TIL I was purging my regs wrong for 3 years

I was at a safety meeting in Houston last month when an old salt named Dave pointed out I was holding my second stage upside down while purging. Turns out I was letting water drain right back into the diaphragm. He showed me the right way and my regs stopped acting up on deep dives. Has anyone else had a basic skill blow up in their face like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretc426d ago

Oh man, I did the exact same thing for years until a divemaster laughed at me in Roatan.

parker_webb14d ago

Hold up, flipping the reg that way actually forces water into the exhaust tee if you don't angle it right, which can cause freeflow issues on the surface. Keeping the second stage upright lets gravity drain the mouthpiece without dumping water back into the case, but that's only if you're breathing off it at the same time. Dave's trick might work for his setup, but I've seen more regs flood from people overthinking purge angles than from just pressing the button like normal.

mitchell.avery14d ago

Ever actually pulled one apart after a surface freeflow? I have. It's never just the purge.