Dry suit exhaust valve question

[Shipwreckscanada]

As always, you have good insight TSandM.

I have a bad habit when I feel lazy to close the valve completely and not put air in my suit. This sometimes creates suit squeeze and yes, I do have a small fear of a runaway ascent.

 

[Saudi-Diver]

I tend to dive with my exhaust dump fully open. If I am feeling cold I will screw the valve down a couple of clicks so it will hold more air, but then I have to open it fully before ascending otherwise I will struggle to hold my safety stops.

 

[RTee]

Completely open. As long as you remain horizontal no air should go out unless you stay at that level, go deeper or attempt to put too much air in the suit. However, on the way up, the suit will tend to vent slowly to get rid of the expanding air. If I am diving in very cold water and want to retain a bit more air in the suit, I will ''turn it down'' slightly by a couple of clicks at the time until I am satisfied with comfort and will adjust my wing accordingly after.

 

[Doc Harry]

Completely open

Controlling the amount of air in your suit, and the location of that air in the suit, is more than turning a valve. Even with the valve all the way open, I still regulate when and how much air to vent by controlling my body positioning.

 

[ajduplessis]

Slightly closed from open (1/4 turn on si-tech). I never touch it again and it works great with my ascent rate.

 

[Gravybird]

All the way open here too. I have to get upright and lean to the right to get the air out most of the time.

On a side note... How often do you drysuit divers forget to hook up your inflator hose before beginning your dive? it's my first season using one, but I've done that twice now. Something tells me I got it now. But just wondering anyway

 

[ligersandtions]

I used to dive with the valve completely open. As I started doing longer dives and getting more competent (i.e. less flailing), I started getting colder. I got thicker undergarments and eventually found that if I overweighted myself by just a little bit (think two pounds), then I could run more gas in my suit, thus keeping me warmer. Unless I close the valve all the way, it's always burping out the gas....so I tend to dive with the valve completely closed until I want to ascend. It took a while before I was comfortable running that much gas in my suit, but now I prefer it for cold water diving.

For warm water diving, I usually dive with the valve completely open.

 

[Peter_C]

All the way open here too. I have to get upright and lean to the right to get the air out most of the time.

Have you tried raising your arm up high up above to fill it with air, then lowering it down leaving the valve at the top?

On a side note... How often do you drysuit divers forget to hook up your inflator hose before beginning your dive? it's my first season using one, but I've done that twice now. Something tells me I got it now. But just wondering anyway

Checking that the inflator works should be part of your pre-dive checks. Along with checking the wing inflator/deflator, all regs, air pressure in tank, weights, etc.

 

[Gravybird]

Thanks Peter. I will give that technique a try.

And I am aware that checking the inflator is part of the pre-dive inspection however I am not perfect. I just consider it a silly mistake a noob would make. Perhaps I'm just the only one who'd admit it out loud on here Ohhhhhhhhh it's time to put some air in my suit, push the button, what's that??? Frigid water on my chest oh crap!!! Good thing I was taught how to hook it up underwater on the fly when nobody's looking ))

 

[turnerjd]

Another dinosaur here, wrist dump for me. When I had an auto dump it was most of the way open, although its position was adapted to the diving I was doing that day, but rarely more than one or two clicks from its usual position. I always preferred the wrist dump as it just feels more natural than the auto dump.

Jon