How cold is too cold for wetsuits?

[ComputerJoe]

I was not BSing.
Hot tubs and showers dialate the blood vessels that would allow larger bubbles to pass through and as well as warming a gas expands it. Warming may also lower the partial pressure on the disolved nitrogen in your dialated blood stream as well as causing the formation of more bubbles to boot. After a quick Google I found this link Hot water and DCS [Archive] - City of Houston Underwater Mariners - The Water's More Exciting with CHUM in it 'Bout 2/3 the way down there is a post by WADE a commercial diver...read it!

 

[skyking]

Thanks all


I did briefly consider peeing in the wetsuit, but it was a rental, then I wondered what the etiquette was with rental suits, then I wondered who might have peed in it already, then I stopped thinking about it! :11:

There are three types of people who dive wetsuits:

1. Those who will pee in them
2. Those who have peed in them
3. Liars

The first is a noob - take him/her under arm
The second is a good dive buddy with some experiences to share
The third I've found to be dangerous divers - find an excuse to dive with someone else before you end up part of a recovery operation.

I go dry when it's too darn cold to sit around sopping wet after a dive. Don't care what the BT is. Don't like the extra weight/complexity of a drysuit in general, so it's just one more tool in the kit to use when appropriate after considering the whole dive - temp, air consumption, depth, surface/bottom temp, surface facilities, crew safety (you gotta buy me a tall glass of hot cider for that story) and all the other things that make the total dive.

 

[Notso_Ken]

I was not BSing.
Hot tubs and showers dialate the blood vessels that would allow larger bubbles to pass through and as well as warming a gas expands it. Warming may also lower the partial pressure on the disolved nitrogen in your dialated blood stream as well as causing the formation of more bubbles to boot. After a quick Google I found this link Hot water and DCS [Archive] - City of Houston Underwater Mariners - The Water's More Exciting with CHUM in it 'Bout 2/3 the way down there is a post by WADE a commercial diver...read it!

While this IS true, it is all relative, as it is in relation to temperature. Solubility of gasses goes down at higher temps, so there is a change in N2 solubility with a hot shower. HOWEVER, the change is measured on an absolute temperature scale. So, you can't say we changed the temp by 5* out of 70* and the change is proportional to it. No, on the absolute scale, you are using Rankine degrees, and you are talking 5* out of around 500*. A pretty minor change. So, till somebody does the measurements and calculations, I'm not going to worry about pouring 90* water in my wetsuit, or taking a 110* shower an hour after a dive.


Ken

Now, a 140* sauna might givve me pasue for thought!

 

[gangrel441]

1/2 mm wetsuits are great for warm tropical waters of 84F or higher.

3mm wetsuits are great for tropical waters from 75F to 82F.

5mm wetsuits are ok for cool temperate waters from 65F to 75F.

7mm wetsuits aka 1/4 inch are not very good for anything. If the water is any cooler than 65F and a 5mm won't work, then you really should be in a drysuit. You also have buoyancy issues with these self-collapsing behemoth suits.

And needless to say, 7mm farmer johns are an outrage.

Drysuits start around $500 for cheaper ones, like the economy model BARE suit. Front entry is nice. Suspenders are nice too.

Spoken like someone who hasn't done much wet diving in cold water.

I wear a full body 7mm jumper with 5mm hood in Chicago in water well into the 40's without any problems. Yes the suits compress, but "self-collapsing behemoth suits" is a ludicrous overstatement. I also have had minimal change in bouyancy from the surface to past 70 ft in cold fresh water. I don't dive much deeper than that locally.

Given the choice between buying a 7mm wetsuit and a $500 drysuit, I would buy the 7mm wetsuit and save my money up to buy the RIGHT drysuit, rather than the CHEAPEST drysuit.

 

[jepuskar]

Yeah..dont buy a cheap drysuit... I made this mistake and a year later I bought a real drysuit.

I wont bash the cheap drysuit that I owned and had problems with (Seasoft) and I wont mention the drysuit that has made me very happy (DUI).

I just wont do it.