Dumping Air from Wings

I just got a new BC. Sometimes I have to roll to my side to dump air.

Is this normal with wings, or could it just be that I'm short, and my short midget arm has trouble reaching above the wing with the hose, depending on my position in the water.

I've only used jackets before this BC, which since they keep you head up lifting the hose high enough to dump was never a problem. Also with my new BC, I've noticed when I'm less hoizontal I don't have the problem.

I would think it depends on where the dump valve is, since you probably need to make that point the highest point to get all of the air out.

--Sean

You shouldn't have to roll on your side to dump air from a wing.

This has helped me:

Use the inflator to dump at the surface. Once you get down a couple feet to where you're horizontal, use the pull dump at the back to dump any remaining air you need (leaning forward will force the air to the rear of the bladder)....and use the pull dump to fine tune your buoyancy until neutral, adding air through the inflator and dumping any extra through the rear dump.

Do you have the right size wing? A lot of people seem to think bigger is better. Diving a doubles wing with a single tank is pretty common too. This can lead to the wing tips floating very high which will make dumping tricky.

What I mean by rolling on my side is, I roll toward my right, that way it's easier to reach up with the inflator hose above the wing.

It is a singles wing. As I said, I'm pretty short, so I guess depending on how much air is in it, when I'm horizontal, I just can't reach high enough.

If you use the pull dump and lean forward isn't it still impossible to dump the air from the side opposite of the dump?

I know you said you have a singles wing, but which on exactly?


Is there a rear dump on your wing? If so use that one and not the pull dump.

grunzster once bubbled...
If you use the pull dump and lean forward isn't it still impossible to dump the air from the side opposite of the dump?

Click to expand...

If the wing is properly sized and you are horizontal in the water there is normally no problem dumping air as the air can stll equalize from one side to the other. Very late in the dive with little air remaining I may on ocassion have to roll very slightly (maybe 10 degrees) to get the last bits of air to flow from one side to the other.

Actually listening for the air moving through the wing as well as through the dump valve is a good habit to develop and contributes to precision bouyancy adjustment and control.

The key to successfull dumping is not to get too far from the horizontal and, as indicated above, not to use a wing that is too large with the result that the tips float too high in the water. How much lift is too much for your particular configuration depends a lot on the wing design.

Some wings use a bungee system to reduce the profile of the wings and to help dump the air but this is a mixed blessing if not an outright curse. The bungee cords pose an additional risk of entanglement and snags particularly on some designs where they are taken to extremes and in the extreme they can make oral inflation difficult.

I use a backplate equipped Genesis Recon and the 75 lb wing works well with both singles and doubles. It uses two bungees sandwiched between the backplate and wing where they are pretty much snag free when used with doubles and this is as far as I would personally go with using a bungee system.

Using the back dump is in my opinion the only way to dump air as it requires no change in diving position and virtually no movement to make a bouyancy change. The resulting streamlining and minimal movement are a couple of those refinements in technique that will really help air consumption.

Many of the jacket style BC's available breed a lot of bad habits that work aginst being smooth and streamlined in the water. Moving to a set of wings is a great step toward really improving your diving technique.

I only use the rear pull dump on the left side of my wing after I'm under water. Like others have said, I just tilt head down a little and reach back and dump a little.

At first I did have some problems with the right side of the wing having more air and being unbalanced. But I realized I was a little overweighted and so my bouyancy control wasn't the greatest. Now that I've dropped a lot of weight, I don't have to adjust the air in my bc as much because most bouyancy changes are done using my breathing.

The only time I still get that imbalance problem now is with a gradual swim up from depth, when you find you're dumping air every so often. When I feel the imbalance in the wing, I just go semi-vertical for a second to get all the air to the top of the wing and then go back horizontal which evens out the air distribution. YMMV.

If you have one of those donut wings like the halcyon one, I don't think you have this problem.

Wendy once bubbled...
Is there a rear dump on your wing? If so use that one and not the pull dump.

Click to expand...

All this talk about dumping had me confused.

I mean rear dump, not pull dump. :banging:

There is no "pull dump" on a Halcyon wing.....before you guys start dumping on me.

It's 40lb. Deep Outdoors wing.

Is there a rear dump on your wing? If so use that one and not the pull dump.

Click to expand...

Aren't they the same? Isn't the rear dump the pull dump that is on the one tip of the wing?

I guess I have try it on my next dive, but I still don't understand.

If I lean forward and use the rear pull dump, even if the air is even in the wing, won't it throw my balance off, since there is only 1 dump on the left tip, but the air is split between the 2 tips of the bladder?