question about air issues during dives.

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Ski0331

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So I did a discover scuba course out of the carib. I loved every minute of it. I'm looking to get certified ASAP. Only issue I have now though is a lingering question about the last 10 minutes of my second dive.
We were at about 50 Ft and dive time was about 30 min. Breathing was fine and I was enjoying the wildlife when I tried to take a breath and my air felt constricted. I assumed a clog, cleared everything as best described still felt constricted still had 700 psi as well. I contact my instructor and he has me switch to my back up regulator. Works fine and we begin ascent. I've worked with Gas masks and clogs in dangerous environments from the military before so keeping calm wasn't an issue as I've practiced staying calm. But when we get to the surface my instructor told me that the regulator was breathing fine, I took a breath from it and it breathed normally. So finally to my question, was this a mental issue on my part or was something wrong? This hasn't scared me off of diving merely something that has me curious as to what happened.
 
could have been the regulator, could have been a slew of other things. Unfortunately in the Caribbean a lot of gear goes a bit longer than it should with it's suggested service intervals and much of the gear is abused pretty badly. I wouldn't worry about it and without seeing the regulator we can only speculate. You have witnessed reason #1 why most of us recommend purchasing a good regulator set as one of the first 2 purchases.

You are very close to Dive Right in Scuba which is one of the best shops in the country, I highly recommend using them for gear purchases and training. Mike and his crew are first rate
 
Given the spare reg breathed fine, I would guess some issue with the primary reg. Fact it breaths fine at 0 ft does not mean it is fine at 50 ft. I know of two cases where regs failed at 50 ft due to improper service. Also at the surface you are pulling less air through the system than at 50 ft.

When I travel I may rent all sorts of equipment but carry my own regs/computer/prescription mask. Only exception was some diving in Greece where I did not want to lug them all over Europe.
 
Ok awesome was worried it was a mental thing and I was crazy haha. That's what I assumed as well because well pressure haha. like I said I'm very green and id much rather know then question myself. Yeah dive right in is about 20 minutes away from my house.
 
Regulators are really rather simple (and reliable) devices. But an errant piece of crap in the wrong location could cause such a problem. With good user care, they can easily go years without tech service. Unfortunately, incompetent service is the source of many problems but they almost always present themselves as leaks and/or poor performance.

In any case, it is extremely rare for the failure mode to be cessation of gas delivery.
 
So I did a discover scuba course out of the carib. I loved every minute of it. I'm looking to get certified ASAP. Only issue I have now though is a lingering question about the last 10 minutes of my second dive.
We were at about 50 Ft and dive time was about 30 min. Breathing was fine and I was enjoying the wildlife when I tried to take a breath and my air felt constricted. I assumed a clog, cleared everything as best described still felt constricted still had 700 psi as well. I contact my instructor and he has me switch to my back up regulator. Works fine and we begin ascent. I've worked with Gas masks and clogs in dangerous environments from the military before so keeping calm wasn't an issue as I've practiced staying calm. But when we get to the surface my instructor told me that the regulator was breathing fine, I took a breath from it and it breathed normally. So finally to my question, was this a mental issue on my part or was something wrong? This hasn't scared me off of diving merely something that has me curious as to what happened.

Assuming you were not stressed out and/or imagining the effect then your problem could have been caused by the tank valve not being fully open. Depth and tank pressure can also affect the work of breathing, especially with badly tuned and/or old(er) non-balanced regulators. In any case there is a relatively good chance that what you were experiencing was real.

R..
 
Honestly was I stressed a bit? Yeah second dive ever. But I don't get how it would be a mental thing that didn't present earlier but I'm green. Might be more common then I imagine. Imagining the effect I dunno. I just remember it being very easy to take deep breaths then I couldn't. hard to tell what's imaginary whats real in such a situation. Why I played it safe. And why I'm here on this board haha.
 
Some regs breath better than others, especially at different pressures. As your tank pressure dropped the primary reg could have breathed harder.
 
Honestly was I stressed a bit? Yeah second dive ever. But I don't get how it would be a mental thing that didn't present earlier but I'm green. Might be more common then I imagine. Imagining the effect I dunno. I just remember it being very easy to take deep breaths then I couldn't. hard to tell what's imaginary whats real in such a situation. Why I played it safe. And why I'm here on this board haha.

In my experience it can be a mental thing when people have doubts about the gear and as a result are struggling to *trust* the gear.

Apart from that then what you normally see is :

1) the diver is stressed and breathing fairly hard. However you cut it, scuba regulators are harder to breathe from than, say, a snorkel. This feeling can take a while to get used to. In addition, I've noticed from my own diving that adjusting to a new set of regs, even if you're experienced, can take a few dives.

2) the reg is de-tuned and/or due for maintenance. Not all regs are created equally and some are simply mechanically harder to breathe from than others. Depth and tank pressure can definitely be noticeable.

3) there is "gunk" somewhere. I can be in the regulator, which has a "gunk filter" that can get "gunked up". It can also be in the tank and/or tank valve.

4) the tank valve may not be fully open. In this case you would probably have noticed it during the descent. When the valve is fully open and the regulator is working normally, a scuba regulator can deliver on the order of 1000 litres of air per minute. That's about 50 times more than a person normally uses.

R..
 
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Ski-you've had both possible options covered off but.great news is gear failure is extremely rare so going forward with your diving its not likely to be something you will encounter again.
 

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