Neat Little Tricks Are Good to Know

[ti325v]

Hi Elmer, While i appreciate your input...You may notice that I am an instructor and I own a dive shop...and average about 700 dives a year. I own eight DIN regs, and not counting my shop stuff 6 yoke regs. I deal with the set up and take apart of about 12 sets of gear a day, ( Very conservative) that`s about 7,000 times a year. So in my experience of roughly 35-40,000 set ups in my diving career. I believe I am aware of any remaining gas in the systems....and usually I do not dive an spg but AI....not a lot of residual gas in that sending unit...Is this a daily problem....no, it has happened four or five times. Have I ever found the cause ? No, have I bled the tanks empty to remove all possible pressure from the system...yes..with that additional information, if any body has a suggestion as to why I would experience this periodic lock up of a din system, it would be useful..
Thanks.

 

[D_B]

Brand of valve/DIN fitting ... dissimilar metal electrolysis ?


Pixie dust on threads?

 

[DarkCoffee]

FWIW, the one time I had one of my DIN regs lock onto the valve was when I attempted to adjust the angle of the 1st on the tank while it was under pressure. (TX50) After that no amount of playing would loosen it. Live and learn.:depressed:

 

[InTheDrink]

• When there is little or no current, small fish like anthias and damselfish swim in random directions a good ways above their coral head.
• When the current gets to about .5 kn, and up to 1 kn, the anthias all face in one direction (into the current). Divers swimming against this current will have to work a little. Newer divers tend to think currents like this are strong and may use up their air more quickly, but more experienced divers don't have much difficulty with these mild currents.
• When the current picks up to reach "moderate current" rates, between 1 and 2 kn, you begin to notice that larger fish face into the current, but are not yet sheltering. Swimming against this kind of current is tiring and doing so for long periods should be avoided unless you specifically plan the dive like this for a particular purpose. Drift diving in the direction of the current is advised.
• In stronger currents faster than 2 kn, bigger fish face into the current and shelter behind rocks, in crannies, and in the lee of coral heads. Small fish are all hiding in the corals and are no longer seen. Divers who need to swim against a current of this magnitude may have to drag/pull themselves along by holding rocks. It is difficult to move against a strong current of this velocity and the dive should definitely be a drift.
• If even big fish disappear entirely, you are faced with a current that is extremely difficult to handle and which has the potential for mortal peril. In this case, abort your dive.

Excellent, excellent post, much appreciated.

J

 

[InTheDrink]

You've got some sort of issue going on here. A DIN valve should screw off as easily as it goes on. The main thing is making sure all the air is purged after shutting off your tanks. As was mentioned earlier, it tends to seep back in from the HP hose. That little pin sized hole that's intended to keep your tanks from draining if the HP ruptures also tends to retain the pressure in the regulator even after you purge everything.

Aha! I was wondering why my new DIN regs seemed to keep pressure even when purged - mystery solved: thanks!

J

 

[--tom--]

??? Never fight water with water! A mouth full of AIR can clear that reg, but using a mouth full of water will still leave the reg full of water.

Try it in a pool. You might be surprised. I was....

 

[super7]

-I use baby shampoo no tears for my mask. It works pretty well.
- I put some folded tissues in d crevices of my uw cam case to absorb some trickles of water that sometimes managed get in.
-Always check & rechecked your tank knob before descending. One incident i had was, during a boat dive, i decided to gear-up in d waters. I already checked that my air is on, but when I donn my wings & was checking my reg again, no air! Apparently, the person who handed me my gears turned it again thinking he's opening it.

I also use baby shampoo as defog for my mask. Unlike other stuff, it won't hurt your eyes. And the folded tissue paper along with the desiccant is what I practice too. Same reason Evie gave.

 

[Hatul]

My din valves lock up impossibly hard, yokes are EASY...Sometimes the DIN regs have to go back to the shop on the tank and a huge pair of slip joint pliers applied....over a rag of course. NEVER had a problem getting a yoke valve off.

I'm new to DIN valves, but assuming all the air is bled I'm wondering if something is happening at the thread reg-valve interface. The metals may be fusing. I'm wondering if this is happening with one particular reg? In the yoke connection this cannot happen because the screw is in the reg part not in the tank valve.

Another thought is if the DIN reg is applied loosely and the reg pressurized if the O ring can get wedged between the reg and the valve. Not sure if this can be real, but just a thought.

Adam

 

[cloudflint]

A few wee little tricks i wish i had known when i first started:

• If you experience a runaway ascent, you can generally go to half your pressure depth rapidly without a bubble forming.
• when ascending, if you see any bubbles that appear to be going down you are going to fast
• you can mount a twin-set upsideown to allow you to easily reach the valves
• When diving from a RHIB having a piece of rope with a carabina on it attached to your weight belt allows you to clip yourself to the boat to prevent you from drifting away and you can then just release your weightbelt and it can be easily pulled in by the rope.
• When giving rescue breathing on a boat lying them across a cylinder puts their head in the perfect position to keep their airways clear
• if your legs are too light in a drysuit you can put on another pair of socks to keep air out.

 

[flots am]

if your legs are too light in a drysuit you can put on another pair of socks to keep air out.

Not sure about the others, but if your "legs are too light", chances are really good that you're overweighted and the suit contains too much air, which is being used to offset the extra weight.

It's much better to be properly weighted than to "fix" a problem that doesn't really need to exist.

Also socks are mostly air space and won't actually make your feet more negative.

flots.