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This drill is called
a "Valve Drill" because it relates to all the valves...but it
is the Isolation Manifold part which is the most complex. It is used to
practice shutting down pillar valves and re-opening them so that if a failure
should occur, then you will be ready to deal with it.
This list may seem a little laborious but the idea is to give you the routine/muscle memory so that if it comes to the real thing, it can be achieved with little effort. |
This skill set should be easily achievable by most people with only the odd exception due to old injuries. Difficulties can be experiences with poor kit choice or incorrectly fitted gear, most notably poor fitting drysuits, undersuits and buoyancy compensators.
It is assumed that your primary regulator is attached to your right post and backup to the left post along with the contents gauge.
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1.
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Use hand signals to indicate that your buddy should watch you whilst you perform the drill and ask if that is OK? |
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2.
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He should confirm OK. |
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3.
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Check that your back-up regulator is working by briefly purging it. |
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4.
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Reach behind your head with your right hand and turn the right hand pillar valve off. |
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5.
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Breath your primary regulator down to nothing. In the event of a failure this would enable you to listen to see if bubbles are still being emitted from that post and take a further course of action. |
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6.
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Switch to your back-up regulator and clip off your primary regulator to a D-Ring. |
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7.
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Reopen your right hand pillar valve and briefly purge your primary regulator to check that it is working properly. |
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8.
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Turn off your isolation manifold and immediately reopen it. |
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9.
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Unclip your primary regulator. |
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10.
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Reach behind your head with your left hand and turn the left hand valve off. |
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11.
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Breath the backup regulator down to nothing, (again this would enable you to listen to see if bubbles were still being emitted,) then switch back to the primary regulator. |
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12.
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Reopen the left hand pillar valve. |
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13.
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Purge the backup regulator to make sure that it is working. |
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14.
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Unclip the contents gauge, check it and then clip it off again |
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15.
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Check that all decompression bottles will turn on but are turned OFF to prevent them being accidentally breathed at depth. They should however be kept pressurised to prevent water ingress into the internals and as a check against regulator failure. |
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16.
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Check that any argon or inflation system is fully open and can still be turned off |
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17.
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Indicate to your buddy that you are OK and have finished the drill, now you can watch him... |
The "Isolation Manifold Failure Modes" page gives information on the types of failure which can occur and the "Isolation Manifold Failure Mode Flow Chart" gives the steps you would follow in detail.
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Hit
Counter Complements of http://www.digits.com.
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Diving can be
a hazardous sport and the information contained within this site is
not intended to replace formal training. |
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© Copyright H Beasley 13 March 2003