Shutdowns - breathing down vs. purging

[NJDiver07866]

Great post!

drill VS real life.

Just get use to spinning those valves with ease. It should be so second nature like kicking your fins.

For me honestly I have my own order of operation.

Right post reg in my mouth and freeflow or no gas on right post.. switch to backup left post reg and then shut of right post

left post reg is freeflowing on octo holder when diving. Close left post

Woosh bang!??!?!?!? I have no F8ucking idea what happened but I have a gas problem and leaking somewhere... isolate manifold and figure out which naughty post is giving me issues.

You should it second nature... so practice practice practice what reg goes on what post. I have heard some people say you should ALWAYS isolate first, I understand their logic.. because it saves 1/2 of your eggs. For me its broken down into the above steps..

no one really talks about whoosh bang..!!?!?!? I only saw it once. remember HP hoses are your friend. You think HP means a ton of gas will escape.. but there is actually a small nose hair hole that lets the gas out of your 1st stage and into your SPG, if an HP hose leaks.. your not in that much trouble..

When a LP hose leaks... woosh bang.... F(uck... she empties out your goodies real fast...

So take everything with a grain of salt.. the only right way is one that gets you back on the boat alive. The only way to do this is to get real personal with your manifold valves, understand what valve goes to what reg, and know which ones to turn in what event.

I tell my new students, when in doubt isolate first, then you have 1/2 the time to figure out your gas instead of 0/2 the time.

This is big boy diving.... so dive safe and be safe my friend

 

[MonkSeal]

For me honestly I have my own order of operation.

We have proper way of doing this.

Right post reg in my mouth and freeflow or no gas on right post.. switch to backup left post reg and then shut of right post

I guess that closing free-flowing reg first is smarter decision then switching first.

Woosh bang!??!?!?!? I have no F8ucking idea what happened but I have a gas problem and leaking somewhere... isolate manifold and figure out which naughty post is giving me issues.

I tell my new students, when in doubt isolate first, then you have 1/2 the time to figure out your gas instead of 0/2 the time.

I believe that closing leaking post is smarter move then isolating with no idea what's going on. This subject has been discussed many times in this forum no need to chew it again.

 

[rjack321]

Great post!
I tell my new students, when in doubt isolate first, then you have 1/2 the time to figure out your gas instead of 0/2 the time.

Not the DIR answer.

When in doubt go to your right post as it is one of the more likely failures.
Then isolate if the bubbles don't stop.
Then you are relying on your buddy to diagnose the problem.

Manifold, neck oring, and burst disk failures are rare enough, and isolating first gives you no feedback on what the problem might be, so isolating is never done first.

You might post your approach is the general tech diving section if you want to discuss isolating first further.

 

[alexxred]

I have had to perform shutdowns 3 times for real. Out of those 3, 2 required me to shutdown my R post.

The right post is definatly the one that is the most likley to have a failure.

 

[rjack321]

I have had to perform shutdowns 3 times for real. Out of those 3, 2 required me to shutdown my R post.

The right post is definatly the one that is the most likley to have a failure.

3 real failures in <500 dives? I'd start thinking about golf.

 

[Blackwood]

Drills are about muscle memory and the associated proficiency manipulating gear (valves, clips, etc.).

As long as the hose gets purged, it doesn't matter if you breathe it down or push the purge valve with your tongue.

 

[alexxred]

^^^^^
lol, thanks for the suggestion, but I would rather watch grass grow. I'm pretty sure golf has a higher mortality rate than diving anyway...although that might be an age/lightning rod combination factor.

I have had 2 LP inflator hoses fail where they connect to the power inflator. Both times I just shutdown, went to my back up and called the dive. The third was a stream of bubbles coming out of my SPG on ascent; it was not a major leak but I shutdown my R post down anyway.

I'm pretty sure you are being light hearted about it, guess I just got unlucky. In some respects it just goes to show that good training is important because one does not get to choose when a failure will occur.

 

[PfcAJ]

Drills are about muscle memory and the associated proficiency manipulating gear (valves, clips, etc.).

As long as the hose gets purged, it doesn't matter if you breathe it down or push the purge valve with your tongue.

It matters if you accidentally go to a dead reg.

By purging the backup, you HAVE to be breathing something before you shut it down. However, if you breath it down...well...where's your primary? Clipped off? In your hand? Did you REALLY open it back up? This stuff happens, and it used to happen during the old valve drill when people would breath it down.

Breathing down the primary is just fine because the untouched backup reg is under your chin.

None of us are perfect, and its in out best interest to minimize the potential of not having anything it breath. Breathing is real important!

 

[nadwidny]

The third was a stream of bubbles coming out of my SPG on ascent; it was not a major leak but I shutdown my R post down anyway.

Why shutdown the R post if the SPG was leaking?

 

[Anti-Hero]

The third was a stream of bubbles coming out of my SPG on ascent; it was not a major leak but I shutdown my R post down anyway.

The SPG should be on the left post.