BCD malfunction on a discovery dive

[ScubaSteve]

In my open water course we were taught NOT to inflate with the button and just put a breath in at a time, which would avoid a stuck/sticky inflator. At the surface the inflator button is fair game though.

If I am understanding you correctly, you were taught to never use the inflator button unless on the surface because there is a possibility that it could stick open?

First of all, is this normal anywhere else because t makes NO SENSE to me. That is like saying you should not dive with a tank of air because it could run out. You should have been taught to use the equipment responsibly and to recover from common (and some not so common) situations. You should not be taught to ignore it.

Having said that, Manual inflation is a standard drill but not to replace the use of the inflator.

 

[stefo2]

I have to agree with ScubaSteve that teaching not to use the inflator button at all during the dive sounds very odd. After you have initially dumped your air when descending, you need to make adjustments to your buoancy the deeper you get to compensate for the compressing wetsuit. If that involved taking the regulator out of your mouth, orally inflating the BCD, clearing the regulator and putting it back in every time, you could easily end up in an uncontrolled descend. And what if it takes more than one breath to establish neutral buoancy once you have reached your desired depth? Repeat the process while you plummet to the bottom (if there is one...)?

I think you may have misunderstood something your instructor told you, e.g. that you should not (normally) have to inflate your BCD for the ascend, but only when you reach the surface, or that you should try, once you have reached your depth and established neutral buoancy there, to control minor depth changes by breathing instead of letting air in and out of the BCD all the time.

But maybe I am missing something here?

 

[Sentic]

Well i still havent even started my OW yet, i have 90 euros saved up! 210 more to go! then i'll get my up to date manual and DVD and see what i can find out and obviously ask my instructor.

Sorry for any miss understanding, i should state more clearly.

Thanks again
~Ads

 

[300bar]

That particular malfunction wasn't covered in my OW course and it isn't something that I thought could happen.

It should have been,PADI skill,detache LP inflatorhose and oraly inflate BC at the surface.

 

[300bar]

(our first dive was 1 hour which is normal at 12 meters right?)

Funny nobody seen this,NO it's not normal.AFAIK DSD has a max. of 5-6 meters.

 

[String]

Open water dive for DSD is max 12m/40ft.

The confined or confined open water is max 6m.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Funny nobody seen this,NO it's not normal.AFAIK DSD has a max. of 5-6 meters.

Funny, my resort version of the DSD was a whopping 4.5 feet. When we knelt looking at the instructor my forhead was getting sunburnt. But I still loved every second of it.

 

[irishsquid]

.....When we knelt looking at the instructor my forhead was getting sunburnt. But I still loved every second of it.

That visual is darned funny! Sounds like a reverse "Boot Camp Sunburn" (Navy)

 

[lifes an ocean]

Funny, my resort version of the DSD was a whopping 4.5 feet. When we knelt looking at the instructor my forhead was getting sunburnt. But I still loved every second of it.

This would be an interesting sight to see