BC inflator failure.

[cool_hardware52]

Disconnecting your LP hose from your inflator and reconnection it, during an ocean dive, for practice, sounds to me like a recipe for a self-fulfilling prophecy...this should be practiced when salt crystals cannot enter the inflator assembly.

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1301

Tobin

 

[tursiops]

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1301

Tobin

Yeah, I have one of these, and it is the most-commonly-borrowed item that I carry on a dive trip!

 

[boulderjohn]

Beginner question here. I've always connected|disconnected the LPI hose with no pressure in the system. Is it any different when pressure is on ? How about reconnecting with pressure on if i want to practice the skill underwater ?

Would you like to explain that to the jury when a diver reaches the surface and can't inflate because his power inflator "popped off" "too easily" and they tire and perish?

Comment #1: the disconnecting/connecting, and why, is part of the first hour of pool training for a scuba cert. It should not be a surprise to anyone, including the OP.
Comment #2: cleaning out the inflator mechanism with fresh water is a best-practice after a dive/dive-day/dive-trip, regardless of whether you have been fiddling with your LPI hose underwater.

Tursiops correctly points out that disconnecting the inflator hose is a required skill for the pool sessions in all RSTC agencies.

He did not mention that oral inflation is also a required skill in all WRSTC agencies. In PADI's new standards, it is a point of emphasis and must be done several times in confined water and twice in the open water dives.

Dump valves are supposed to dump air faster than the inflator adds it. If the diver is using a BCD with a pull dump in the shoulder valve, then all that needs to be done is to pull on the corrugated hose with the left hand while disconnected the hose with the right hand.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Helping divers avoid an unplanned and uncontrolled trip to the surface has been a priority at DeepSeaSupply.

We offer
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1301

To flush out inflators and Dry suit Valves.

We offer
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1302

To allow easy disassembly and rebuild of many power inflators.

We offer
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=45

To make disconnecting LP hoses easier

and We offer
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1317
&
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1333

To make manipulation of the OPV easier and more reliable.

Every DSS wing includes a "hose hat" and Improved OPV.

Tobin

 

[dberry]

These seem like innovative and practical accessories and modifications - more power to Tobin and DSS. As far as the improved OPV, it seems the point is to replace the plastic knob on a thin cord with a 3mm cord which is easier to grab and is less of a hazard. Since the original thin cord isn't purported to break, couldn't one simply cut the thin cord a few inches beyond the valve and attach a length of 3mm cord with an appropriate knot or aluminum crimp sleeve? Not nearly as elegant, but something I could manage in a few minutes in the basement.

 

[oly5050user]

If she was that experienced she should have known to disconnect her LP hose? But maybe she panicked?

This happenend to a 11yr old female student that I had trained here in NY. She was issued a referral and completed her dives down south. Using a rental bcd during a training dive ( is not that usually the issue?) the inf button stuck. Before the instructor could react she calmly disconnected LPG hose and continued her dive. I got an email from her instructor and a letter from PADI thanking for the training she received. Letter went into my personnel file at PADI.
really should not be a big deal. As others have stated this is a required confined water skill in a PADI ow course.

---------- Post added May 10th, 2015 at 02:18 PM ----------

Probably not at all difficult to explain. Any diver who makes it to the surface and then drowns almost surely did not follow their most fundamental training. They were killed by their weight belt that they were supposed to drop in any emergency. Put that on par with continuing down the freeway with a flat tire.

Would you care to prove that it popped off as opposed to the diver removing it intentionally or never connecting it?

If a diver cannot EASILY stay on the surface with an empty bcd and weights on in place they have way too much lead on.

---------- Post added May 10th, 2015 at 02:23 PM ----------

Beginner question here. I've always connected|disconnected the LPI hose with no pressure in the system. Is it any different when pressure is on ? How about reconnecting with pressure on if i want to practice the skill underwater ?

You should go back to your instructor and ask why this REQUIRED skill was not done during your ow course!

 

[cool_hardware52]

Has *anybody* frequented a popular dive site on a busy day (Casino Point, cough, cough, cough) and *not* seen certified divers who have forgotten their training, or were doing things contrary to their training?

It would be nice if all training was first class, and if everybody practiced their emergency procedures on a regular basis but it sadly just does not happen very often.


One needs to consider that when advocating "easy pop off" lp hoses.


Having said that I'm a huge proponent of practicing oral inflation. It's a great learning tool for buoyancy.

Take away the power inflator and a diver will pretty quickly learn to better plan buoyancy adjustments a bit in advance, and or learn to use breath control for small changes.

Tobin

 

[The Chairman]

Many Scuba skills are perishable. This isn't a hard lesson to teach, and in fact it's fun. Us instructors love to make you think outside the box and be ready for most contingencies. You had it down pat when you first got certified and then you bought all that new gear. Years later, the overlooked inflator finally decides to stick open. Are you ready? Will you remember what to do? You've cleared your mask any number of times, checked gauges, kept off of the reef and many, many more skills that make you a diver. But, it doesn't take long before muscle memory turns into mental mush if you don't practice all the basic skills. It's easy to blame the instructor for anything and everything that happens. Hell there's an entire industry based on shifting the blame from the person who made the mistake to someone who wasn't even there. That doesn't help when the caca is hitting the fanola.

I can teach you to dive. I can't make you stay sharp. I can't make you do it the way I taught you. I can't make you remember. I can set the example, but will you follow it? If you want to be a competent Scuba diver, you'll just have to take the onus and be one. It's really not that hard, but it's entirely up to you.

 

[Patoux01]

I can teach you to dive. I can't make you stay sharp. I can't make you do it the way I taught you. I can't make you remember. I can set the example, but will you follow it? If you want to be a competent Scuba diver, you'll just have to take the onus and be one. It's really not that hard, but it's entirely up to you.

I disagree here... The instructor has, imo, 2 roles:
- show the skills and help students understand how and why we consider this needed.
- make the student willing to become the best he possibly can and strive for improvement with each dive. (not sure how to write that, but yeah, idea is quite easy to get I hope)

The first one is easy, heck a book could do it easily. The 2nd one is where the job gets hard, and unfortunately that's the one overlooked by most instructors (again, in my opinion, and with my small experience of diving).

 

[The Chairman]

- make the student willing to become the best he possibly can and strive for improvement with each dive.

You can't "make" anyone do a thing. I can try to inspire them, and I am usually successful. I can give them a great example, which I am confident I do. I can assist them in understanding how to make competent decisions and I do so willingly. But, I can't dive for them. I can't make them care. I can't give them the sense God gave geese. I can't even trigger that synapse that reminds them to remove their inflator hose.

I'm a far better diver than my instructor could ever create. I have good trim and presence of mind in spite of him, not because of him. It's an individual responsibility to strive for perfection. No one can make you do that.