Free Flowing Regulator - How to Breath Easily

Knowing how to deal with a Free Flowing Regulator while scuba diving can be life saving. It is surprisingly easy to breath though a free flowing regulator. During your PADI Open Water Diver Course you learn how to breath through a free flowing regulator for at least 30 seconds.

Free Flowing Regulator performed neutrally buoyant

Why do we get a free flowing regulator?

A failing regulator underwater usually results in a free flow. But why does this happen? This usually happens when scuba diving in cold water. In your scuba cylinder you have a lot of pressure. When full you will have 200 bar or 3000 psi. When you take a breath you reduce that high pressure to around 10 bar in your regulators first stage. Reducing the pressure also reduces temperature. This can cause your regulator to freeze when you are diving in cold water, resulting in a free flowing regulator in most regulator models.

How to fix a free flowing regulator

If you don't have the proper training, you should not try and fix a free flowing regulator. You should always bring it to a certified scuba technician if your regulator free flows. We recommend if possible to send your regulator to get serviced by a scuba technician that has the qualification of the brand and model of your regulator. For example bring your Aqualung regulator to a Aqualung Technician, an Apex Regulator to an Apex Technician and a ScubaPro Regulator to a ScubaPro Technician.

PADI Free Flowing Regulator Skill

How To Breath From a PADI Free Flowing Regulator Skill

1. Tilt your head to the right
2. Take a few breaths
3. When comfortable, take out your regulator
4. Leave half the mouth piece in your mouth
5. Leave the other side of the mouth piece resting on your left cheek
6. Gently purge the regulators purge button
7. Gently breath in and out from the regulator
8. After 30 seconds replace your regulator and resume normal breathing

Watch this video on how to breath from a Free Flow Regulator:

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Teaching the PADI Free Flowing Regulator Skill

Are you a Diving Instructor, are you thinking about becoming a PADI Dive Instructor or are you doing your PADI IDC Course? Then you need to know how to teach the Free Flow Regulator skill. Check out this article we wrote on How to Teach the PADI Free Flowing Regulator skill.

Also check out this video on how you learn to teach the Free Flow Regulator skill during your PADI IDC Course:

Owning your own scuba regulator

Buying your own scuba regulator is a big step to make in collecting your dive equipment package. We believe that owning your own regulator is one of the most important things to collect when you enjoy scuba diving a lot. Especially if you are thinking about taking the PADI Divemaster course or PADI Diving Instructor course you should invest in a good scuba regulator. We have selected 3 of the best scuba regulators that you can buy from Aqualung, ScubaPro and Apex: