Completely new to pumping

[longdaddy856 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close longdaddy856]

Question... my air pump gauge measures kPa and not hg.. instructions say beginners use 3-4 hg? Am I correct in conversation to 10-12 kPa? I pump up to 9 kPa and the pressure is a little painful... am I starting off correctly? Older guy with slight PD and trying to get straightened out and bigger... any Vet help I could get would be much appreciated... also how many times a day should I pump? I wanna pump all day to get bigger...but know that’s wrong... thanks in advance for your help...

[BigO AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close BigO]

For all new pumpers, low pressure and 5 minute sets for the first week, 10 minutes max, never go above 5 hg until you are more conditioned.

Turtleing is usually a sign of doing too much too fast.

When using a water pump, you will have to rely on feel and this can be dangerous if overzealous.

Pump it to half of what you think is max, ease into it ver the next few weeks.

When a blood blister develops, you dont feel it happening. Stay safe.

[Physdoc Retired Moderator Member of the Month July 2019 Find all posts View Profile Close Physdoc]

Question... my air pump gauge measures kPa and not hg.. instructions say beginners use 3-4 hg? Am I correct in conversation to 10-12 kPa? I pump up to 9 kPa and the pressure is a little painful... am I starting off correctly? Older guy with slight PD and trying to get straightened out and bigger... any Vet help I could get would be much appreciated... also how many times a day should I pump? I wanna pump all day to get bigger...but know that’s wrong... thanks in advance for your help...

Technically, your conversion calculation is correct. But my pump is also in kPa and I can't get anywhere near 10 kPa without it feeling like too much. Maybe my pump's gauge is off. I usually only pump to 3-3.5 kPa max.

[MaxEQ9x6 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MaxEQ9x6]

Technically, your conversion calculation is correct. But my pump is also in kPa and I can't get anywhere near 10 kPa without it feeling like too much. Maybe my pump's gauge is off. I usually only pump to 3-3.5 kPa max.

Sounds a bit like your pump gauge is not reading accurately as -10 kPa is just under -3" Hg and that level of vacuum would generally be quite well tolerated even by someone quite new to pumping I would have thought.

My pump gauge scale uses these two scales and the relationship is as follows:

kPa "Hg
-10.13 -2.99
-20.27 -5.98
-30.40 -8.98
-40.53 -11.97
-50.65 -14.96

Figures are taken from an engineering reference chart and reflect the gauge markings on my gauge (obviously the scale markings are in whole numbers of course).

[Physdoc Retired Moderator Member of the Month July 2019 Find all posts View Profile Close Physdoc]

Sounds a bit like your pump gauge is not reading accurately as -10 kPa is just under -3" Hg and that level of vacuum would generally be quite well tolerated even by someone quite new to pumping I would have thought..

Yeah, I suspect you're right. I knew it was calibrated to kPA before I bought it, so I had done the conversions before it came and was ready to go to the kPa equivalent to 5 Hg. No way. It's a LeLuv Smart Pump. For now, I just pump it to what feels right (~3 on its scale). I may shoot LeLuv customer Service an email about it and see what they say. At least if its screwed up on the number, it does seem to do it consistently, for what that's worth! heheh. Otherwise, I like the pump.