Role of Chamber Dives in Recreational Diving

bowlofpetunias · Jul 25, 2009

Discussion on another thread has got me thinking. How many SB'ers have done Chamber Dives for educational purposes? Where did you Chamber Dive? What depth? and most importantly What did you learn from it?

I was lucky enough to do a 30 M (98 ft) and 50 M (164 ft) Chamber dive in Sydney. I learned an amazing amount about my reaction to being Nark'd. I expected to be effected sooner than I was. I was told that how easily you were effected by Alcohol was a good indicator how easily you would be Nark'd. In our dives that proved to be the opposite of what occurred.

I expected the younger DM's in the pot with me to be less effected. I had to assist them with the equipment as they were off their faces. Taught me not to rely too much on someone just because they are DM's.

I learned I get tunnel vision when Nark'd. I also got to watch my normal dive buddy from outside the Chamber to see his reactions too.

I have seen another SB'er mention putting new recreational divers in the Chamber for training which I think is a brilliant idea. I think all DM's and Instructors would benefit by the experience in a chamber.

piikki · Jul 25, 2009

Hope you don't mind but I already quoted your interesting post from the other thread in this thread couple of days ago:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ad...46-educational-chamber-rides.html#post4580366

Worth cross-linking these two off the bat.

bowlofpetunias · Jul 25, 2009

Why thank you.. and thanks for keeping this thread alive

AndrewA · Jul 25, 2009

I did a chamber dive as part of the "Hyperbaric medicine for Diving Profesionals" with London Hyperbaric Medicine ( London Hyperbaric Medicine ). I would thoroughly recommend this course to any diving pro or diver with a medical dackground.

bowlofpetunias · Jul 25, 2009

Thanks for the link and here is one TC posted in Piikki's thread
Welcome to the University of Southern California Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber

If done with a qualified technician and medical clearance I would say a Chamber dive is safer than a "wet dive" of the same depth! As someone else said ... we are not talking about doing this as a Fantasy Island thing for giggles.

I learned by doing tasks assigned exactly how I was effected at what depth. I am better able to make decisions about what depth I will chose to go to and recognize how I am reacting.

My though processes were less effected than my motor skills. I didn't know before that often people who complain about their regs breathing a bit wet at depth were likely nark'd and not holding their regs in their mouths as well... fine motor skills impaired making it harder for them to keep their regs in place...one of the earlier indicators of narkosis.

The Hospital Chambers of course have to be available for emergencies so finding a place to do the Chamber dive is a big issue. As far as I know.. it is no longer available in our area.

toefa · Jul 25, 2009

I think it's a great experience for a new diver. Moreso for the lectures given by the medical team before the dry dive, because that's where i learnt what to look out for regarding DCI/DCS, what not to be alarmed by and why tables and planned dives are so important.

The dry dive itself was good. I felt the effects more intensely of NN during the dry dive.. I guess the experience has cemented the mental aspect of being cautious when approaching dives that could encounter narcosis. I now will ensure i have safety measures in place for diving when my mind might start to wander.

An interesting point to add; the doctor said although he'd never met any of us before, it was almost a certaintity that he'd see one of us again within the next 6 months. He was saying that talking about the symptoms of DCI/DCS, how broad they can be, usually means someone comes from a dive with something like tingly fingers and remembers their visit to the chamber, so legs it straight back there for treatment.

Garrobo · Jul 25, 2009

I don't think that a one-time chamber dive will tell you that much unless you are particularly affected by depth. I know a couple of guys who had years of diving at depth under their belts without ever noticing any indications that they had been narced when all of a sudden they experienced it on one or two dives. I've got over 200 dives now, about 35% of them in the area of 120-130 feet and haven't noticed anything yet. I hope that my long experience of being a drunkard and drug freak in my early years and it's affect on my senses at the time will prepare me for any narcing incident.

MauiScubaSteve · Jul 25, 2009

I am comfortable with my understanding of the science; I opted out when given the chance. I'm pretty sure the dive I was offered was just a simulated treatment dive so narcosis was not on the agenda. Boring and annoying is how I've mostly heard it described.

bowlofpetunias · Jul 27, 2009

I think I learned heaps.... I did dive number 199 to 30 M (90ft) in the chamber.

I remember wondering if the weird voices were because of the pressure on the vocal cords, pressure on the ears, pressurized air for the sound waves to travel through and why the voices didn't sound strange from outside the Chamber. When I asked the Chamber operator if my pondering these options meant I was not Nark'd or that I was and it was the equivalent of someone high on drugs pondering the nature of a flower or something. :doh: come to think of it he was too busy laughing at my question that he never really gave me a good answer! :hm:

The thing is.. I was convinced I had never been nark'd while diving and I had a few dives under my belt but after being in the chamber.. doing tasks and so on I realized that I had been but not recognized it!

Of course my second Chamber dive to 50 M was even more revealing. Since some of the courses I teach involve provision of oxygen the chamber training was valuable there as well.

CDNScubaMoose · Jul 27, 2009

Within the last month, I had an opportunity to do a chamber dive. Below is the post of my experience. Personally I felt it a very valuable tool to understand that I am likely suffering from narcosis much sooner then I had thought before. One of the people in the chamber was a DMC that I've been working with that has a pile of experience doing some really deep stuff and he's admitted to being on 180' on air ... this experience gave him a lot to think about and although he hasn't dove that deep on air for quite a while - he was surprised at just how affected he was.

This past weekend (June 27-28th), I was in Tobermory, Ontario (Canada) for some fun diving as well as for some courses that I was team teaching (AOW, Bouyancy, and Night). The courses and other diving was scheduled for the weekend proper so when we arrived on the Friday we had made plans to take a tour of the local recompression chamber facility which included a "dive" in the chamber. Cost was $20 per person and we were limited to 6 participants (there was also a tender that came on the "dive" with us).

Prior to us getting there the technicians had pre-dove the main chamber since it takes more air and thus more time to take the main chamber to the depth. The plan was to have us cram into the air-lock and then take that to depth at which point we would move into the main chamber. Planned depth was maximum 135' and we were allowed to bring our computers in with us (they had a bucket of water to put them in).

They gave us a thurough breifing on the facility as well as health considerations that we should be aware of. We were also told that equializing inside the chamber was just as important as when diving but could be more difficult with it being likely we would have to equalize close to 30 times for the first 10'. After which we would descend faster but the equalizing would be more natural.

Step 1 - empty pockets of anything electronic (cell phones, watches), take off shoes and then cram into the air lock. I do mean - cram. I can't begin to explain how tight we were but I'm sure to an outsider looking in ... would get the imprssion of a bunch of college kids trying to see how many would fit in a VW bug.

Step 2 - descend to 10'. Lots of equalizing and we started to feel the first effect of Charles' Law. I'm sure everyone has noticed the increased temperature of their tanks if they get too fast of a fill. Well it apparently happens inside a chamber as well.

Step 3 - once everyone was comfortable at 10' we began the descent to 135'. Much quicker and equalizing was going good for everyone. I was concentrating on my equalizing and the effects of Charles Law was definitely present as everyone was sweating pretty good.

Step 4 - there wasn't a depth guage inside the air lock but best bet (based on how long it took us to get to that point and then to the rest of the way to 135') was around 90' the individual sitting directly across from me decided that my concentration on equalizing was rather humorous and he started to laugh. Well this set off a chain reaction and within 5 secs, we were all killing ourselves with our laughter. This started at 90' and was affecting all of us. Afterwards it amazed me to look back and see the effects.

Step 5 - at around 115' either the perception of or our actual voices changed. It sounded like we were a bunch of chipmunks on helium. Of course this didn't help to resolve the laughing and only made things worse.

Step 6 - when we got to 135', the door to the main chamber opened up and we were all able to crawl in (still laughing of course). Waiting there were several different tests for us to allow us to feel the effects of the narcosis (as if it wasn't apparent to us already). The tests include moving ball bearings with tweezers, combination locks and my personal favorite ... a Dr. Seuse book (Fox and Socks - I think it was Dr. Seuse). We spent 10 mins at this depth and laughing the entire time.

Step 7 - we started to ascend, they took us up at 60 fpm and our first stop was at 30' for 1 minute, follwed by 20' for 3 minutes, then 10' for 7 mins and finally 5' for 10 mins. I think this was the schedule - I may be mistaken. During the ascent we got to experience Charles' Law in the opposite direction with the temperature quickly dropping and actually below the dew point so we had extremely thick "fog" develop inside the chamber.

All in all, it was a very unique experience and it has made me rethink my belief that I don't start to suffer narcosis until 120' or so. I had experienced it occasionally shallower then that but nothing to the extent that I did through this route.

Role of Chamber Dives in Recreational Diving

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