A recall is a recall

[mstroeck]

I learned a valuable lesson today. When there is a recall on any piece of equipment you own, put the thing in a package and send it off immediately. Even if it has worked perfectly so far and you think you thoroughly understand the device.

I have owned a Halcyon Eclipse wing for a little over a year now. Some weeks after I bought it, word got out that a tiny percentage of the solid steel inflators on that wing had a problem with air leaking into the bladder for reasons very hard to pin down. The inflators were recalled by Halcyon.

But since my particular inflator had never had any problems, I decided to keep it anyway. Very stupid. "But I never get into deco obligation yet; and I figure in the extremely unlikely event of that problem occurring I could just pull the dump valve and keep pulling until I have safely descended to the surface", I probably thought to myself.

I completely forgot about the issue, until today. Towards the end of a cold but otherwise very enjoyable dive at a local lake, at 8 meters, I noticed that I was dumping air way to often. I stopped and pinched my bladder between two fingers, noticing that air was obviously flowing into the wing. So I thumbed the dive and got up to the surface in a controlled manner, dumping air all the time. After the dive I inspected the inflator together with a friend of mine (he's an experienced DM). We could not find anything telling us what had went wrong.

After coming home I stood in front of the mirror and said "I am stupid and I know it." three times while vehemently slapping my face...

Well, not really But maybe I should have...

 

[Doc Intrepid]

The best lessons in life are either painful, humiliating, or expensive.

Consider yourself lucky...

Doc

 

[Dapher]

It is human nature to shrug it off since it was working at the time. Don't beat yourself up too much. Like Doc said, "The best lessons in life are either painful, humiliating, or expensive." At least you are still around to send the darned thing in.

 

[mrobinson]

I'm glad you're here to tell us about it!

 

[H2Andy]

The best lessons in life are either painful, humiliating, or expensive.

change the "or" to an "and" and you could be talking about marriage





... but... honey.... i was *kidding* :ne_nau:




good lesson, though ... better safe than sorry

 

[Charlie99]

The best lessons in life are either painful, humiliating, or expensive.

Many lessons in life are painful, humiliating, or expensive, but the very best lessons are ones where you learn from someone else's pain, humiliation, and expense.

 

[true]

Thank you for reminding people to pay attention to the recall. I would also like to urge anyone out there holding on to first generation inflators to contact their local Halcyon dealer or Halcyon tech services (techservices@halcyon.net) to arrange for a replacement of the recalled device.

best,

Anthony
true@halcyon.net

 

[ParamedicDiver1]

change the "or" to an "and" and you could be talking about marriage

Hahahahahahahahaha...too true.

 

[FFMDiver]

Sounds like you handled it extremely well.
Time to consider purchasing an Oxycheq?

 

[mstroeck]

Sounds like you handled it extremely well.
Time to consider purchasing an Oxycheq?

Well, I have been considering different wings for my doubles set-up (which is still a while off), but I will probably go with Halcyon again. I can get a fairly good deal on a wing at a dive-shop where I'm also going to order an outrageously high-priced dry suit ...