2nd Stage finger tight

[cerich]

My Instructor recommends that the hose attached to your 2nd stage to be finger tight, so in the event of a 2nd stage going south on you, you don't loose the gas in that tank and you can change exchange the 2nd stage on it, he actually had an insident while cave diving were one of his 2nd stages had a problem and he replaced/ exchanged that regulator.

I do follow his recomendation, but I see that the connector gets loose very often, do you guys carry a tool on you or are you checking constantly if the hose still finger tight ?

Don't follow his recommendation... you'll end up having more failures. GUE used to do it that way..and stopped.

I did it that way for about a year and stopped (same period but I stopped before GUE made the call... the hose will back off and you will have problems

If a second stage fails in tech you isolate and call the dive.

 

[cerich]

I cannot count on both hands how many times I've seen barrel O-rings cut because of the finger tight nonsense. Just say no.

because Ken is right

 

[halocline]

I have no idea why anyone would want to remove a 2nd stage from the hose during a dive, unless you are carrying a spare 2nd stage in your pocket someplace. The old school thought of having 2nd stages that allow for taking the cover off with no tools make some sense so you could clean obstructions out, but you would never remove the stage from the hose to do this anyways.

BTW, you lose gas when hand tight connections become loose. English is a funny language!

 

[tbone1004]

I think the argument was that if the second stage was acting up in a way that couldn't easily be fixed, i.e. was freeflowing due to a bad seat, bad exhaust diaphragm or inhale diaphragm, mouthpiece got torn, whatever, that you could shut that regulator off, and swap it over to something else. Likely for stage/deco cylinders more than backgas bottles where they are off for most of the dive and potentially buried in something depending on the bottom composition but you "know" that the primary second stage is functioning properly. Not an ideal solution, but easier//faster/less bad than swapping first stages. I don't subscribe to it because I've seen too many o-rings shredded from this practice, but to each his own

 

[Remy B.]

I think the argument was that if the second stage was acting up in a way that couldn't easily be fixed, i.e. was freeflowing due to a bad seat, bad exhaust diaphragm or inhale diaphragm, mouthpiece got torn, whatever, that you could shut that regulator off, and swap it over to something else. Likely for stage/deco cylinders more than backgas bottles where they are off for most of the dive and potentially buried in something depending on the bottom composition but you "know" that the primary second stage is functioning properly. Not an ideal solution, but easier//faster/less bad than swapping first stages. I don't subscribe to it because I've seen too many o-rings shredded from this practice, but to each his own

Go figure, yesterday I went with a buddy to the tug boats behind the sea aquarium here in Curacao, we missed the targed due to the current, but went to find a big anchor at 56m, on a way up when we got to 20m to start our 50% Deco gas my buddy regulator was taking on water, I had a 40cf -50 and a 19cf-80, we could have been buddy breading on my 50% because it was calculated to have enough for both of us in 1 bottle, plus we had enough bottom gas to finish the dive with that gas.

The dive was an easy dive, but this is kind of situations were swaping the second stage was the last option in case we ran in to more trouble but I could had pass him my 2nd stage from my 80%, at the end he used a piece of coral to put back in position the membrane.

It didn't cross my mind to do so, I thought about buddy breathing until 9m then I give him my 50% and I stay on my 80%

 

[cerich]

Go figure, yesterday I went with a buddy to the tug boats behind the sea aquarium here in Curacao, we missed the targed due to the current, but went to find a big anchor at 56m, on a way up when we got to 20m to start our 50% Deco gas my buddy regulator was taking on water, I had a 40cf -50 and a 19cf-80, we could have been buddy breading on my 50% because it was calculated to have enough for both of us in 1 bottle, plus we had enough bottom gas to finish the dive with that gas.

The dive was an easy dive, but this is kind of situations were swaping the second stage was the last option in case we ran in to more trouble but I could had pass him my 2nd stage from my 80%, at the end he used a piece of coral to put back in position the membrane.

It didn't cross my mind to do so, I thought about buddy breathing until 9m then I give him my 50% and I stay on my 80%

another option is just switch the entire reg with another. I have had my oxygen deco reg start leaking gas everywhere (which is what happens when it catches fire and the o-rings burn..), I just shut it down and removed it, replaced with a back gas reg and did my deco. IMHO, doing a gas share to deco will be less than optimal with depth control, people holding their breath etc... In fact I would rather deco out on back gas and hand around longer...

 

[Remy B.]

You don't hold your breath you go back to your bottom gas, wait until one finish that deco stop time and passed on to the other diver, but with the profile of this dive the 2min add 20 will be kind of 4min air we had for bottom gas, either way we were going out with our deco time completed

 

[Remy B.]

another option is just switch the entire reg with another...

I think that is a bad Idea.

 

[cerich]

I think that is a bad Idea.

why?

Once the reg is switched I just deco. No muss no fuss

It takes all of 30 seconds, all my regs are O2 cleaned and I can service them easily enough after (which I don't.. more likely to remove spg and soak reg in frash water and let it flood again with fresh and blow it thru on a tank, repeat and call it done

 

[cerich]

You don't hold your breath you go back to your bottom gas, wait until one finish that deco stop time and passed on to the other diver, but with the profile of this dive the 2min add 20 will be kind of 4min air we had for bottom gas, either way we were going out with our deco time completed

sure on smaller deco dives.. would you do with a hour plus deco? I wouldn't. If I have the deco gas with me, it's getting used and not getting used because a reg failed..so what? I normally have 3-8 regs on me when doing deco dives

Plus, I was replying to your comment that you contemplated buddy breathing deco gas... what you subsequently described is NOT buddy breathing.