be very expensive and high maintenance.

Electric heaters have far fewer potential failure points.