How to deal with a power inflator that is stuck open at depth?

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If your dumps are working properly, they should all be able to dump air faster than the inflator puts it in. They are designed that way for that purpose.

If you are like most people and have a pull dump on your inflator hose, you can pull the inflator hose hard with your left hand to vent the air that is coming in. If you do that with your elbow pointed down, you should be able to disconnect the hose with your right hand. This procedure is part of OW pool instruction, so you should have been taught to do it.

If you cannot disconnect the hose while it is under pressure, then the problem is that the connection needs a good cleaning. It should disconnect easily.

If you do not have a pull dump on your inflator hose (I don't), turn head down and fin while you pull on the rear dump. Again, you should be able to disconnect with the right hand.
 
Boulderjohn,

It wasn't something we covered beyond a brief discussion in OW. We definitely did not do any drills of this.



Tigerman,

Happen to have a link to one for sale? I've definitely never seen anything like that at an LDS. Looks NICE!
 
Boulderjohn,

It wasn't something we covered beyond a brief discussion in OW. We definitely did not do any drills of this.


Tigerman,

Happen to have a link to one for sale? I've definitely never seen anything like that at an LDS. Looks NICE!
Not really, got it with my drysuit and never needed to look for one as I got a spare with it too :D
 
You can also raise the corrugated hose overhead and press the dump on it, all of the air should go up instead of into the BC.
 
You can also raise the corrugated hose overhead and press the dump on it, all of the air should go up instead of into the BC.

I'll give that a shot in the pool as well.
 
A lot of us here who dive in cold water will disconnect the inflator LP hose once we reach depth. At that point you will not need to add any more air to your wing (hopefully) and it takes a stuck inflator hose out of the equation. You still have the drysuit inflator in case of an emergency which for reason never seems to freeze open (my theory is that the warm undergarment constantly warms the connection).
 
Unfortunately, I can't come up with a good way to deal with it. With the tank valve on, I can't remove the power inflator at depth. I've tried several times; and I'm sure that at pretty much any depth I'd have an uncontrolled ascent before I could turn off the tank valve, depressurize the hoses and remove the connection and turn the tank back on.

That's the problem.

You should be able to disconnect the power inflator hose at any time. There should be a valve built into the end of the hose to stop the air from coming out when it's disconnected.

If you have problems grabbing the sleeve, there are hoses that come with a "hat" shaped slider that's very easy to use even when pressurized.

Also, inflators are cheap. There's little reason to service a malfunctioning inflator and you'll be ahead of the game to just replace it.

flots.
 
Boulderjohn,
It wasn't something we covered beyond a brief discussion in OW. We definitely did not do any drills of this.

I see your instruction was NAUI. I don't know their standards. It is required pool instruction for PADI, SSI, SDI, IDEA--anyone who is part of the WRSTC. I would be surprised if it were not also required for NAUI.
 

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