Aqualung Legend LX First Stage Failure at depth

[databob]

I hope this information is useful to someone. 25 dives after a complete rebuild service for my Aqualung Legend LX I had my first stage fail shut at 60 feet 40 minutes into the dive. Fortunately my buddy recognized the international signal for out of air - eyes as wide as saucers - and he had his reg in my mouth ASAP. I had 1500 lbs left in the tank (although the gauge fell to zero until we got back to the boat). Took the regulator to a different Aqualung authorized service dive shop for analysis/repair and the issue was determined to be the ACD. From the dive shop - "We found that the ACD inner post valve and yoke nut had come loose." The regulator was rebuilt as listed on the intake documents and theses parts have been torqued to their proper specifications". So, holy cow - a bad service can result in a failed shut condition on the first stage with no prior indication that things are going south. Caveat Emptor.

 

[mdb]

I hope this information is useful to someone. 25 dives after a complete rebuild service for my Aqualung Legend LX I had my first stage fail shut at 60 feet 40 minutes into the dive. Fortunately my buddy recognized the international signal for out of air - eyes as wide as saucers - and he had his reg in my mouth ASAP. I had 1500 lbs left in the tank (although the gauge fell to zero until we got back to the boat). Took the regulator to a different Aqualung authorized service dive shop for analysis/repair and the issue was determined to be the ACD. From the dive shop - "We found that the ACD inner post valve and yoke nut had come loose." The regulator was rebuilt as listed on the intake documents and theses parts have been torqued to their proper specifications". So, holy cow - a bad service can result in a failed shut condition on the first stage with no prior indication that things are going south. Caveat Emptor.

Glad to know you had a good and alert dive partner.

Your post reinforces several recent threads regarding finding proper service facilities for equipment service.

 

[Wookie]

I'd never heard of this ACD before this post, so I went and looked it up. Seems like a supremely bad idea to me.

 

[databob]

You can put me in the bad idea camp. There is a youtube video from a regulator technician that shows how it works and actually lets water in if the dust cap is put on and tightened. The tech cuts a piece of the dust cap away and shows how it actually lets water in instead of keeping it out. I was on a liveaboard with 20 experienced divers when this happened. They were shocked and appalled that a first stage could fail shut. I was too shook to be shocked.

 

[halocline]

Your post reinforces several recent threads regarding finding proper service facilities for equipment service.

Not to me it doesn't. This happened 25 dives after service by an authorized aqualung service center. What it does reinforce is the idiocy of the auto-closure devices that are sold as "features" in some regulators.

Unfortunately, so much of the recreational dive gear industry is based on gimmicky products that seem like a much better idea in dive shops than in actual use.

 

[fmerkel]

Like a lot of 'features', seems like a good idea.....until it breaks. Because it's a revision and complication of a simple system the probability of breaking may be significantly higher. In this case sounds like the consequences are pretty severe.

 

[buddhasummer]

The possibility of it failing shut is rather frightening, surely this is a reason for AL to stop manufacturing regs with this feature? Risk out weighing benefit and all that. That's the sort of thing that could end very badly for a nervous, inexperienced etc etc diver.

 

[Marie13]

I have the exact same reg, but it's brand new. I'm just curious how old yours is?

 

[runsongas]

You can put me in the bad idea camp. There is a youtube video from a regulator technician that shows how it works and actually lets water in if the dust cap is put on and tightened. The tech cuts a piece of the dust cap away and shows how it actually lets water in instead of keeping it out. I was on a liveaboard with 20 experienced divers when this happened. They were shocked and appalled that a first stage could fail shut. I was too shook to be shocked.

they changed the acd dust caps to fix that issue

 

[Wookie]

they changed the acd dust caps to fix that issue

Sounds like they need to do something else to fix a whole new issue. Like the potential to cause a diver death when the diver may be a little far from his buddy and his first stage just locks up. What fool thought this would solve a problem? And what problem did it solve?