DIR and Ice Diving

[captndale]

Where I have been, if you have to actually pound the stake into the bottom, silt is probably not going to be a problem. In contrast if the bottom is silted, it is usually deep enough that you can just push the stake in the bottom and no silt at all usually comes up.

You could do that in Lake Michigan, but most of our ice diving is done in the smaller lakes where the silt is very fine and light. All you need to do is get close to it and you will silt everything up. Pushing a stake in would guarantee a complete black-out.

 

[jjones9527]

If you're going to do ice diving with a tether, then there are many agencies to teach it with a full set of rules and protocols.

Doing it "cave style" is a mish mash of cave rules, wreck rules and a dash of experience and lessons learned to make it as safe as possible.

We run a line just like in cave, tied off and not dragged behind us. If you haven't got the skill to do this without silting the place up, choose a different site, use a tether, or stay out of the water.

We always use a stage for ice diving. Its always a matter of when, not if a reg will free flow. Theres no issues with entanglement, it gives us an added layer of redundancy, an we're often using it for skills anyway.

We will usually disconnect our wing inflators and orally inflate, so as to avoid the potential for a wing free flow.

We choose sites that we are very familiar with, have no current and we stay shallow. Ice diving for us is the time for practicing skills and getting ready for the upcoming dive season. We'll hop in, run a line down to 30ft or so, and sit there for an hour doing drills.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

We will usually disconnect our wing inflators and orally inflate, so as to avoid the potential for a wing free flow.

That creates more risk than it resolves. When you take the reg out of your mouth to orally inflate you risk a freeflow by dropping it, accidentally hitting the purge with it out of your mouth or just removing it mouth piece up. That short freeflow is often enough to freeze the first stage and cause a sustained "freezeflow".

On the other hand, the schrader valve or center balanced valve in the inflator is seldom if ever going to freeze during a wing inflation and if it did, you just unhook it. Any inflation should be done in short bursts anyway to allow the first stage to rewarm and not become super cooled.

As long as you are using a downstream reg or an OPV, the wing will not auto inflate in the event of an HP seat leak or a freeze flow - the excess pressure or gas will vent out the OPV or second stage.

So by disconnecting the wing inflator you are just increasing the risk of an issue and gaining nothing at all in terms of reliability.

 

[jjones9527]

In our experience, orally inflating is much less risk and consequence than a wing free flow.

After an accident a couple years ago, we did a bunch of tests and scenarios to try and figure out a better way to manage risk. This is what we came up with. We have never had a problem with a reg free flowing because we took it out of our mouth. We have had wing inflators auto inflate on a regular basis.

I believe the wing issue stems from the cold thickening up the lube or making the o-rings hard, which causes it not to seat right after activation. So far we haven't found a solution to this problem.

 

[Belmont]

That creates more risk than it resolves. When you take the reg out of your mouth to orally inflate you risk a freeflow by dropping it, accidentally hitting the purge with it out of your mouth or just removing it mouth piece up. That short freeflow is often enough to freeze the first stage and cause a sustained "freezeflow".

On the other hand, the schrader valve or center balanced valve in the inflator is seldom if ever going to freeze during a wing inflation and if it did, you just unhook it. Any inflation should be done in short bursts anyway to allow the first stage to rewarm and not become super cooled.

As long as you are using a downstream reg or an OPV, the wing will not auto inflate in the event of an HP seat leak or a freeze flow - the excess pressure or gas will vent out the OPV or second stage.

So by disconnecting the wing inflator you are just increasing the risk of an issue and gaining nothing at all in terms of reliability.

I had a wing inflator slow free flow after a first dive before going in for a second one. It was minus eleven celcius outside air temp. The freeflow stopped as soon as I got in the water.