Dry Suit Death?

[H2Andy]

Actually, it can get more than uncomfortable. The suit can
constrict enough to restrict movement of your arms. I can imagine that it could
restrict your diaphram also (yes, your breathing diaphram!!).

hmmm.... but it you pop the neck seal and flood the suit with water, then
you'd be ok, wouldn't you?

 

[detroit diver]

Did you not have a BC or BP/W on? Even if you are still using your suit for buoyancy you can use the BC in the event of an emergency! The BC is redundant buoyancy for the suit should it flood--or better yet, the suit is redundant buoyancy for your BC should it fail.

Either way there is no excuse for a runaway descent when you have 2 separate buoyancy control devices on. If you forgot to attach both hoses you could still orally inflate the BC.

theskull

It wasn't a runaway descent at all. It just got very uncomfortable and severely restricted arm movement. I was able to stop the descent, and then my buddy re attached the inflator hose because I could not manage it due to the severe suit restriction. I could have surfaced at any time so that was not an issue.

 

[detroit diver]

The pressure of the squeeze itself probably wouldn't kill you, but if you can't control your descent due to the vacuum packaging, you could be in some trouble.

If you think about it, the only thing that compresses when the drysuit squeezes is the undergarments. Your body is basically liquid, therefore it's essentially uncompressable. No different than diving with a wetsuit. A good analogy is vacuum packed coffee beans. Berfore you let the air in, they are quite tight in the package. When you let the air in, the beans loosen up.

If you neglect to inflate your drysuit as you descend, all that happens is it gets somewhat more difficult to breathe and you loose flexibility because the suit gets stiff. Sometimes you can end up with crease marks on your skin caused by squeeze. That said, I don't think it could kill you.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

...check our "check valves" ( non-return valves ) for proper functioning prior to hooking the umbilical to the helmet, in hard-hat diving, and for good reason. Should the umbilical be severed at depth, the air / gas in the helmet will want to surface, & try to suck your face with it! The difference from the heavy gear of old is that the exposure suit worn is not common to the helmet, by that I mean there is a seperation ( the neck dam seal ) that isolates the head from the rest of the suit, so the possibility of a "whole-body" trip up the hose is not possible.

You'd only lose your face!

Well, more likely, you'd get a serious face-hickey!!

Which is good reason not to forget to check the check.

Regards,
D.S.D.

 

[ScubaSarus]

You get a heck of a squeeze and a pinch that feel like being wrapped by a python

 

[OE2X]

I've had enough suit squeeze so that I've been bruised before. Happened when I first started diving dry.

 

[theskull]

the skull, i think the problem was he couldn't move his arms due to suit
squeeze to reach either the BC or the suit inflator valve

It doesn't squeeze THAT much. I've been past 100 ft. with hose disconnected. Yes, it gets uncomfortable, even gives some red marks where the suit wrinkles squeeze in against your back, but you can certainly move your arms!

Reconnecting the suit hose at depth is not difficult, either. A buddy can be helpful here, but is not much needed unless you geared up with the hose trapped behind you or attached to the tank strap.

In any case, if you accidentally begin a dive with the hose disconnected, you will notice it by the time you are 30 feet deep and it will not be significantly uncomfortable until at least 80 feet. Have made many disconnected dives, some by choice and more by neglect. Was never a big deal.

Dive safe and have fun--you'll LOVE diving dry!

theskull

 

[theskull]

It wasn't a runaway descent at all. It just got very uncomfortable and severely restricted arm movement. I was able to stop the descent, and then my buddy re attached the inflator hose because I could not manage it due to the severe suit restriction. I could have surfaced at any time so that was not an issue.

Your initial post was a little more dramatic, "Fortunately, I had enough movement to slow my descent . . ." a slowed descent is still a runaway especially if your impeded movement is only allowing you to kick to slow the descent. If you forgot you could inflate your BC to control your buoyancy and your buddy got separated from you, the event you described could become a real problem

Inflating your BC would STOP the descent--you COULD move your arm far enough to reach the inflator button, right? Once descent was stopped, problem was only a minor inconvenience. You then could have even ascended 10 or 20 feet to take most of the squeeze off should you have needed to reattach your own hose.

Let's not scare the new drysuit divers, shall we?

theskull

 

[H2Andy]

Let's not scare the new drysuit divers, shall we?

lol... if the title of this thread didn't do that, nothing will

(yes.. shame on me... i was thinking "what will get their attention?")

next: giant octopus found whose diet consists solely of dry suits

 

[Daryl Morse]

The pressure of the squeeze itself probably wouldn't kill you, but if you can't control your descent due to the vacuum packaging, you could be in some trouble.

I must confess that I don't understand your point. When I initially descend, I usually drop to 25-30 fsw to meet up with my buddy. For the initial descent, I use the BCD to "put on the brakes". I usually don't put any air in my suit until I resume descending to the planned depth, at which point, I alternate between the BCD and the suit.

Sure I can feel a bit of squeeze at 1 ata, but it's not a big deal. I cannot imagine suddenly finding myself in a situation where the squeeze was so bad that I couldn't freely move my arm to inflate my suit, and it's not like the gradual loss of buoyancy is going to cause an uncontrollable descent.

Please describe such a scenario.