Want to practice valve drills, but worried about water getting into regs and tanks

AbyssalPlains · Mar 29, 2011

Hi all, Newbie here. Please no flames.

I bought a used doubles rig and started diving it this past weekend. I love it already and want to practice the relevant drills. For logistical reasons, my deco and advanced nitrox classes were done in singles, so I have to learn as I go along.

Question: When I do valve shutoffs and breathe down or purge my regs before a switch, is there a chance of getting water into the regs or the tanks? I really want to practice this stuff in the pool but not if there is a chance of getting water in my freshly inspected steel tanks.

leabre · Mar 29, 2011

The pressure in your tanks is too high so water will not get into the tanks unless the valve area is wet when filling it then some moisture can get inside. I do valve drills all the time and have not had water inside my 1st stage yet. If if was that easy for 1st stage to get wet we'd be rebuilding our regs after every drill.

rjack321 · Mar 29, 2011

The tank would need to be empty. Even 33ft in the pool is only 29psi absolute - compared to 1000+psi in the tanks.

You probably want to take GUE-F, Intro to Tech or something like that to learn proper valve drills. And do it will a buddy, you will shut off all your own gas.

AbyssalPlains · Mar 29, 2011

rjack321:
And do it will a buddy, you will shut off all your own gas.

Yep - Done that.

I was by myself in the pool. No big deal, though, just turned it back on. I don't want to take - and shell out big bucks for - another class just to learn how to dive my doubles rig, since my deco procedures and advanced nitrox covered all the theory. I'd be going backwards. All I need at this point is familiarize myself with the equipment. Thanks for the advice about water entering the regs not being an issue! I'm ready to head to the pool this weekend to practice.

MXGratefulDiver · Mar 30, 2011

Some dive shops that specialize in tech diving will offer workshops in doubles. These are usually a one-day class that goes over things like setting up your regulators, explaining how your manifold works, doing valve drills, selecting an appropriately sized wing, etc. ... and some in-water time where you can practice with some supervision. I took one when I was first learning doubles, and found the $150 cost to be very worthwhile. There's no "certification" ... it's just a day of learning.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

AbyssalPlains · Mar 30, 2011

NWGratefulDiver:
Some dive shops that specialize in tech diving will offer workshops in doubles. These are usually a one-day class that goes over things like setting up your regulators, explaining how your manifold works, doing valve drills, selecting an appropriately sized wing, etc. ... and some in-water time where you can practice with some supervision. I took one when I was first learning doubles, and found the $150 cost to be very worthwhile. There's no "certification" ... it's just a day of learning.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, that is exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, there is no dive shop that would even know how to set up a set of doubles within a 100 mile radius of where I live. Lately I've been thinking about checking out opportunities to move to the PNW someday, for that very reason.

Anti-Hero · Mar 30, 2011

AbyssalPlains:
Yep - Done that. I was by myself in the pool. No big deal, though, just turned it back on. I don't want to take - and shell out big bucks for - another class just to learn how to dive my doubles rig, since my deco procedures and advanced nitrox covered all the theory. I'd be going backwards. All I need at this point is familiarize myself with the equipment. Thanks for the advice about water entering the regs not being an issue! I'm ready to head to the pool this weekend to practice.

You don't want to spend money learning to use equipment properly? Especially equipment like manifolded doubles, which can get you into deep do-do quickly...

Theory is nice, but practice makes perfect. :shakehead:

leabre · Mar 30, 2011

AbyssalPlains:
Bob, that is exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, there is no dive shop that would even know how to set up a set of doubles within a 100 mile radius of where I live. Lately I've been thinking about checking out opportunities to move to the PNW someday, for that very reason.

Though it's 300 miles away (yikes), Joel at TDL may be able to hook you up; he's in Lake Havasu.

rjack321 · Mar 30, 2011

AbyssalPlains:
Yep - Done that. I was by myself in the pool. No big deal, though, just turned it back on. I don't want to take - and shell out big bucks for - another class just to learn how to dive my doubles rig, since my deco procedures and advanced nitrox covered all the theory. I'd be going backwards. All I need at this point is familiarize myself with the equipment. Thanks for the advice about water entering the regs not being an issue! I'm ready to head to the pool this weekend to practice.

Actually its a pretty big deal to have the muscle memory wonky, to not correctly associate knobs to regs, or to lose trim or buoyancy - among other issues. Its not something you should be doing solo as there's no objective feedback, just your own imagination about how things are going.

I would find a decent instructor or mentor. At the very least a buddy who can video tape so you can at least see what's going on.

DevonDiver · Mar 30, 2011

I did a 'doubles familiarization' course with Mark Powell, when I first bought my kit. It was invaluable training...and help get me properly configured and prepared for my tech training.

rjack321... It wasn't a GUE course though... so maybe they weren't "proper valve drills". :rofl3:

Want to practice valve drills, but worried about water getting into regs and tanks

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