Testing New Equipment (reg and BC) Purchases

[thdmate]

I recently got my first set of equipment (primary and octo regs, and BCD), after using shop rentals for several years whenever I went diving. Does anyone have any advice on evaluating and ramping up use of the new stuff? How many pool and/or shallow dives are suggested before I can fully trust the regs and bcd on deeper dives?

[navyhmc]

Usually, I will do one pool dive-if possible with new gear, if nothing else, lust to get used to it and learn it's idiosyncracies. If not and it's something like a regulator I will make my first dive somewhere near a dive shop so if it fails, I can quickly rent one to save the dive.

[SarahBella]

We try and do at least one pool dive-maybe more and then the first dive of the season is at a shallow spot in the lake(30-35 feet). A good pool test will give you an idea of how things are, and then a trip to the lake to test gear at a bit more depth. A good test cant hurt.

[medic001918]

At least a pool dive is good advice. But I would go more along the lines of saying that you should be in the pool (or other comfortable/controlled environment) until you feel that you are:

A: Comfortable with the new gear and it's operation.
B: Feel confident that it's all adjusted properly for you and your diving
C: Feel confident that you can manage the equipment should it fail (that you haven't changed your hose config, etc).
D: Feel that your buoyancy and trim are under control.

Once you have those things down, I'd start diving them regularly. I made a large gear change recently (went to doubles) and I plan on getting in the pool probably 6-10 times before actually taking them out diving.

Shane

[SkuaSeptember]

Start by doing a complete and thorough gear assembly and donning in your living room.Very complete. Make sure that when you fully inflate the bcd the over pressure relief valve works and then stops and holds air. Make sure every dump vavle works, don't forget the shoulder dump when you pull the inflator hose. Orally inflte your bcd. Breathe from the reg and the octo, check the pressure guage. Turn off the air, purge the system and then try breathing through each reg. You might get a hard breath or three but then you should get nothing - if can still draw even a hard breath something isn't seating properly. Try the rig on and get a feel for where everything is by touch. Disassemble and repeat.
Then go for a nice easy dive where the only expectation is to get to know your new toys! If nothing fails after the first few minutes it unlikely that it will. You may however find that you want to have your reg tweaked a little to either breathe a little easier or a little harder to stop a tendancy towards a minor free flow.
From then on its a matter of proper maintainence and predive checks.
Enjoy!

[thdmate]

Thanks to all for the great tips. I appreciate your help!

[comet24]

I will put new regs on a tank in the house and check everything out. Then I try to get a dive in the pool or better the Aquarium. Also like to make the first dive on new gear BC, reg, computer shallow dive less the 40' with no overhead environment. Gear these days is very reliable. Mostly just need to make sure everything was assembled properly and is working fine.

[CODMAN]

My routine is the following
1- test the equipment in a 3 foot pool (just submerged) if all works well,
2- test the gear in a real pool: either the 12 foot deep pool my LDS teaches in, or the city's diving pool which is 50 feet deep (I then stay very close to my buddy)
3- Go for a first real dive, preferably not too deep. I also inofrm my buddy that my gear is relatively new so he shouldn't be surprised that I am sticking to him/her like glue!

For the first couple of dives, I stay very attentive to how the gear is functionning and stay very close to my buddy, just in case...

Cheers!