Lesson Learnt The Hard Way

colinicky · 5th August 2007, 15:32

On Friday I went diving for the first time in 10 weeks .I went through all the safety checks (so I thought ) I had a good neg & pos test on my Vision the night before & again on the boat so was happy ,did a longish prebreath of 8 minutes .The dive itself was an easy bimble in 42m max on a nice open wreck with 8m viz after 49min I decided to ascend with 24 TTS showing then I started to get a blinding headache & struggled to get a full breath so switched the BOV to OC & continued the ascent .At 6m I decided to go back on the loop & run it as pure O2 rebreather ,breathing was easier but I was not happy .

Jump to Saturday morning for the next dive ,I had changed the lime & checked the canister O ring & greased it & the spacer .So in I go to 35m ,bottom of the shot & I feel like I sucking through a straw & I have the worlds worst headache again .So up I went on OC again

.
Skipper offered me some more lime which I accepted as it was a different batch to mine .I even changed cylinders this time as I new they had been filled from a different source as well !
I had 3 hours sleep during the surface interval but still felt crap but did the second dive anyway .28 minutes bottom time with 17minutes of ascent & deco but still felt lousy & ended up bailing out again .By this time I was seriously p***ed of .

This morning I decided that maybe a hose was kinking whilest in use so on with the unit dry & yes there is a kink but not that bad so I crushed the hose manually & still had no resistance

so took the inhale hose of & bunged the end & could still breath so removed the exhale hose from my Kiss BOV on to find I could see the inside clearly ,no mushroom skin lerft on the frame .At some point probably on the first dive on friday the skin came of the mushroom valve & deposited itself in the exhale hose doing absolutely nothing !

The mistake I made was not checking the breathing loop on its own to check the one way valves worked .

Lesson learnt very nearly the hard way

***Decodiver*** · 5th August 2007, 16:01

Glad you survived.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Dave Cooper.

Skipbreather · 5th August 2007, 16:11

Excellent object lesson. Just goes to show that sometimes problems have simple, overlooked causes. There are various versions of the following saying, all holding true: “If something doesn’t seem right, find out why. You’ll live longer!” Thanks for sharing.

Drmike · 5th August 2007, 16:14

Quote: (Originally Posted by colinicky)

On Friday I went diving for the first time in 10 weeks .I went through all the safety checks (so I thought ) I had a good neg & pos test on my Vision the night before & again on the boat so was happy ,did a longish prebreath of 8 minutes .The dive itself was an easy bimble in 42m max on a nice open wreck with 8m viz after 49min I decided to ascend with 24 TTS showing then I started to get a blinding headache & struggled to get a full breath so switched the BOV to OC & continued the ascent .At 6m I decided to go back on the loop & run it as pure O2 rebreather ,breathing was easier but I was not happy .

Jump to Saturday morning for the next dive ,I had changed the lime & checked the canister O ring & greased it & the spacer .So in I go to 35m ,bottom of the shot & I feel like I sucking through a straw & I have the worlds worst headache again .So up I went on OC again

.
Skipper offered me some more lime which I accepted as it was a different batch to mine .I even changed cylinders this time as I new they had been filled from a different source as well !
I had 3 hours sleep during the surface interval but still felt crap but did the second dive anyway .28 minutes bottom time with 17minutes of ascent & deco but still felt lousy & ended up bailing out again .By this time I was seriously p***ed of .

This morning I decided that maybe a hose was kinking whilest in use so on with the unit dry & yes there is a kink but not that bad so I crushed the hose manually & still had no resistance

so took the inhale hose of & bunged the end & could still breath so removed the exhale hose from my Kiss BOV on to find I could see the inside clearly ,no mushroom skin lerft on the frame .At some point probably on the first dive on friday the skin came of the mushroom valve & deposited itself in the exhale hose doing absolutely nothing !

The mistake I made was not checking the breathing loop on its own to check the one way valves worked .

Lesson learnt very nearly the hard way

eek! thanks for sharing - a good reminder to us all to do those check valve tests

CeeBee · 5th August 2007, 16:17

Thank you for sharing, Honey..it takes guts to do it. Lesson here is share so others learn and it keeps these guys safer. Green the guy.

xxChristine

**wedivebc** · 5th August 2007, 17:24

Thanks for sharing, Good lesson there for all of us.
I am not sure I understand why you would go back on the loop when you had a blinding headache and difficult breathing though. Care to elaborate?

colinicky · 5th August 2007, 17:35

Quote: (Originally Posted by wedivebc)

Thanks for sharing, Good lesson there for all of us.
I am not sure I understand why you would go back on the loop when you had a blinding headache and difficult breathing though. Care to elaborate?

The thinking was along the lines of :- If I went back on the loop & empty it ,manually inject it full of O2 then that would get rid of the CO2 (I was still thinking scrubber problem here ) & I would have 100% O2 to flush the system ,every time it dropped to 1.3 I did another full O2 flush .This served 2 purposes the first being to flush the Helium as my bailout was 20/30 & secondly to speed up the deco so I could get out the water asap !
Maybe not the right option but hindsight (& a clear head

) is a wonderfull thing

***ScubaDadMiami*** · 5th August 2007, 17:56

How long after switching to OC before you felt a difference? Five breaths, 10, etc.? What did you feel during the worst of it? Please describe the feelings as you were coming around again after switching to OC.

colinicky · 5th August 2007, 18:48

Quote: (Originally Posted by ScubaDadMiami)

How long after switching to OC before you felt a difference? Five breaths, 10, etc.? What did you feel during the worst of it? Please describe the feelings as you were coming around again after switching to OC.

During the worst of it I lost concentration ,breathing was very fast & shallow .The headache was in the area just above the mask across the forehead were you get the join of hood & mask ,infact I checked the hood was actually down to the mask & not leaving a gap for the cold to be causing it . It is true that it creaps up on you without you realising how bad it is .
When I switched to OC my dil had been 19/15 & I went onto 20/30 & I would say that within 3-4 breaths I could feel my breathing beginning to slow down & get deeper .Probably after 2-3 minutes it felt as though a fog was clearing but the headache stayed untill I went to bed last night .
I think that I was getting some fresh gas on each breath but under exertion it was clearly not enough & I was rebreathing more "bad" gas than I was getting fresh .
I found it a very confusing situation to be in & the time scales & number of breaths could be way out .at the time all I wanted to do was breath & the hardest part was actually making myself stay down & do the deco commitment before surfacing .
To be honest before anyone asks I don't know if I could have switched to an OC reg or not ,I was glad of the BOV so that I didn't need to try the switch .

Sorry if this lot doesn't make a lot of sense but it's just the way it came out

***ScubaDadMiami*** · 5th August 2007, 19:10

That was an excellent description. Thanks. Have some green for sharing.

5th August 2007, 15:32	#1 (permalink)
colinicky Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Vision Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: uk Posts: 667	Lesson Learnt The Hard Way On Friday I went diving for the first time in 10 weeks .I went through all the safety checks (so I thought ) I had a good neg & pos test on my Vision the night before & again on the boat so was happy ,did a longish prebreath of 8 minutes .The dive itself was an easy bimble in 42m max on a nice open wreck with 8m viz after 49min I decided to ascend with 24 TTS showing then I started to get a blinding headache & struggled to get a full breath so switched the BOV to OC & continued the ascent .At 6m I decided to go back on the loop & run it as pure O2 rebreather ,breathing was easier but I was not happy . Jump to Saturday morning for the next dive ,I had changed the lime & checked the canister O ring & greased it & the spacer .So in I go to 35m ,bottom of the shot & I feel like I sucking through a straw & I have the worlds worst headache again .So up I went on OC again . Skipper offered me some more lime which I accepted as it was a different batch to mine .I even changed cylinders this time as I new they had been filled from a different source as well ! I had 3 hours sleep during the surface interval but still felt crap but did the second dive anyway .28 minutes bottom time with 17minutes of ascent & deco but still felt lousy & ended up bailing out again .By this time I was seriously p***ed of . This morning I decided that maybe a hose was kinking whilest in use so on with the unit dry & yes there is a kink but not that bad so I crushed the hose manually & still had no resistance so took the inhale hose of & bunged the end & could still breath so removed the exhale hose from my Kiss BOV on to find I could see the inside clearly ,no mushroom skin lerft on the frame .At some point probably on the first dive on friday the skin came of the mushroom valve & deposited itself in the exhale hose doing absolutely nothing ! The mistake I made was not checking the breathing loop on its own to check the one way valves worked . Lesson learnt very nearly the hard way __________________ Colin I trust my rebreather completely , I just don't trust the user onwards & downwards
(Online)

5th August 2007, 16:01	#2 (permalink)
*Decodiver* Administrator Current Rebreather/s: Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Other CCR Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Geneva Posts: 2,181	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Glad you survived. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Dave Cooper. __________________ CCR/OC Trimix Instructor Trainer CCR Training to Mixed Gas in Switzerland, France, UK & Germany on Megalodon/COPIS-Megalodon/KISS/Sport KISS/Ouroboros/rEvo/Inspiration/Evolution/Sentinel www.zerogravitydiving.com Rebreather World Terms & Conditions
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5th August 2007, 16:11	#3 (permalink)
Skipbreather Reads the fine print Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet MK 15.X Home Build Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA Posts: 557	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Excellent object lesson. Just goes to show that sometimes problems have simple, overlooked causes. There are various versions of the following saying, all holding true: “If something doesn’t seem right, find out why. You’ll live longer!” Thanks for sharing. __________________ "Entropy RULES! Enjoy the interim."
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5th August 2007, 16:14	#4 (permalink)
Drmike Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: MK 15.X Ouroboros Other CCR Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other CCR Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 3,325	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Quote: (Originally Posted by colinicky) On Friday I went diving for the first time in 10 weeks .I went through all the safety checks (so I thought ) I had a good neg & pos test on my Vision the night before & again on the boat so was happy ,did a longish prebreath of 8 minutes .The dive itself was an easy bimble in 42m max on a nice open wreck with 8m viz after 49min I decided to ascend with 24 TTS showing then I started to get a blinding headache & struggled to get a full breath so switched the BOV to OC & continued the ascent .At 6m I decided to go back on the loop & run it as pure O2 rebreather ,breathing was easier but I was not happy . Jump to Saturday morning for the next dive ,I had changed the lime & checked the canister O ring & greased it & the spacer .So in I go to 35m ,bottom of the shot & I feel like I sucking through a straw & I have the worlds worst headache again .So up I went on OC again . Skipper offered me some more lime which I accepted as it was a different batch to mine .I even changed cylinders this time as I new they had been filled from a different source as well ! I had 3 hours sleep during the surface interval but still felt crap but did the second dive anyway .28 minutes bottom time with 17minutes of ascent & deco but still felt lousy & ended up bailing out again .By this time I was seriously p***ed of . This morning I decided that maybe a hose was kinking whilest in use so on with the unit dry & yes there is a kink but not that bad so I crushed the hose manually & still had no resistance so took the inhale hose of & bunged the end & could still breath so removed the exhale hose from my Kiss BOV on to find I could see the inside clearly ,no mushroom skin lerft on the frame .At some point probably on the first dive on friday the skin came of the mushroom valve & deposited itself in the exhale hose doing absolutely nothing ! The mistake I made was not checking the breathing loop on its own to check the one way valves worked . Lesson learnt very nearly the hard way eek! thanks for sharing - a good reminder to us all to do those check valve tests __________________ Cave diving is a sport Wreck diving is a sport Diving in general is a sport 'Rebreather diving' is not a sport its the delusional obsession with a highly dangerous and often inappropriate piece of equipment
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5th August 2007, 16:17	#5 (permalink)
CeeBee Found pills and ate them. Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Liverpool Posts: 1,019	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Thank you for sharing, Honey..it takes guts to do it. Lesson here is share so others learn and it keeps these guys safer. Green the guy. xxChristine __________________ "In Ceebs We Trust. All others pay cash." Denz 1973-2007 King of the One-Liners www.justgiving.com/markginsberg1
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5th August 2007, 17:24	#6 (permalink)
wedivebc Dave Tomblin Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Inspiration Classic Sport Kiss Other CCR Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Vancouver Island BC Canada Posts: 1,444	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Thanks for sharing, Good lesson there for all of us. I am not sure I understand why you would go back on the loop when you had a blinding headache and difficult breathing though. Care to elaborate? __________________ Cheers, Dave.... Man is the only animal burdened with the knowledge he will eventually die
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5th August 2007, 17:35	#7 (permalink)
colinicky Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Vision Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: uk Posts: 667	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Quote: (Originally Posted by wedivebc) Thanks for sharing, Good lesson there for all of us. I am not sure I understand why you would go back on the loop when you had a blinding headache and difficult breathing though. Care to elaborate? The thinking was along the lines of :- If I went back on the loop & empty it ,manually inject it full of O2 then that would get rid of the CO2 (I was still thinking scrubber problem here ) & I would have 100% O2 to flush the system ,every time it dropped to 1.3 I did another full O2 flush .This served 2 purposes the first being to flush the Helium as my bailout was 20/30 & secondly to speed up the deco so I could get out the water asap ! Maybe not the right option but hindsight (& a clear head ) is a wonderfull thing __________________ Colin I trust my rebreather completely , I just don't trust the user onwards & downwards
(Online)

5th August 2007, 17:56	#8 (permalink)
*ScubaDadMiami* Moderator Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 2,132	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way How long after switching to OC before you felt a difference? Five breaths, 10, etc.? What did you feel during the worst of it? Please describe the feelings as you were coming around again after switching to OC. __________________ Howard Packer IANTD CCR Instructor Miami Beach, Florida CCRDiveTraining.com
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5th August 2007, 18:48	#9 (permalink)
colinicky Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Vision Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: uk Posts: 667	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way Quote: (Originally Posted by ScubaDadMiami) How long after switching to OC before you felt a difference? Five breaths, 10, etc.? What did you feel during the worst of it? Please describe the feelings as you were coming around again after switching to OC. During the worst of it I lost concentration ,breathing was very fast & shallow .The headache was in the area just above the mask across the forehead were you get the join of hood & mask ,infact I checked the hood was actually down to the mask & not leaving a gap for the cold to be causing it . It is true that it creaps up on you without you realising how bad it is . When I switched to OC my dil had been 19/15 & I went onto 20/30 & I would say that within 3-4 breaths I could feel my breathing beginning to slow down & get deeper .Probably after 2-3 minutes it felt as though a fog was clearing but the headache stayed untill I went to bed last night . I think that I was getting some fresh gas on each breath but under exertion it was clearly not enough & I was rebreathing more "bad" gas than I was getting fresh . I found it a very confusing situation to be in & the time scales & number of breaths could be way out .at the time all I wanted to do was breath & the hardest part was actually making myself stay down & do the deco commitment before surfacing . To be honest before anyone asks I don't know if I could have switched to an OC reg or not ,I was glad of the BOV so that I didn't need to try the switch . Sorry if this lot doesn't make a lot of sense but it's just the way it came out __________________ Colin I trust my rebreather completely , I just don't trust the user onwards & downwards Last edited by colinicky : 5th August 2007 at 19:13.
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5th August 2007, 19:10	#10 (permalink)
*ScubaDadMiami* Moderator Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 2,132	Re: Lesson Learnt The Hard Way That was an excellent description. Thanks. Have some green for sharing. __________________ Howard Packer IANTD CCR Instructor Miami Beach, Florida CCRDiveTraining.com
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