Spectre
Contributor
Yea, it's conceivable that a freeflow would occur during a handoff. I've never had a situation when the freeflow hasn't gotten under control, except on a deco bottle but that is easily featherable, and having the bottle open -just a crack- allowed it to be breathable without freeflowing until it got down to 700 psi or so where I started to overbreathe the reg, but at that point I was able to open it back up without freeflow.
A controlled ascention with a full freeflowing reg is going to be much more of a CF then , well, repetitive valve drills. Shutting down the post then cracking it open should be able to reduce the volume of gas pushing through enough to control the freeflow. This is something that the person breathing from the regulator needs to be doing; not one person controlling the feathering while another breathes off of it.
The whole issue leading -up- to the problem also plays a big part of it. If it was a blatent fubar of the gas management plan, then I'm not sure I'd be willing to trust my buddy to handle -anything- at that point in time. Since if that happened with the folks I dive with, it would definately be cause for concern to their ability to perform [since they already messed up something that would never get messed up]. In that case, it really becomes a rescue situation and I most likely would take them into a toxing diver style position. In that position, giving them the backup is actually an option [and I can also easily check if they left their isolator closed].
In a single? Well, if the first stage freezes up... _both_ regs are going to be freeflowing. Of course, I -rarely- dive singles, and this is just another reason to cement that decision.
NOW. I do actually agree that thinking through this stuff is important; but when it actually happens, who really knows how you are going to truely react. I've been thinking through a scenaro over the past month quite extensively... quite similar to this. Your buddy has a problem, you donate your long hose, you switch to your backup and it's rolled off. Solution -sounds- simple, but a diver that I know to be very capable recently was in this situation... and well, he's not with us anymore.
When you are drilling, and practicing, and thinking through things, you -truely- need to think -everything- through. A good example: I have seen people try to reach their valves, come back, hit a little more gas into their suit, and then go back for them. Guess what? You're dead. If your left post is off and your inflating off backgas? You got no gas to put into your suit. Yet, time and time again I see people put more gas in their suits to reach their valves....
These are why I asked how the situation arose in the first place, because there will never be one simple answer, it will always be variable based on the circumstances leading up to the situation.
A controlled ascention with a full freeflowing reg is going to be much more of a CF then , well, repetitive valve drills. Shutting down the post then cracking it open should be able to reduce the volume of gas pushing through enough to control the freeflow. This is something that the person breathing from the regulator needs to be doing; not one person controlling the feathering while another breathes off of it.
The whole issue leading -up- to the problem also plays a big part of it. If it was a blatent fubar of the gas management plan, then I'm not sure I'd be willing to trust my buddy to handle -anything- at that point in time. Since if that happened with the folks I dive with, it would definately be cause for concern to their ability to perform [since they already messed up something that would never get messed up]. In that case, it really becomes a rescue situation and I most likely would take them into a toxing diver style position. In that position, giving them the backup is actually an option [and I can also easily check if they left their isolator closed].
In a single? Well, if the first stage freezes up... _both_ regs are going to be freeflowing. Of course, I -rarely- dive singles, and this is just another reason to cement that decision.
NOW. I do actually agree that thinking through this stuff is important; but when it actually happens, who really knows how you are going to truely react. I've been thinking through a scenaro over the past month quite extensively... quite similar to this. Your buddy has a problem, you donate your long hose, you switch to your backup and it's rolled off. Solution -sounds- simple, but a diver that I know to be very capable recently was in this situation... and well, he's not with us anymore.
When you are drilling, and practicing, and thinking through things, you -truely- need to think -everything- through. A good example: I have seen people try to reach their valves, come back, hit a little more gas into their suit, and then go back for them. Guess what? You're dead. If your left post is off and your inflating off backgas? You got no gas to put into your suit. Yet, time and time again I see people put more gas in their suits to reach their valves....
These are why I asked how the situation arose in the first place, because there will never be one simple answer, it will always be variable based on the circumstances leading up to the situation.
