tips & curiosities
WHEN TO SERVICE DIVING REGULATORS?
Do I have to get my newly bought regulator serviced annually if so far I have used it for less then ten dives?
A lot of information that I have used to write this article comes from the research that was conducted at the laboratory of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology.
Relying on your friend’s opinion on how reliable a regulator is or whether it is brand new or almost never used, can lead you to letting your guard down. If the regulator is working fine and I have dived with it only four times, then why would I service it and waste my money?
ELECTRIC DECOMPRESSION (IMPRESSIONS AND THOUGHTS OF A PRACTITIONER).
Have you ever felt cold under water?
Have you ever wondered how to change this?
For me, decompression is a routine part of every dive. It’s usually the longest static part, and if I consider that most of my dives happen in the temperatures below 10 degrees, then my association with the end of a dive is rather “cool”. 😉
I would like to have this article rely on my own feelings and the experience that I got after 90 dives to an average depth of 100 meters. Don’t be confused by the fact that I am writing about deep diving, as this concerns every diver considering the use of a heating system.
I NEED TO PEE...
You pee, because you drink a lot.
You drink a lot, because you do not want to get DCS.
Do you know why you should pee when diving?
Let's start from drinking.
You should hydrate before diving. This doesn’t mean that you should drink a bottle of water just before diving in, but you should rather maintain a higher hydration level for several days preceding a diving weekend.
What for?
50 BAR/RESERVE – WILD RIDE.
How long will my reserve last?
How to check whether I can swim from one excavator to the other with the pressure gauge arrow at 50 bar?*
It’s sort of like driving from Warsaw to Gdynia. Will you make it after the fuel light comes on if the navigation still shows 100 km to your destination? I don’t care because I can refuel at the nearest gas station and keep on driving!
The problem with diving is that there are rarely any cylinder filling stations underwater.
1 MILLION LUMENS
Completely new flashlights for divers
The most powerful diving flashlights reach some 10 thousand lumens. The new one is 100 times stronger. How much would you be willing to pay for such a flashlight?
Just like you, I am a diver. I know nothing about the technology behind my lights, I am no expert in light measurements – I can’t measure how much a thousand lumens is and how much 8 thousand is.
I’ve been diving long enough to write about how I thought I knew something about light and bought a couple of really strong and expensive flashlights.
FREEFLOW
Or how to use your regulator
Read this short text to learn how to cope with breathing problems during diving.
NOTE! You will need a bottle with a twist cap, e.g. a juice or soda bottle, a diving mask and gloves.
PROCEDURES
How to become a better diver?
Have you ever wondered why do you show the “ascent” signal after passing on the octopus?
Why do you first check if your backup regulator works before starting a v-drill?
Why is battery voltage in backup flashlights measured before cave diving?
Where are diving procedures developed? Enjoy the read.
STAGE CYLINDER (STAGE)
How to become a better diver?
A stage is an additional tank mounted at the side of a diver and taken under water in addition to a single tank or twinset for 3 reasons: as an additional bottom gas cylinder, as a decompression gas cylinder, as a gas cylinder for filling/suppling additional devices
How to choose its size? Why recreational divers do not use stages?
THE CROTH STRAP
How to become a better diver?
The crotch strap is a standard element of rigs that include a harness and plate, but it can be successfully used in many traditional jackets.
The purpose of the crotch strap is to hold your gear on your back in such a way so that it cannot move towards the diver’s head. In other words, whether your head underwater is directed towards the surface or the bottom, it cannot cause your gear to shift.
MANOMETERS
Did you know that while opening the tank valve you shouldn’t turn the manometer face (glass) down?
If there is 30 bar left in the tank, is there actually 30 bar?
What is a manometer accuracy class?
SCUBA CYLINDER VALVES
Introduction and their impact on a diver’s actions
Every cylinder has a valve of some kind – we usually associate it with the moment when we are getting prepared for a dive: you need to open the valve to check your gear. The next moment when the valve comes into play is when we finish diving – you need to close the valve to disassemble your gear.
Is there any reason for us to know more about scuba cylinder valves?
WHAT KIND OF DIVERS ARE WOMEN?
My twenty years as a diving instructor taught me that well-trained women are better divers than men.
They are more focused during learning, usually communicate their needs clearly, evaluate risk adequately and… have no problem with saying they won’t do something because they can’t or are afraid. (...)
In today’s article, I’ll focus on a few things that might help women dive better.
HOW TO SELECT A DIVING TORCH?
Everyone have heard that a certain type of flashlights is the best.
Without specialized knowledge, we are often lured by commercials based on the “BESTs: highest amount of lumens, highest wattage, brightest light.
Beginners may think that if something can output 10,000 lumens, it's better than the one with 1000 lumens. Well, not quite.
POWERJET FINS – soft SF AND hard HD
Properly matched fins will not only reduce gas consumption by nearly 30% but also significantly increase maneuverability, speed control and safety during diving for nearly every diver. Read more to see if you belong to those divers who will benefit from fin matching.
Yes, it’s true: a beginner diver can significantly improve their skills by changing fins. How to do it?
USEFUL TIPS AND TRICKS FOR BEGINNER TECHNICAL DIVERS
Wait... I am a recreational diver, what now? Is this article not for me?
It is definitely for you. Only a small part of diving knowledge and experience come from participation in courses. What builds your confidence and ensures safety underwater is arduous training and participation in interesting dives that let you verify and use your skills.
Doing one course a year is already a lot. In the meantime, join a group of more experienced divers that take part in interesting events.
Listen, watch and ask – learn how to dive from divers!
Avoid instructors that claim they...
REGULATOR, part II
Dispelling the Myths
Does the diving world end if I drop my regulator with the connection unsecured into the water (the connection usually is a “screw” that is screwed into the tank valve)?
Is puncturing the dry chamber diaphragm dangerous?
In the second part of the article on regulators, you will read, amongst other things, why flooding a regulator is not a problem and how puncturing the dry chamber diaphragm may increase your diving safety...
REGULATOR, part I
In 2014, the standard governing requirements for diving regulators was drafted and came into force. Compared to the previous EN250 standard, it imposes greater requirements for easy breathing (less respiratory work is required), even when a regulator is used by two divers. It meant that many manufacturers had to significantly modify their products. Certain regulator models of less- and well-known manufacturers disappeared from the market. They were replaced by new regulators that meet the strict requirements of the standard and, consequently, improve our breathing comfort underwater.
A DIVING HAT
Is a very thick hood best for cold water?
Is it possible, that your hood is “heating” your more in a wetsuit than in a drysuit?
What should be taken into consideration when choosing a hood?
Your hood is an important component of your diving equipment. Yet its significance seems to be a bit obscure from the technical point of view. It works very similar to a wetsuit.
Wetsuit thickness is important; however, from a certain moment on, it becomes far more important, how much water enters under the wetsuit!
BUOYANT MOOD
Previously, you may have read the article on underwater light communication published in Perfect Diver. Now's the time to get your message to the top!
Those who work underwater will take this literally, as they are permanently connected with the surface operator by means of a special wire. It enables unhindered two-way communication similar to a telephone conversation. Alternatively, some divers use wireless communication. However, the most popular means of communication with the surface, that is used by almost every diver, is a diving buoy.
Does every diver need to use a buoy? What color to choose? When to use it?
GET IT ON WITH UNDERWATER CUTTING
Did you ever wonder why a diver needs a knife?
You must have several ideas.
30 cm long, with a blade covered with sharp, saw-like teeth at one end and a steel “hammer” at the hilt’s end? The knife rests in a sturdy rubber sheath that may be attached in the calf area.
Before you start grinning, let’s take a look at the history of diving, which will somewhat change your perception of this large piece of diving equipment.
DIVING SETUPS, part IV
Special edition – technical training for divers preparing for emergency response
There are two ways to ensure that using a modular system will be even more enjoyable: 1. getting it well adjusted to your body and needs; 2. getting to know the "perks".
Perks are the topic of today's article about diving setups, which will also be the last part in the series. We'll be discussing the following topics: d-ring locations, techniques for clipping and unclipping bolt snaps, putting a modular system on and removing it.
DIVING SETUPS, part III
Harness adjustment
You should be one with the tank on your back. It should only move when you do and exactly in the same direction.
The simplest way to control your buoyancy is to control all equipment elements. If your tank is moving up and down or sideways, it interferes buoyancy control and the diver’s position both under water and on the surface. Importantly, this also applies to a diver who needs emergency assistance. Rescue will be more efficient if the equipment stabilizes the diver in a predictable manner.
LIGHT UNDER WATER
How to choose a mainlight? (communication, DPV, documentation)
The most common form of developing conscious communication using underwater light is through three communication steps;
1. Shining a torch on the hand signals
2. Drawing circle with the light (ok) and fast movement (I need help)
3. Fully aware communication that uses light not only to pass specific information, but above all to increase freedom under water.
DIVING SETUPS, part II
One of the most important features of the "backmount" configuration (cylinder or cylinders mounted on the back) is the highest possible stability of the cylinder, in every position of the diver.
Imagine a diver who wants to hover head down, or to turn around his own, horizontally positioned body (such skills are useful inside tight wrecks). If the configuration is well chosen and well-fitting, there will not be a problem. So the diver's equipment will move with the diver as if they were one. On the other hand, if the cylinder on the back moves, it affects not only the comfort, but also the safety of the diver.
DIVING SETUPS, part I
Both equipment components and diving techniques are repeated in various combinations creating different configurations and equipment procedures.
In the next few articles we will describe the equipment and procedures in such a way that each diver will be able to refine his perfect configuration.
The place where the tank is mounted on the divers is also the basic name of their equipment configuration. And so the tanks mounted on the back are ‘backmount’, on the side is ‘sidemount’, pushed before the diver is ‘nomount’, and mounted on the front, such as military rebreathers are ‘frontmount’.
PRAGMATIC DECOMPRESSION, part II (knowledge for intermediate divers)
Pragmatic decompression is a simple way to implement a decompression plan that is easy to remember and based on previous calculations. To ascent safely using it we need: a gauge – and it’s going to be easier for us if the gauge allows us to restart the average depth; a timer – the most useful is a simple stopwatch which can be switched on independently from the dive time, decompression software; an instructor who uses pragmatic decompression for his own dives...
PRAGMATIC DECOMPRESSION, part I (knowledge for intermediate divers)
How does pragmatic decompression look in practice? Every dive ends with decompression. The way of executing decompression depends on diver’s knowledge, skills and experience: from implementing it in a form of a single safety stop and then continuing it after surfacing (so called no-decompression dives), watching and following dive computer readings, through ascending based on a written plan, called a ‘runtime’, up to a smooth adjusting of a previously generated plan to the real underwater conditions.
SIDEMOUNT
Is it worth switching? And if yes how to begin?
The sidemount configuration has recently become popular. But let us not kid ourselves – it’s happening mainly due to the manufacturers of diving equipment. A new product emerged, there was a niche for it, so marketing and sales started. That's life... The same happened with certification agencies, they also reacted commercially.
So now we have a package: both equipment and trainings are widely available. They are sometimes better and sometimes worse…
WHY SHOULDN'T WE USE HOSES IN DIFFERENT COLOURS FOR GAS DETERMINATION?
If you use hoses in different colours to determine gases, then such system will stop working shortly after descending. It is dangerous to use coloured elements underwater as markings in critical procedures. The reason is the human eye colour perception changes with increasing depth. The use of a coloured hose as a way to determine the type of gas can cause considerable doubt exactly when you need to be sure that you have chosen the right gas.