Drysuit Auto-Exhaust Valve

sffrenchman · Aug 11, 2009

Hi everyone:

I have a Whites fusion dry suit and have a question regarding the auto-exhaust valve. Even if I set the valve to the maximum venting setting, I found that I have to vent manually as it seems that appropriate venting does not occur early enough or quick enough if I just rely on the auto-exhaust. As background, I am a novice diver (35 dives since December 08) and around 15 dives in a drysuit. Also note that I do not use the suit for buoyancy control (I use my BC).

I would very much appreciate any comment or tip that you could share with me to improve my drysuit diving skills.

Thank you for your help.

ligersandtions · Aug 12, 2009

If you don't use your suit for buoyancy, you won't have a ton of air in there. That means that the pressure inside the suit will not be great enough to escape through the vent, which means you'll have to vent it yourself (do some sort of variation of the "chicken wing" with your left arm). You have may have noticed that if you ascend and dump air out of your wing, the air will expand in your suit....once it expands enough, it will vent out of the dump valve on its own (assuming the vent is located at the highest point).

But if you continue using your wing for buoyancy and your suit to stay warm and relieve the squeeze, you will need to dump the air yourself. After a little bit, it becomes much more natural and won't even have to think about it. After even longer, if you ever dive wet again, you'll find yourself chicken winging even though you don't have a drysuit

johncayce · Aug 12, 2009

I dive with the "Whites", and until recently had been using the suit for bouyancy. I found I had to get vertical and get the valve to the highest point and do a "chicken wing" like ligersandtions indicated, sometimes even leaning to my right, before I would start my ascent.

Web Monkey · Aug 12, 2009

sffrenchman:
Hi everyone:

I have a Whites fusion dry suit and have a question regarding the auto-exhaust valve. Even if I set the valve to the maximum venting setting, I found that I have to vent manually as it seems that appropriate venting does not occur early enough or quick enough if I just rely on the auto-exhaust.

If by "manually" you mean that you have to push the exhaust valve in to get it to vent, the valve may be mis-adjusted/sticking or you may be underweighted.

Also, regardless of how anything is adjusted, the suit won't vent properly unless the exhaust valve is at the highest point, which means that you'll need to do the "chicken wing" thing anyway.

Since the Fusion hasn't been out for very long, I'm guessing your suit is still under warranty. If "manual" means pushing the button, you might want to take it back to your dealer and have them check out the valve.

Terry

Rainer · Aug 12, 2009

Likely just an issue of technique. Make sure you get the exhaust valve to the high point when dumping. Try observing some more experienced DS divers.

meierdierck · Aug 12, 2009

agree with all above...just a question, do you really want the suit to "AUTO" exhaust or auto-anything else, you may be better in the long run being in control of when it releases/ doesnt, I have never used this type valve, but it doesnt sound appealing to me

Rainer · Aug 12, 2009

meierdierck:
I have never used this type valve, but it doesnt sound appealing to me

What kind of DS exhaust valves have your suits had??? I don't know any that won't auto-exhaust. I certainly would not want a DS that didn't have one.

meierdierck · Aug 12, 2009

Rainer:
What kind of DS exhaust valves have your suits had??? I don't know any that won't auto-exhaust. I certainly would not want a DS that didn't have one.

I just caught that and feel VERY STUPID, :dork2:

I was sitting here wondering what type of valve he had,
late night dive& still nursing my morning coffee,

Rainer · Aug 12, 2009

No worries.

In any case, for the OP, even though the valve is designed to auto-exhaust, this doesn't mean you don't need to help it along with body position. You can't just passively expect it to dump. The point is, you should be able to make it dump yourself, just without touching the valve.

SoCalSwami · Aug 12, 2009

Early in my drysuit ownership-ness, I found that manual venting of my drysuit inevitably lead to a moist undergarment. I was informed by a buddy that my drysuit acts just like a BCD in this regard, if you vent and no air is coming out, water is going in.

Since I stopped manually venting, my upper arm is always dryer at the end of my dives.

Also, I have been going with a 30-60 second hose cleaning of the valve after each dive to keep salt/minerals free. Seems to be working.

Mike

Drysuit Auto-Exhaust Valve

Please register or login

sffrenchman

Contributor

ligersandtions

Contributor

johncayce

Registered

Web Monkey

Omniheurist

Rainer

Contributor

meierdierck

Contributor

Rainer

Contributor

meierdierck

Contributor

Rainer

Contributor

SoCalSwami

Contributor

Similar threads