| Imported post
Hi Guys,
I don't want to fuel the flames... I also rarely venture onto here, please don't be too nasty!
Stop Breathe think act!! (thanks Phil)
The correct DIR hose position is: (As Bob has said)
Left post-Backup, SPG, Suit Inflator (if not using Argon)
Right Post- Long hose, Wing inflator.
The reason is that the most common cause of cylinder valve failure mode, is roll off. The right post will not roll off, but roll on. The left post will roll off and close. In the DIR config, this would leave you without suit gas, backup reg, and SPG. None of these are, at that point, critical-you have gas to breathe and can maintain buoyancy control while you asses and deal with the problem.
Bear in mind that one of the DIR diving protocols is to asses your breathing every 5 minutes, and compare this to an expected pressure drop. If this was not to occur, then point one would be to check your isolator, point two to check the left post. It is also DIR technique to do flow checks (checking all valves) periodically, and certainly after any contact with an overhead.
If your left post is smashed or otherwise completely u/s, and you get hit for an air share, having the inflator off the right post gives you the option of breathing off the inflator (OK pretty difficult-but possible) whilst still passing off your long hose. Note this is not breathing off the "bag"-the idea is to press inflate and deflate buttons at the same time while breathing off the oral inflator.
That is the reasoning behind the wing inflator configuration! The entire DIR configuration is based on logic like this - many people seem to extract parts of it, without looking at the whole and point out "shortcomings". It is really important-and I'm sure that all DIR divers would agree, to be aware that gear is only a tiny part of what DIR is about. DIR is much more about diving skills and responses to situations. Whether you chose to follow a DIR philosophy or not, or chose to extract the parts of the system that you want to is up to you- but please be aware that the system is designed to be used complete!
Hope that helps
Adam  |