BCD wouldn't let air out

[Dennisrl84]

About 2 or 3 years ago I was ascending from my first dive. I was fairly new, it was maybe my 10 - 11th dive since being certified. With the exception of my wetsuit, fins and mask were rental gears from the place who was doing the charter.

I had been to about 60 - 65' for only about 20 minutes. I filled to much air in my BCD and started ascending too quickly. I yanked on it straight up and I was still ascending rapidly. I finally reached for the shoulder deflate pull tab and just as I was about to pull it I was at the surface.

I asked the divemaster if I should be concerned, needed to seek emergency attention, if I could dive the second dive or if I should sit it out, they were either not confident in their answer (You will probably be fine) or over confident with an immediate response that made me concerned they weren't taking it seriously. So I chose to sit the second dive out.

When we got back to the dive shop I let them know their equipment was faulty to which they simply replied "oh ok, put it over there" (away from the other rentals). I explained what happened and they offered no apology, refunds or return trips. I didn't fit them to hard because it was late at night and the only one left was the "kid" putting away the rental gear.

I had about a 3 hour drive home. I called the number on the DAN dive insurance card and they were awesome. They told me it was not completely necessary to skip the dive but smart of me to err on the side of caution. The stated that I was not in any medical emergency but to "keep an eye out for symptoms".

It had been a very long day and I was tired, I made it about an hour and had to take a break. I took a nap in my car at a rest stop. I woke up after about an hour feeling cramped and sore. no big deal, I was sleeping in a car...

I made it home and went to bed. About 2 hours later I woke up because my legs were sore. They were tucked behind me. Straightening them out was uncomfortable. My arms and legs were very sore. I woke up a few times because of the "popping" of my ears. Several times it felt like someone literally tapped my on my sinuses.

The next day I woke up, wasn't really sore anymore but slightly tender and was drop dead tired all day.

Was what I experiencing just nerves and a coincidence to what had occurred or was I getting a small sampling of deco sickness?

 

[CaveSloth]

A fast ascent from 60ft after being down for 20 minutes isn't nothing. Might have produced some minor DCI of some kind. No way to tell now. Have you dove since? Do you ever get similar symptoms?

 

[GreggS]

To be honest, you should not have inflated your BCD in order to ascend. Once you start ascending, the air in the BC is going to expand anyway so you will need to be letting air out as you go up. It actually sounds like, since it was a rental BC and you weren't that familiar with it, once you started ascending quicker than you should, you mistakingly pressed the inflate button instead of the deflate button, causing you to rise even faster. I've mistakenly hit the inflate button a time or two myself, as I'm sure most other divers have, especially early in their diving experience. And in a period of anxiety and/or panic, you probably thought you were pressing the deflate button.

Stuff happens. Glad you didn't have a worse experience than you did.

 

[mmerriman]

To be honest, you should not have inflated your BCD in order to ascend. Once you start ascending, the air in the BC is going to expand anyway so you will need to be letting air out as you go up. It actually sounds like, since it was a rental BC and you weren't that familiar with it, once you started ascending quicker than you should, you mistakingly pressed the inflate button instead of the deflate button, causing you to rise even faster. I've mistakenly hit the inflate button a time or two myself, as I'm sure most other divers have, especially early in their diving experience. And in a period of anxiety and/or panic, you probably thought you were pressing the deflate button.

Stuff happens. Glad you didn't have a worse experience than you did.

read it again - he said he accidentally added too much air and started to ascend.

 

[Norrm]

The inflate button on a BCD is NOT an elevator up button and the deflate button is not a down button, in fact it works exactly opposite.

 

[Esprise Me]

I'm not reading this as OP inflated his BC in order to ascend; it could be that he was trying to get neutral and overshot. It happens; there's a delay between when you add air and when you start to rise or even stop descending, and new divers haven't always learned to account for that. I also interpret his account as saying he did try to vent air by pulling on the inflator hose, but that mechanism wasn't working, so he reached for his (other) shoulder dump but by then it was too late. If something on his BC wasn't working as it should, I think he has a valid complaint. And I don't see what's unreasonable about still wondering about a possible DCS episode years later, especially if one is thinking about getting back into diving.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Let's not be too harsh on the OP. People doesn't know what People doesn't know. Those of you insist should really look into the just culture that Gareth Lock is trying to establish in the diving industry. I can't recommend his Human Factors in Diving training enough.


OT: One of the thoughts that popped into my head was if the OP was overweighted. Having to have an extra amount of gas to compensate for being overweighted, once a person starts to ascend, the extra buoyancy from the expansion of that extra gas is going to cause problems.

 

[saxman242]

I yanked on it straight up

Had you used the pull-on-inflator-hose dump earlier in the dive? This is a feature that not all BCDs have, even when working correctly.

 

[BlueTrin]

Had you used the pull-on-inflator-hose dump earlier in the dive? This is a feature that not all BCDs have, even when working correctly.

If you need to dump really fast, the easiest way is probably to go vertical extend the inflator hose up and press the deflate button, while stopping finning. (or you can jump swim downwards and dump from the bottom valve: this is possibly better if you can do it without spending too much time finding the dump valve)

Like @saxman242 said you should look at the BCD if it is a rental, many don’t have the dump when yanking.

 

[Dennisrl84]

OT: One of the thoughts that popped into my head was if the OP was overweighted. Having to have an extra amount of gas to compensate for being overweighted, once a person starts to ascend, the extra buoyancy from the expansion of that extra gas is going to cause problems.[/QUOTE]

A fast ascent from 60ft after being down for 20 minutes isn't nothing. Might have produced some minor DCI of some kind. No way to tell now. Have you dove since? Do you ever get similar symptoms?

I took about a 2 year break and finally got back into it with about 10 dives since. I have never replicated the same feelings which is why I believed it could have been a slight case. I just now ask about it, because just getting back into diving and getting a goPro for Christmas led me to get more involved. I also recently had 2 friends get certified which has prompted several planned trips.