Apeks Freeflow Control Device

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Fastmarc

Just drifting along...
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
1,692
Reaction score
560
Location
Kingston, Jamaica
# of dives
200 - 499
What are your thoughts on having this installed on pony/bailout/auxiliary tanks?

Freeflow Control Device



I pressurize my pony hose prior to hitting the water. Double check just before I descend and usually have to re-pressurize it back. I conduct the dive with the bottle off, but keeping the line pressurized, periodically checking. With this it appears that I could turn it on and leave it on from before the dive by closing this. It's simple to activate if I need to deploy.
 
I've used a sliding version of this on surface supplied deco gas (where the regs were hanging under a boat and nobody was there to keep an eye on them in case they freeflow in the current), but I wouldn't put one on any of the tanks I carry on me. I'd probably forget about this thing and try to hand someone a bottle and he/she wouldn't know how to work it and it might cause additional clustery.
 
I've used a sliding version of this on surface supplied deco gas (where the regs were hanging under a boat and nobody was there to keep an eye on them in case they freeflow in the current), but I wouldn't put one on any of the tanks I carry on me. I'd probably forget about this thing and try to hand someone a bottle and he/she wouldn't know how to work it and it might cause additional clustery.
There was a fatality due to someone being donated a 2nd stage with the shutoff "off" a few years ago. It was the final straw/stress and they ended up aspirating and drowning. I don't remember the location or the report.

They also obstruct gas flow, maybe not much day to day, but under stress it becomes more noticeable.
 
There was a fatality due to someone being donated a 2nd stage with the shutoff "off" a few years ago. It was the final straw/stress and they ended up aspirating and drowning. I don't remember the location or the report.

They also obstruct gas flow, maybe not much day to day, but under stress it becomes more noticeable.
We could also go down the "additional failure point" rabbit hole too. I'd probably fiddle around with tuning my regs before I'd look at something like this except in a very specific scenario.
 
This is a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist. Add it to your cobra guards, slob winders, poodle jackets, H-valves, and those fins that the blades flipped up so you could walk with them on......to name a few. I'm sure I've forgotten a few "classic" fixes.
 
This is a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist. Add it to your cobra guards, slob winders, poodle jackets, H-valves, and those fins that the blades flipped up so you could walk with them on......to name a few. I'm sure I've forgotten a few "classic" fixes.
lol..there's a walk down memory lane. Don't forget stroke mix, split fins, bondage wings, stuffed hoses and the bottom timer on each arm (in case one arm gets bitten off by a shark).
 
There was a fatality due to someone being donated a 2nd stage with the shutoff "off" a few years ago. It was the final straw/stress and they ended up aspirating and drowning. I don't remember the location or the report.
This certainly wouldn't be recommended for any 2nd stage that will be donated. Not at all. No octopus or primary.
 
This certainly wouldn't be recommended for any 2nd stage that will be donated. Not at all. No octopus or primary.
Better to just detune the 2nd stage with the knob so its that much harder to bubble but if you really suck on it the gas is there. Your first breath might be a little hard but you can then just unscrew the knob as you ascend.
 
I am not a tech diver, but I thought the intention of the device, as described on the Apeks site, is to isolate a free flow rather than to use as an on/off switch. So install on your primary, and if that 2nd stage gets you into trouble with a free flow you can shut it down as you switch to an alternate, or even manually open and close it as you head on up.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom