Ways to make tank air last longer...or why can't I stay down as long as my son?

[CamG]

Greetings Granny Scuba and welcome to SB! TSandM has really explained it very well.
Having a diving family to I can relate to the differing rates of consumption. It will improve and change with time depending on the comfort and efficiency of diving techniques. I plan dives accordingly with different cylinders to each individual's consumption rate. It really is not that difficult to do. The main thing is to understand air checks are frequent and have a turn pressure defined. More about gas planning can be searched here on SB and it has been made very easy by several members.
When dealing with more individuals differing rates dive planning is very important just take the time to do it. It will add more enjoyment to the dive for you all not to mention increase the safety margin greatly.
It is awesome that you are diving as a family and look forward to the same activity very soon. My 10 year old son is just starting the academics. My daughter is 12 and just done her second dive past JOW. Have a blast diving and safe diving to you and your family.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[SCUBA482]

im a new diver too and all this info so far sounds good & useful...i did buy a larger tank for a couple of reasons as posted & it has helped me stay on or near par as my son who has a very low sac diving a smaller tank...i will add my sac has dropped considerably with more dives and building comfort...a tip i was given was to exhale with the tip of my tongue against the back of my top front teeth to slow the rate down...following some exertion uw i use this to conciously slow my breathing down...i've also noticed my buoyancy has improved enormously allowing me to shed some serious weight (12 lbs)...i believe this makes me more efficient uw & has helped my sac to improve...good luck and just take each dive one by one while having a good time

 

[herbdb]

With buoyancy, its not just having the proper weight. I have been concentrating more on how I use the BC. Putting too much air in, only to dump it again is just a waste of air. I am consciously trying to make smaller adjustments and have seen air usage improve significantly.

I still use much more than either of my sons. I rented a steel 120 the last time we dived and easily outlasted them. This may be what I need to equalize things.

Unfortunately, the LDS only has the one rental tank. I may have to buy a couple. I liked the weight characteristics too. I didn't feel like a cork at the end of a dive.

 

[InTheDrink]

To use less air you need to breathe less. To breathe less you need to work less.

The best way to achieve this is good buoyancy control. Correct weighting, comfort in the water, relaxed breathing and some other factors are sub parts of this but essentially if you can get your buoyancy correct, you will need to use less energy and will breathe a tank less.

J

 

[Blazinator]

I like hearing the posts of those who solved the problem with a bigger tank, because, like me, many have tried all the tricks and still burn air fast.
I'm over 6' and over 200 lbs, and have a birth defect called "pidgeon chest" where my chest sticks out (protrudes about 2" at the sternum greater than normal), and I suspect that I may have slightly larger lungs than most my similar size, so I believe I am breathing somewhat larger volumes than a typical diver, and if not due to my chest, then at least due to my size and weight.

So I did all the tricks you can list: Concentrating on thoroughly exhaled long breaths, staying shallower than all my buddies, not exerting excess energy swimming around to see stuff, using perfect buoyancy and posture for streamlining, and using the minimum weight needed.

And you know what? Diving was no fun that way.

I spend lots of money to dive and do not like to see all the action from fifteen feet above, and don't like to calmly drift over coral heads wondering whats under there, and never scanning the bottom for macro life.

So Cheers to all the High Sac rate divers that are still like kids in a candy store underwater and want to see everything (yes, I am very perceptive and slow way down for nudibranchs and such, so don't give me all the "you're missing things" argument). Just get a larger tank and I'm so much more relaxed.

Not a rebuttal to any post here - Really good posts, especially Lynn's. Just my 2 cents.

I met an older gray haired highly experienced solo spearfisherman on a dive boat in West Palm Beach about my size, and a little thinner and he dove an HP130. I asked about his tank and he said that he likes to really cover some ground underwater and see everything. He became my hero that day.

 

[InTheDrink]

Well it's not a bad point - a bigger tank will always help. But if you can improve efficiency in other ways (and it sounds like your physical stature and predicament means maybe you can't) then that should be your first port of call. The OP hasn't a huge amount of dives (as indeed you don't) under her belt so there's no reason to believe that the first approach should not be improving technique. I consider myself to be a novice with diving and I see improvements with my sac frequently as I practise more and get more experience - don't rule yourself out just yet in not needing bigger tanks.

 

[TSandM]

For longer dives, I try to stay above my buddy, rather than below.

If this works for you and your buddy, great, but above is one of the places your buddy really can't see at all. People who dive above me, and particularly above and behind (we call that "death from above", or DFA) make me literally insane, because I cannot acquire those people visually at all. If they are using a bright, focused light, I can at least know they are nearby, and if the light is steady, they are ostensibly okay. But I vastly prefer a buddy to be where I can turn my head a little and SEE him, and that's not above me.

As I said in the essay I posted, once all the technique issues are addressed, there ARE inequities in gas consumption. As I said, my best buddy, who is an absolute role model for beautiful technique, has almost twice my gas consumption. And my mentor, who is heavier and not in as good cardiovascular condition, has a gas consumption similar to mine. Tank size is the final adjustment.

BUT BE WARY! There is a concept called "rock bottom", or minimum gas, which is enough to get you and your buddy to the surface sharing air, from the deepest point in your dive. If you have fantastic gas consumption, and therefore dive itty-bitty tanks, and your buddy is 6'3" and needs 130s, what happens if his reg freeflows? You need to know what his consumption is to make sure you have enough gas to get HIM to the surface.

 

[DaleC]

TSM and Blazinator bring up two good aspects to consider IMO.
First, work on the things TSM mentioned, if for no other reason, it will make you a better diver.
After you've done all that, relax and forget about your air consumption.

You breath what you breath, it isn't a contest. If your sac rate is high use a bigger tank and after some time relaxing and enjoying diving it will come down on its own accord.

Of all the things to buy in scuba, air is the cheapest.

 

[k ellis]

All (5) of my family members were certified in the last couple of months.
We have all had the same approximate number of "post" certifications dives...so we all have about the same experience. We do the same dives, so we basically all have the same dive profile, same depth, same bottom time, etc....its like we are (5) buddies, but we still use air at varying rates.

It cant be physical differences....because....
My 3 sons are/were college athletes, all still working out daily, not an ounce of fat between them ....in other words great physical conditions, yet they use air at very different rates. My oldest must have gills because he can make a tank last forever. My middle son who runs 40-50 miles a week for 10 years uses air at a much faster rate. And ole fat me falls somewhere in between.

Its not age....because I use less than one of my sons (who is less than half my age)

I am looking for ideas to make a tank last longer
1. breathing exercises
I have read that yoga breathing exercises will help with air consumption.

breathe deeper
I heard a boat captain say that breathing deeper would make your tank last longer. I think I was taught "slow-deep" as opposed to "short-shallow-fast"

What is controlled breathing?

Smoking
While none of us are smokers, and I certainly dont advocate smoking, I once heard that smokers use less air. Why?

too much lead Could being overweighted cause you to go thru a tank too fast.


I have read contradicting information on this. I have read that runners use more air, but I also read that athletes use less air. I read that fat people use more and I also have read that they use less. I dont know what to believe.

I am confident that some folks out there have made some type of modification and found it improved air consumption. Please share any ideas.

Thanks for any other ideas!

You know my number 6 dive was my absolute worst nightmare with this. I made a dive to 60 feet for an astounding 14 minutes. I had to sit and do the old sit down and think strategy and found that I had exactly what every one else said. First my weight was heavy then I found my biggest problem was just heavy breathing. I personaly cured this by sitting on the old couch and just see how lightly I could breathe just sitting still.

The best thing to try for breathing is just pay close attention to your breathing which a lot of new divers just simply overlook due to task overload and overwhelming from the fact you are in a totally new world.

Athletics have some to do with diving since you have more tolerance with endurance but for the most part scuba when done right requires so little effort this is minimal after entering the water up to the point of exit.

And last but not least weighting It is true with excessive weighting you will struggle more and thus makes diving more of a struggle then an enjoyment.

The best advice for over all is just do what you love and dive!!!! The more you dive the more it will become second nature.

 

[htn123]

1. Swim like a FISH !!!!.

Human walks vertical, thus when we are underwater, we try to stay vertical. Lots of water resistance if you want to swim forward so if you already in horizontal position, you will exert less energy to swim forward ie: use less air.

If you stay vertical and breathe, you have to force the air down your lung as air in water will tend to raise up, thus you use up energy and the air only stay on the upper part of your lung. But if you are in a horizontal position, the air will flow much easier to your entire lung. Matter fact, when I dive, I try to get my lower body just a bit higher than my head and I can breathe much easier. The gas will go to the end tip of my lung before it goes out. I don’t need to force the air down my lung.

Also, since your lung shape is flat and pointy, if you stay vertical, you will have less surface area in your lung to process the O2. But if you stay horizontal, the O2 will have a much bigger lung surface area to get absorbed in the blood.

2. Breath SLOW and DEEP.

When we breathe in, regular air, we take in 21% O2. When we exhale, we blow out around 16% O2!!!, That is only 23% efficient!!!. We can do a lot better by breathing slow and deep. When you breathe slowly, your air will have much more time to stay in your lung to be process by your lung. And if you stay horizontal, your gas will reach all the way to the end tip of your lung, thus it can be process more efficiently.

I tell my kids to breathe using their stomachs instead of their upper chests when we scuba. When you do so, you draw the air all the way to the end of the lung. A side bonus when breathing with the stomach is that you exercise those muscles and for the guy, will get a nice 6 packs shape and for the lady, a trimmer curve .