Lake and Quarry Diving

[kirkerik]

Yes you said it by better words . My English is weak in some areas

i understood what you said and i agree. I was just trying to make another point.

This is not actually right - the reason you make a small hole in the hood is exactly the opposite i.e. to let the air escape. If you have trapped air between the hood and your ear drum, you will probably have trouble equalising (or even worse have a reverse ear squeeze).

What you are describing is right, not with air though but water. If you don't 'flush' the water between the hood and your ear drum it will quickly heat up because of body temperature and stay at a much higher temperature than the water outside.

There is also the option of using the vented pro plugs or similar ear plugs that could help with cold and ears..

I understand the air between the hood and ear should be flushed but i thought a very small amount of air in the ear canal itself was ok. As long as there is warming water in the hood. No?

having said that i could be completely wrong about diving at deeper depths, deeper than say 25m?

 

[Simos]

I wouldn't keep any air in the air canal on purpose Kirkerik - even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to keep a tiny amount of air there...

 

[kirkerik]

I wouldn't keep any air in the air canal on purpose Kirkerik - even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to keep a tiny amount of air there...

Huh? Maybe i have funny ears then? I rarely seem to get ALL of the air out of my ear canal completely. When i do, upon being topside, i have a hard time getting the water out!

Despite my apparent anatomic anomaly i have never had ear damage or pain as long as i equalize properly. I have been down to about 47m. Scuba, that is...

Don't get me wrong. I do get plenty of water in my ears. I guess it could be the air in there feels like much more than it is. rofl

 

[Simos]

I don't really know if there's any air left but the point I was making is that I do take the time to flush the hood and make sure I get as much air out as I can - you can pull yourself down a couple of meters on a rope, 'open' the hood with you hand on each side and move your head around a bit to make sure air escapes. You might need to do this a few times because usually there is air trapped elsewhere in the suit and it escapes through the hood when you start diving.

I don't think a bit of air in the air canal will be a problem if you are not wearing a tight hood that doesn't let air escape. What will probably happen is that as you descend the air will just move/escape and water will find its way to you ear canal. Also with scuba, if the air that gets into the hood is exhaled air at depth i am guessing it wont cause you the same issue as it will be compressed already. Also don't forget that in scuba the rate of descend is a lot slower than Freediving..

The main issue I see is if you have a very tight hood and the trapped air from the surface cannot escape - as it compresses, it will lose volume and pull inwards on the hood and outwards on your ear drum. So I guess you'll have a problem if you are trying to equalise at the same time.

Regarding your question on whether it would cause a problem on deeper dives - I'd guess than you'd have a problem with equalisation in the first 10-20m if you have trapped air in your hood as the pressure gradient is greatest in the first part of the dive.

 

[kirkerik]

I don't really know if there's any air left but the point I was making is that I do take the time to flush the hood and make sure I get as much air out as I can - you can pull yourself down a couple of meters on a rope, 'open' the hood with you hand on each side and move your head around a bit to make sure air escapes. You might need to do this a few times because usually there is air trapped elsewhere in the suit and it escapes through the hood when you start diving.

Right, I understand. I used to do this for scuba.

I don't think a bit of air in the air canal will be a problem if you are not wearing a tight hood that doesn't let air escape. What will probably happen is that as you descend the air will just move/escape and water will find its way to you ear canal. Also with scuba, if the air that gets into the hood is exhaled air at depth i am guessing it wont cause you the same issue as it will be compressed already. Also don't forget that in scuba the rate of descend is a lot slower than Freediving..

Yes, i didn't think of the descent rate.

The main issue I see is if you have a very tight hood and the trapped air from the surface cannot escape - as it compresses, it will lose volume and pull inwards on the hood and outwards on your ear drum. So I guess you'll have a problem if you are trying to equalise at the same time.

Ahh! Good to be careful here. I remember now reading some divers put something in their hood to create a channel of sorts for air/water.

Regarding your question on whether it would cause a problem on deeper dives - I'd guess than you'd have a problem with equalisation in the first 10-20m if you have trapped air in your hood as the pressure gradient is greatest in the first part of the dive.

Yes that doesn't change for scuba or free diver. Diving to great depth is something i have not yet done. The deepest i have dove is around 155ft. or 47m and i was blowing bubbles. At that depth they sounded kind of like little bells! Truly remarkable freedivers are going as deep as 116m to 209m! I thought maybe issues may arise at these great depths.