Scuba Gear – Scuba Equipment

Scuba mask-off problems?

Today I did my first confined scuba dives. It was great, except when I took my mask off underwater. When breathing normally through my regulator, my nose keeps on blowing bubbles, whether I’m inhaling or exhaling. My instructor says he has never seen something like it. What is my problem?

I don’t think that there is actually physically anything wrong with you. It might just be a delay from your previous exhalation from the air in your sinus cavities. In scuba you are taught to inhale deeper and exhale a little more than normal. As long as there is no pain in the sinus area as you descend there shouldn’t be a problem.
You may notice this by breathing in through your mouth and exhaling through your nose and mouth at the same time. The time it takes for the air to be exhaled through the mouth is shorter than the length of time to exhale through your nose.
As long as you aren’t having water going up the nose you are probably the envy of those who have mask clearing problems.

Precious Souvenir (thinking About Going Diving for the First Time)?

In scuba diving what keeps the pressurized air from becoming too cold to breathe?

I know that scuba tanks are pressurized to 3000 psi. This is then released by the regulator to a pressure close to the water pressure for breathing. Now refrigeration works by pressurizing a gas, letting it cool down to ambient temperature, and then decompressing it. In the decompression it gets colder. How come the 3000 psi air inside the scuba tank, the pressure used to cool the atmosphere into liquid nitrogen, is not too cold to breathe on decompression?

When you take a breathe from your tank, the high pressure air is converted to medium pressure by the first stage of your regulator (the bit that fits on the tank). The mouth piece transfers this air to your mouth at ambient pressure. If the high pressure air came straight into your mouth, it’d blow your ‘ead off(ish). If you open the valve on a tank (check with the staff that you can waste a tank) fully and leave it to empty a 3000psi tank, once it’s near empty, feel the valve, you’ll find it’s pretty bloody cold, so you’re kinda right that when gases go from high pressure to low pressure (according to Charles’ law:at a constant pressure, the volume occupied by a given quantity of gas decreases as the temperature of the gas decreases (p1v1/t1=p2v2/t2) but the volume of the tank remains unchanged, the temp decreases.

Buying Scuba Gear from craiglist?

There is used gear that I saw on craigslist for $500.00 and I was curious if this is a good deal for a begginer diver.

"2 complete pro dive getteups scuba pro bc vests one sherwood brut regulator one aquarius aqua lung regulator 2 sherwood aluminium 3000psi tanks hydro good till 2011weight belts w/weights dive mask several to pick from fins snorkels misc items dive travel bags take ur pick 500.00 each great deal "

Some additional costs…

How old are the BCD? While regular servicing of a BCD is not required by a professional, the BCD might need to be examined and tuned-up by someone that knows what they are doing. This could range from $20 per BCD to $100 per depending on the person doing the servicing.

When was the last time the regulators were serviced? Most manufacturers suggest cleaning/tune up every other year and an overhaul on the opposite every other year. The regulators could be in complete bad shape and cost around $150 each to get overhauled.

While the hydro on the tanks are good until 2011, when was the last time it was visually inspected? You need visual inspection yearly and hydros every five years. The visuals cost about $20 per tank, and the hydros cost about $75. So in two years, you’ll need to get a new hyrdo anyway, and new AL 80 tanks cost about $160 and will have a brand new hyrdo.

If the gear is in perfect working condition, then $500 is a great deal. You could end up spending another $500 per kit to get them in safe, working condition.

Finding the depth of a swimmer?

In scuba diving, a regulator is used so that the pressure of the air the diver breathes is close to that of the ambient water. A reckless swimmer decides to use a hose sticking out of the surface to breathe underwater while diving in a lake. When the air pressure in the lungs is at a pressure of around 0.160 atmospheres below the ambient pressure, lung injury may occur. Find the depth at which the swimmer would experience such a pressure differential.

Is the swimmer in fresh water or salt water? One additional atmosphere of sea water is at a depth of 33 ft and one additional atmosphere of fresh water is at a depth of 34 ft. So,
sea water 33 * .16 = 5.3 feet
fresh water 34 * .16 = 5.4 feet

scuba diving help plz?

K, so im 13 years old and a begginning scuba diver. i have the traditional goggles and regulator. however i was reading a scuba magazine and it said tat they r making full face masks for rectreational diving (which ill do). they look more comfortable as u dont have to bite down on a regulator, the mask holds it. do u have any suggestions on which 1 i should use? and if u think i should go w/ the full face mask, do u know the price range for them. also, if u scuba dive and have a camera, which model/company would u suggest cuz im looking for a camera 2. becuz i have a camera but the extra waterproof case is 200 bucks so im not sure if its worthit. so, yeah, im taking suggestions for any of those questions, and id gladly appreciate it if u posted commet

-thx, kevin
thx every1

Full face masks run between US $1000 and $2000. They are nice, but do require an completely different skill set. It different clearing your ears, it’s different to clear your mask, it’s a little different for sharing air.

They are nice, though. Voice communications are wonderful for more technical skills, like search and recovery.

As far as a camera, I have a cheap 3.2mp Minolta Dimage XT, and case. Picked up both on e-bay for less than $200.

A bubble leaves a scuba divers regulator 30m down in the ocean.?

A bubble leaves a scuba divers regulator 30m down in the ocean. How big will it be when it reaches the surface

A. Same Size
B. Twice the Volume
C. 3 times the volume
D. 4 times the volume

1 barr (one normal atmosphere) = 10.2 meters of water pressure

30 meters of water pressure equal about 3 barr

so, the bubble starts at 1+3=4 (1 from the atmosphere and 3 from the water depth) barr of pressure and ends at 1 barr of pressure (from the atmosphere)

Because the pressure at the end is 1/4 the pressure at the start, the volume at the end is 4 times the volume at the start

I’d go with D. 4 times the volume

Is the Aqua Lung regulators a good choice or is there a better one for the money?

I am looking into scuba diving and am leaning towards the aqua lung legend regulator. It is expensive compared to others. Not knowing too much about all the various brands, I am finding it hard to know which one is a good one for the money.

The reg you by really depends on the type of diving you are or will be doing.
Will you be going into Nitrox diving?
Cold Water?
Tropical ?
Do you have problems with jaw fatigue?
Will you be travelling alot and have weight issues?

By all means spend as much as you can reasonably afford on a "really good " regulator, it is you life support system, but in this day and age one brand seldom stands ahead of the pack for long and many are designed with specific types of diving and divers in mind.
I personally have a Dacor set-up which is light that I use in warm water and in the Caribbean, and a Mares Abyss set-up that I use in the winter and diving in the North Atlantic.

This site will give you a good run down of reg tests in the past year…..
http://www.scubadiving.com/regulators

the home page for this site is a great resource for all things Scubadiving

http://www.scubadiving.com/GeneralMenu

What do you need to go scuba diving?

what are the basic things you need to survive and have a good time? I’m big into marine-type things like boating, sailing, etc. but I’ve never dived before. I can’t afford much right now, I know you probably need a regulator, tank, mask. Is there anything else you might need? nothing optional but just what you need, thanks!!

First and foremost, get training and certification. Even if you have a tank, your local dive shop will not fill a tank without proof of certification. And on dive trips, you won’t be let on the boat without certification as well.

In your first class, called Open Water, you will need what the industry calls "personal gear." Some shops rent everything, but most will require you to buy your personal gear. This includes mask, snorkel, fins and boots.

Everything else can be rented.

Now, to be fully decked out, ready to dive, you need the following items:

1. mask
2. snorkel (some consider this optional)
3. regulator set (1st stage and two second stages, pressure gauge, low pressure hose for BCD)
4. buoyancy control device (BCD)
5. tank
6. weight
7. boots
8. fins
9. exposure protection (ex. wetsuit)
10. depth gauge
11. timing device

If you’re going to own everything, it’s a average min. $1000 investment. Now, if you like high end gear, the min. cost can easily exceed $1000. If you’re really good buying used (great to have friends who dive), then you might be able to get into the sport for less.

Remember, certification first

What will happen if you don’t keep exhaling if u lose ur second stage regulator?

I am gonna learn to scuba dive at Mermet Springs (Southern Illinois) this July and i was reading my OPEN WATER DIVER workbook and I saw that you shouldn’t hold ur breath and I was just wondering why? will ur lungs explode or sumthing?

As you will learn in your SCUBA class, if you ascend while holding your breath you could suffer a lung over expansion injury which can be fatal. Your lungs don’t ‘explode’, but air is forced into your tissues and blood stream which can cause an embolis that can cause a heart attack or stroke. That is why you are taught to aways exhale when the regulator is out of your mouth. You will also about how, due to the equal pressure of air in lungs at a given depth that you can indeed exhale all the way to the surface and still have plenty of air in your lungs. This is known as an emmergency swimming ascent.