Basic SCUBA (Air Supply) Equipment Faliure: How frequent does it happen?

[scubafanatic]

Failures I've experienced over the years:

lost one integrated weight pocket
had one O-ring blow out on a yoke valve rental tank (so I bought a bunch of Polyurethane O rings for future trips)
HP SPG O-rings extrude where they screw into the 1st-stage (went to a different brand hose)
one computer failure
one runaway BCD inflator

...been diving since 2001, so not many 'failures' over the years...the runaway inflator and the blown tank valve O-ring were the scarier failures.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Peter, Weight pockets on a rental fleet see far more release and replaces than a personal set of gear, they are usually just tossed in a crate as well. A weight pocket that is in good shape is very unlikely to fall out when installed correctly. However a pocket with a series of 2lb weights can cause it all to slide forward, and cause it to flip out of the slot. This will put stress on the buckle and it will fail causing it to fall out. Most lost pockets that I have seen are exactly that. I always have either 2 5lb, or a 10lb brick in my pockets. Very rarely will I have anything else in them.

Thanks for the info.p!

How about from now on, on scubaboard, if you find lost integrated weight pockets, or you are part of a dive group with an integrated weight "failure", you take a picture? Then we can see if the buckle/HW broke or if it's intact.

 

[flots am]

How about from now on, on scubaboard, if you find lost integrated weight pockets, or you are part of a dive group with an integrated weight "failure", you take a picture? Then we can see if the buckle/HW broke or if it's intact.

I find weight pockets all the time.

They're never broken and are always the type retained with friction or velcro, never the fastex-snap-buckle type.

flots.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I had an tank valve face O-ring extrude once on a dive... and was lucky enough to get a video of it... I posted this a while ago..

[video=youtube_share;Bap2PxetarQ]http://youtu.be/Bap2PxetarQ[/video]

 

[boulderjohn]

I find weight pockets all the time.

They're never broken and are always the type retained with friction or velcro, never the fastex-snap-buckle type.
.

In every case where I have seen it happen in the ocean, it is the Velcro kind. Almost all the BCD designs that originally had Velcro that I know of have switched away from that. There are still some. I think it is foolish to choose that.

I have seen it happen in the pool with a new kind of pocket being sold by Oceanic. It is really, really hard to get that model to engage, and if you don't really hear that good solid click, it will fall out. The problem is that merely trying to get that good solid click creates a sound that is almost like the good solid click, and the pocket will seem to be in place--until it isn't. That, too, should be avoided.

 

[tracydr]

I think the worst failure I ever had to deal with was a purge valve on a mask that blew in at depth and caused a fully flooded mask that couldn't be cleared. That was miserable!
Last year I had a dive that was full of failures. It was a night dive with surge and current. We were lobster diving in San Diego off a boat so I had extra task loading. I had my mask kicked off, then I had my mask flooded a couple of times and then I had my second stage free flow because earlier in the day I had gotten rolled in surf and gotten a piece of sand stuck in it. ( I'm the worst surf diver,lol) I was able to get the free flow stopped by smacking the face plate of the regulator a couple of times.
All in all, a successful, albeit exciting dive.

 

[clownfishsydney]

In just over 3,500 dives I have had one regulator failure, a total free flow at 45 metres. I have dropped (not lost) many weight pockets, all but one were the old velcro kind (I ended up attaching some clips to them). The other one was not a failure of the design, it was ripped out by a rope. I have had many computer fail on dives, all due to battery, all of which could not have been forecast due to the very poor battery level design. One mask broke in the middle. Not sure what else. None except the regulator was life threatening, but as I had twins, then it was not a problem.

 

[Frosty]

Worst equipment failure was a sudden loss of air with 50 bar left on the gauge.Turned out to be ally oxide had totally coated the first stage filter and blocked it up. Ally oxide was from inside a badly dried rental tank.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I am on the well maintained equipment band wagon! Between us hubby and I have around 1,500 dives and minimal problems with our gear. We have it serviced regularly, clean it carefully and inspect it after each dive. Hubby had a computer die once on a dive, n way to predict that certainly not life threatening. End the dive and get it fixed.

I had a brand new first stage fall apart, went to the occy to head back to the exit.. no problem. Turned out the Service teck had taken it apart to check it since it was a new design and he was curious.. put it back together wrong! I was not a happy camper about that one!

The odd free flow from sand or grit in the reg.. easily fixed.

Worst problems I have had has been rental gear.

Problem with free flow from the tank. Back to the boat for a new tank.

The bladder separated from the inflater on a rental BCD. That did freak me out. I had less than 15 dives up at the time! Wouldn't hold air to keep me up on the surface with waves washing over me in rough seas. I was no doubt a bit over weighted and it was at the beginning of the dive trying to get to the down line. It was pretty scarey because I was such a new diver on my first boat dive!

 

[Dirty-Dog]

My wife lost a weight pocket once. She was going to pass her BCD up to the boat and grabbed the clip for the pocket instead of the waist belt.
I had an AIR2 fail. Inflating the BCD just leaked right back out. No big deal. I didn't even notice till I was at the surface. Rather than exert myself to tred water, I inflated my DSMB and used it like one of those pool floats.
Right after being serviced, my SP G250V octo was too light. Kept wanting to freeflow. Good thing they've got that dandy little on-the-fly adjustment knob.
As others have said, an OW/NDL equipment failure shouldn't ever really be a huge calamity. With decent buddy skills, no overhead environment and no deco obligation any serious problem is, basically, user error.