Air2 Adapter Breaking?

[CelticRavenVA]

Ok here is the deal, went diving this weekend and as I come home as always I wash my gear. I have my pony connected to my regs and my LP hose attached to my Air2.

I don't remember any strange amount of stress being put on the air2 but I am also not saying it isn't possible.

As I am disconnecting the LP hose after I rinsed everything the adapter that connects from the Air 2 to my Seaquest Pro QD BCD, the air2 reg litterally drops off into my hand.

As I look at the unit, I see 2 VERY small pieces of rubber that are on the inside of fitting that have torn.

Now, I am not a design expert and yeah something might have gotten twisted while it was in the wash, but has anyone else experienced this? Please tell me this isn't common.....

 

[Boogie711]

Sigh.

I'm telling you Celtic - get a regular reg. Air2's are dangerous.

 

[sheck33]

I have to agree with Boogie here. Do yourself a big favour and toss that Air2 and get something decent. Unfortuneately i dont have the answer to your actual question

 

[CelticRavenVA]

Boogie,
I am starting to agree with you on this now...... At least this happened in the shower instead of underwater. *Counts blessings*

Sigh....

In all reality, if this is the only fitting that piece will be gone like the wind from my gear. At best it is poor design. At worst, the fitting is down right dangerous, and if it takes that little stress to break it, screw that piece of crap.

Money wasted I guess. I just need to save some cash now to replace it.

However, if anyone else has had this experience please let me know. I am going to use it as ammo when I take my bc down to my LDS for repairs.

 

[cornfed]

However, if anyone else has had this experience please let me know. I am going to use it as ammo when I take my bc down to my LDS for repairs.

Taking it to Columbia Scuba? Don't worry they'll straighten you out, explain everything you've done wrong and what new gear you need to solve the problem.

 

[CelticRavenVA]

Cornfed,

LOL no actually back to annapolis scuba where I bought it. I am sure that is what I am going to hear.

(Columbia doesn't carry or service scubapro)

 

[cornfed]

(Columbia doesn't carry or service scubapro)

The only products I pay attention to in there are the ones which come out of the compressor.

 

[redacted]

While an Air2 is undesirable and dangerous in some SCUBA environments, it is by no means fragile or a poor design. The connector is the same design used on air tools but in a different scale (so they are not compatible without an adapter). There is a rubber seat inside the connector that should be serviced periodically along with the rest of your kit. It looks a lot like a rubber faucet washer. With the Air2 disconnected, it seals the hose. When you connect the air2, the poppet is pushed back opening the airway and the washer seals on the end of the air2 connection. Nothing fancy there. If you are seeing small pieces of rubber rather than a black rubber circle between the poppet in the center and the body of the connector, then the seat needs to be replaced. Not a difficult repair at all. I have had mine come loose on occasions when I didn't get the connection properly seated with the moving collar back in it normal position. If you are not really seeing pieces of rubber, you may just not have had it connected properly and it popped off when you picked it up. If not connected properly, it should not have delivered any air.

 

[Boogie711]

Help me out here AWAP, this one's new to me... you're saying you could have an Air2 that looks like it's all put together, mounted on the 1st stage and all, but if it's not seated properly, it won't deliver air?

 

[CelticRavenVA]

AWAP,
Connected by a scuba pro dealer/tech.... I will have pictures to post by next week... when you see what actually connects this, you will be as disturbed as I was.