Running out of air!

Hi all, My husband and I are new divers (40-50 dives). He tends to run low on air at least 10-15 minutes sooner than I do, or anyone in the groups we've dived with. I know that people use up their air at different rates, and he has gotten a little better. But do you have any tips on how to slow the rate of air usage? Many thanks.

Just chill out and don't swim around a lot

Oh and get a bigger tank

judypots:

Hi all, My husband and I are new divers (40-50 dives). He tends to run low on air at least 10-15 minutes sooner than I do, or anyone in the groups we've dived with. I know that people use up their air at different rates, and he has gotten a little better. But do you have any tips on how to slow the rate of air usage? Many thanks.

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High air consumption is common in newer divers. Some basic tips that may help ...

1. Do a weight check ... make sure he's not using more than he needs. Lots of new divers tend to overweight ... usually because they haven't been taught how to descend properly and think they need all that extra weight just to get down. If you need more info on doing a proper weight check, ask. If you need more info on doing a proper descent, ask.

2. Avoid poor trim and hand sculling. Both tend to force you to move more water than necessary, and water's heavy stuff. It takes effort to move it outta the way, and effort makes you breathe harder. Keep your body as close to horizontal as possible when moving through the water ... and one way to teach yourself not to scull with your hands is to keep them clasped together in close to your torso.

3. Slow down ... most newer divers tend to zip around trying to see everything. But it's like the difference between walking and running ... running makes you breathe harder. Take it slow ... not only will you improve your air consumption, you'll see more.

4. Dive as often as you can ... like most things, the more you do it the better you get at it. And with better technique comes better air consumption.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

As stated above slow down, Also work hard on perfecting buoyancy:zen: and slow long deep breathing.
Many new divers try to save air by trying to breathe more shallow.(skip breathing) This is a big mistake because it increases the amount of Co2 building in your system and this increases your need to breathe. It's a visious cycle. As you both get more comfortable under water your air consumption will improve.

Maybe he needs to learn to slow down. Don't use those fins so much. Relax, look around at what's in front of him and don't be hurrying to see what's around the next coral head.

My buddy and I have this issue -- he's a big man, I'm a small woman. So sometimes we share air for awhile. Not *late* in the dive, because we plan to end with both people having enough gas so that either tank would get both of us up safely; but early on.

judypots:

Hi all, My husband and I are new divers (40-50 dives). He tends to run low on air at least 10-15 minutes sooner than I do, or anyone in the groups we've dived with. I know that people use up their air at different rates, and he has gotten a little better. But do you have any tips on how to slow the rate of air usage? Many thanks.

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Out of curiosity what are your husband's physical dimensions and what cylinders is he currently using?

... and women DO use less air then men.

I have noticed this a lot and I have no idea why ... Must be a gender thing !!

shark_tamer:

... and women DO use less air then men.

I have noticed this a lot and I have no idea why ... Must be a gender thing !!

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It's not always the case, but generally speaking it's because women have less body mass and smaller lungs than men.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Slow down and dive its not a swimming race slow down. You could use a smaller tank 63's are available a lot of the time where tanks bigger than 80's are not in tropical destinations. If you are diving cold NE places steel 120 might be the trick.