Vented Masks

[benpanter]

Bit of a heads up to anyone who is instructing...

We teach each year's crop of trainees in a oner and get everything out the way in the first term. The lectures come first and then a weekend in the pool followed by a weekend in open water.

We had a problem with a mask which one of our trainees brought along this year. The mask has a hard plastic nose cover, and a vent underneath that nose cover - something which none of us had encountered before.

Two problems caused by this:

# clearing ears isn't easy with gloves on (fingers need to be forced up inside the nose cover, gloved fingers are verging on being to big for this)

# mask clearing requires a head down rather than head up position, and the head up position does not work.

So I got the trainee with a very favourable report from the instructor who had taken her in the pool session. She was very confident and capable, and seemed to be clearing her mask instinctivly. Unfortunalty when we came to the partial flood, she didn't quite get it right (water was still in the mask) so I demonstrated that the neck should be straight, looking upwards. This didn't work - as the exhaled air just went straight out through the vent, in fact letting more water in.

Note at this point I still did not understand what was going on - I thought that she must have a hole in her mask-skirt. Luckily she was exceptionally calm and collected and I lifted her to the surface (we were only in 3m). On the shore we took the mask apart and worked out what was going on, and she passed all the other practical sessions easily.

I'm *not* after apportioning blame here - my fault for trusting the previous instructor / my fault for not investigating the mask more thoughrolly / previous instructor for not flagging up the problem - the list goes on...

I'd just like to issue a bit of a warning that there are such masks out there, and traditional mask clearing techniques DO NOT WORK with them - a head forward postion works exceptionally well though.

Ben

[Digger]

I've tried to use these masks before, and have found a few advantages to them, but found a fair few disadvantages too. You can clear the mask by just blowing out through the nose, very little pressure is required against the frame to do it.

I had problems pinching my nose with one, and that was without gloves. Eventually I gae up using this method, and developed the whole swallowing technique, which worked, but took me about an hour in the water before I was confident with it. It has proven useful on dives where I don't have a free hand now I have the technique, but I have to remind myself to do it with trainees, otherwise we could have some painful ears for a while!

I'd advise against them to be honest for training. If people want to use this sort of mask in future, fine, but it can cause problems early on. I'm amazed she could equalise with any sort of gloves on, especially thicker ones.

She may also have problems if she comes to instructor training events (which will be in a fair while yet, but it i a consideration) in one surely, as teaching mask-clearing to a group that don't have these vents will be a little difficult, as you've highlighted.

[Bob Fry]

I've been using one of these for some years now, and don't understand why anyone uses anything else. I have a moustache, and it solved an obvious problem instantly. Ear and mask clearing become completely automatic and hands free with practise- I rarely need to touch my mask in a season's diving; I automatically balance out ears by breathing out through the nose on descents, maintaining ambient pressure thereby!Water drains out without any conscious input from me. The mask actually pumps it out.I passed my Dive Leader dive clearing Horsea water in quantity from my mask non stop hands free throughout; on my exit, the glass almost fell from the skirt! The valve works.Standard mask clearing can be done, but it's a pointless trick unless you change masks. Still, if you need to clear your ears, I use both index fingers, but often dive with only one glove, for many reasons. Try fingerless. TUSA make a side valved mask with a standard nose piece. I wish I could find one. A real problem is that if someone offers you a DV upside down (as they DO!), you cannot use it!

sounds like you found a bright trainee!



Bit of a heads up to anyone who is instructing...

We teach each year's crop of trainees in a oner and get everything out the way in the first term. The lectures come first and then a weekend in the pool followed by a weekend in open water.

We had a problem with a mask which one of our trainees brought along this year. The mask has a hard plastic nose cover, and a vent underneath that nose cover - something which none of us had encountered before.

Two problems caused by this:

# clearing ears isn't easy with gloves on (fingers need to be forced up inside the nose cover, gloved fingers are verging on being to big for this)

# mask clearing requires a head down rather than head up position, and the head up position does not work.

So I got the trainee with a very favourable report from the instructor who had taken her in the pool session. She was very confident and capable, and seemed to be clearing her mask instinctivly. Unfortunalty when we came to the partial flood, she didn't quite get it right (water was still in the mask) so I demonstrated that the neck should be straight, looking upwards. This didn't work - as the exhaled air just went straight out through the vent, in fact letting more water in.

Note at this point I still did not understand what was going on - I thought that she must have a hole in her mask-skirt. Luckily she was exceptionally calm and collected and I lifted her to the surface (we were only in 3m). On the shore we took the mask apart and worked out what was going on, and she passed all the other practical sessions easily.

I'm *not* after apportioning blame here - my fault for trusting the previous instructor / my fault for not investigating the mask more thoughrolly / previous instructor for not flagging up the problem - the list goes on...

I'd just like to issue a bit of a warning that there are such masks out there, and traditional mask clearing techniques DO NOT WORK with them - a head forward postion works exceptionally well though.

Ben

[derek perry]

These have been around from the early seventies and many masks used to come with these valves sealed up. If you wanted to use them you would have to cut the outer piece of rubber out to use the automatic valve. If you didn't want to use it as a valved mask you just left it as it was.
The only real problem ever experienced was if the seal went during a dive the mask would begin to flood. It never realy caught on so manufacturers seemed to fade them out.

Derek


Bit of a heads up to anyone who is instructing...

We teach each year's crop of trainees in a oner and get everything out the way in the first term. The lectures come first and then a weekend in the pool followed by a weekend in open water.

We had a problem with a mask which one of our trainees brought along this year. The mask has a hard plastic nose cover, and a vent underneath that nose cover - something which none of us had encountered before.

Two problems caused by this:

# clearing ears isn't easy with gloves on (fingers need to be forced up inside the nose cover, gloved fingers are verging on being to big for this)

# mask clearing requires a head down rather than head up position, and the head up position does not work.

So I got the trainee with a very favourable report from the instructor who had taken her in the pool session. She was very confident and capable, and seemed to be clearing her mask instinctivly. Unfortunalty when we came to the partial flood, she didn't quite get it right (water was still in the mask) so I demonstrated that the neck should be straight, looking upwards. This didn't work - as the exhaled air just went straight out through the vent, in fact letting more water in.

Note at this point I still did not understand what was going on - I thought that she must have a hole in her mask-skirt. Luckily she was exceptionally calm and collected and I lifted her to the surface (we were only in 3m). On the shore we took the mask apart and worked out what was going on, and she passed all the other practical sessions easily.

I'm *not* after apportioning blame here - my fault for trusting the previous instructor / my fault for not investigating the mask more thoughrolly / previous instructor for not flagging up the problem - the list goes on...

I'd just like to issue a bit of a warning that there are such masks out there, and traditional mask clearing techniques DO NOT WORK with them - a head forward postion works exceptionally well though.

Ben

[Dave]

I'd just like to issue a bit of a warning that there are such masks out there, and traditional mask clearing techniques DO NOT WORK with them - a head forward postion works exceptionally well though.

I have used such masks ( in fact learnt to dive using one ) and found no problems at all using it. I found that it was even easier to use than a "regular" mask and didnt need any special considerations with head position. Unfortunately it recently broke and so I tend now to stick to the divator and have a basic non vented mask for odd occasions where I need one

Dave

[benpanter]

:=I'd just like to issue a bit of a warning that there are such masks out there, and traditional mask clearing techniques DO NOT WORK with them - a head forward postion works exceptionally well though.

I have used such masks ( in fact learnt to dive using one ) and found no problems at all using it. I found that it was even easier to use than a "regular" mask and didnt need any special considerations with head position. Unfortunately it recently broke and so I tend now to stick to the divator and have a basic non vented mask for odd occasions where I need one

Fair enough - I'm sure different designs work in different ways. We spent a long time trying to clear in the head up position, it *really* didn't work as exhaled air went straight out the valve taking no water with it (this may have had something to do with the shape of the trainee's face)... and I'm sure it wasn't technique as she managed first time with a non-vented mask. When the vented mask was used in a face downwards position it worked just fine.

Glad you enjoyed yours though!

Ben

[Nick McV]

As another diver with face fungus, I use one as well. I didn't originally want one, but needed a replacement mask in a hurry, and it was the only one that fitted - I have not gone back.

I do find that it is easiest to clear my ears using both index fingers to constrict the nostrils.

The only problem I have found is that I need to carry an old style mask for teaching mask clear!

I did once have the valve come off the mask (it's like a minature version of the DV exhaust valve). Luckily my buddy spotted the small clear silicone disk poking out of the cover and grabbed it and tucked it in her glove. I completed the dive with a mask half full of water, and refitted the valve when I got to the surface.

I do not find that head position makes much difference to clearing. Head straight on or slightly down when using the valve is good, and you don't need to touch the mask frame. Head up and a gentle press on the top of the frame works well too.