How does a wetsuit work

Most wetsuits are constructed of a thick layer of a special type of rubber called neoprene. Neoprene contains thousands of tiny air bubbles that act as insulators, trapping heat inside the wetsuit rather than releasing it into the water. Wetsuits come in a wide variety of designs. Some are full body suits. Others consist of shorts and short sleeves. Many wetsuits have thicker layers around the torso to keep core temperature up, while the extremities are covered in thinner layers to allow greater ease of movement.

In addition to keeping you warm, wetsuits can offer valuable protection. Even in warm waters, you may find divers wearing wetsuits to protect themselves from jellyfish stings or sharp-edged reefs.

There's some dispute as to who invented the wetsuit. Americans Jack O'Neill and Dr. Hugh Bradner both developed wetsuits made from neoprene in the s.

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Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. How does a wetsuit work? Here we have laid out all the information you will need to make the perfect purchase when buying a wetsuit online. On this page, you will find an array of videos demonstrating everything from how a wetsuit should fit to wetsuit care! We will also be explaining how wetsuits work and offer guidance on choosing the right wetsuit thickness. For more information and advice about wetsuits, you can contact a member of our team here, at Wetsuit Centre!

We also regularly update our blog, which will give you an insight into the UK's best surf spots and much more! To help you purchase the perfect wetsuit, we have created a number of videos.

If you still require more information, feel free to contact a member of our team! This video will explore how you should put a chest zip and back zip wetsuit on with our easy-to-follow video demonstration. This Wetsuit Centre video will explain the following:. Here we explore how a wetsuit works and why your suit needs to fit perfectly. A common warming technique used by surfers is to urinate in their wetsuit, even without using this technique you will still need to wash off the suit because of the saltwater.

In this video, we will explore the following:. Since , Wetsuit Centre has been selling wetsuits, surfboards and other forms of surf equipment. Take a tour of our warehouse and witness our extensive range we have to offer. We hope these video guides have offered you some guidance into purchasing your wetsuit and what care will be needed to maintain a clean suit and prolong its lifespan.

If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team! Wetsuits keep you warm by acting as a second skin. The wetsuit catches a thin layer of water between your skin and the neoprene, which is then warmed up by your body heat. The neoprene in the wetsuit acts as an insulation against the surrounding environment.

The thicker the neoprene, the more effective the insulation will be. The neoprene works by containing loads of small air bubbles that provide insulation. Wetsuits are made of a kind of rubber called neoprene. Body heat warms the layer of trapped water and helps keep the wearer warm. Hoods, jackets, and vests can be added for extra protection.

There are different thicknesses and styles of wetsuits to fit different water conditions and the wearer's needs.

Usually, the thicker the wetsuit, the warmer it keeps the wearer. However, the thicker the wetsuit, the more difficult it is to move in it. Most wetsuits are between 3 and 5 millimeters thick. They wear drysuits, which do not allow any water to penetrate them. All divers in the Arctic and Antarctic wear drysuits. Because wetsuits offer protection against jellyfish stings and rocky reefs, many swimmers choose to wear them in warm water. As with many inventions, there is a dispute over who made the first wetsuit.

Hugh Bradner, an American physicist who loved to dive, may have made the first wetsuit out of neoprene in He wanted to find a way for divers to avoid hypothermia and still be able to move freely in the water.

Other inventors sought the same goals. He experimented with different combinations of rubber suits, finally hitting on neoprene. Wetsuits help to keep you warm by working in several different ways. But firstly lets dispel a common myth by making it clear that it's not the water that enters a wetsuit that keeps you warm. Indeed a wetsuit would be warmer if no water entered it at all, but then it would be a drysuit; an entirely different piece of equipment..

A wetsuit should be a tight fitting garment which should be gently squeezing you all over. When you enter the water a very thin layer of water will squeeze between the wetsuit and your skin. If the wetsuit is baggy then a whole lot of water will flood in to fill the gaps between the wetsuit and your body.

In both of the previous situations the cold water entering your body will have an instant cooling effect on your body. Now lets take the first scenario; the tight fitting wetsuit: Here the thin layer of cold water that has squeezed into the suit is warmed up by your body heat.

Because there's not a lot of water it doesn't take long to warm up and doesn't rob your body of a huge amount of heat. When you move about in the water, fresh water from outside is largely prevented from entering the suit as the suit is already 'full'. Having a good fit at the ankles, wrists and neck of the suit will help this resistance to fresh water entry, or 'flushing' as it is known.

In the second scenario, that of a baggy wetsuit, much more water will be inside the suit to begin with. Your body will take much longer to warm it up and the process will rob your body of much more heat. In fact your body may never be able to warm the water up significantly.

When you are immersed in water and start to move around fresh water from outside easily flushes through the suit and displaces or dilutes the water that your body worked so hard to warm up. This constant flushing of cold water will make it impossible to maintain much body heat and will reduce the effectiveness of the wetsuit hugely. So the first thing about wetsuits to understand is that a tight fitting wetsuit is critical to staying warm and a baggy wetsuit is unlikely to keep you warm.

In fact it is fair to say that a well fitted thin wetsuit will probably be warmer than a baggy thick wetsuit.. So now we have a well fitted wetsuit and your body has warmed up the water that is in it.

Both your body and the thin film of water around it are pressed hard up against a thin layer of neoprene.

On the other side of the neoprene is icy cold water. As this happens it cools down, and you in turn cool down. So there is constant heat loss through the material if the water outside is cold. This is where thickness comes into play. Thicker neoprene will lose less heat through it that thin neoprene so in simple terms a 5mm wetsuit will be warmer than a 3mm wetsuit of the same fit as less heat is lost through the material as your warmth is better insulated from the outer cold..

If you have ever felt the warmth of the sun on an otherwise cold day you'll know what radiant heat is. It is heat in the form of infra red energy. The sun emits it, the bars on an electric fire emit it , even light bulbs emit it.. Space blankets handed out at race events etc claim to reflect this radiant body heat back towards your body and thus keep you warm.