Common Equipment Failures?

[Narcosis_Anonymous]

1 POS halcyon stainless steal inflator - actually failed twice, replaced with "plastic" inflator now.
..

I think there was a recall on the stainless ones.

 

[saltysupply]

from what ive learned...buy your own gear(and know your gear) and keep a parts kit with you

I haven't yet had any issues with my equipment but im only at 6 dives.

 

[Tom725]

There are three problems with rental equipment; the dive shops do not buy the most expensive gear for their rental pool, it gets a lot of use from inexperienced divers and when they break it they do not want to tell the shop because they are afraid they will be charged.

I have nearly everything fail at one time or another. The important thing is can you deal with it safely. Your own equipment, experience and respect for the risks are the key.

 

[Shawley]

O-Rings!! never forget them i learned the hard way

 

[Gombessa]

1 POS halcyon stainless steal inflator - actually failed twice, replaced with "plastic" inflator now.

My stuck inflator was on a Halcyon stainless steel as well. We all assumed it was one from that big "stuck inflator recall" a few years ago, but we looked it up and it had the post-recall "ridge" so I guess it was just a plain old failure.

I've flooded a digital camera in 3ft of water in a pool.

Digicams are dirt cheap nowadays, but for some reason, that would still make me cry.

 

[Tigerman]

My stuck inflator was on a Halcyon stainless steel as well. We all assumed it was one from that big "stuck inflator recall" a few years ago, but we looked it up and it had the post-recall "ridge" so I guess it was just a plain old failure.



Digicams are dirt cheap nowadays, but for some reason, that would still make me cry.

HEY! It still goes atleast 4 resort dives on a decent camera?
No wonder youd cry!

 

[Parysa]

Stuck BC inflator - ...we where about to ascend from a ~100 foot dive and the diver who had the problem didnt think of just disconnecting the hose...

Just my .02. I wouldn't think of disconnecting the hose, either. I've never used one that I haven't had to wrestle to get the hose off with everything sitting on the ground and some I've had to get someone else to help, there is no way I could disconnect the inflator hose by myself under water. So I wouldn't have thought about it, either.

As far as equipment that's messed up with me, it's pretty much one regulator...
Had a reg hose blow in the pool during OW, that was interesting.
I've had small freeflows that fixes were attempted on two or three times
Same reg was, we all thought, fixed, and when I was checking it before the dive, I hit the purge button and it stuck and wouldn't stop, then major freeflowed every time the reg was jostled even a little. Needless to say, we called that dive and after that, I've been kind of superstitious about it and made sure to rent a different reg.
Dry-rotted mouthpieces.
O-rings.

I don't think I've had any BC problems so far, knock on wood.

 

[redacted]

Just my .02. I wouldn't think of disconnecting the hose, either. I've never used one that I haven't had to wrestle to get the hose off with everything sitting on the ground and some I've had to get someone else to help, there is no way I could disconnect the inflator hose by myself under water. So I wouldn't have thought about it, either.

It sounds like you are talking about disconnecting the inflator hose after the pressure is off. That can be difficult. But with the pressure on, if you can pull the collar back, the pressure will cause it to disconnect. But getting it back on under pressure is another story.

 

[lmorin]

My wife and I bought equipment after getting fed up with faulty (albeit in small ways) rental gear. In addition, the rental gear was never the same from one DO to the next. The final rig screw-up for us were rental BCs that had no method for attaching the octo other than kinking its hose and shoving the kink through a D-ring (which we were told to do). That sucked, frankly. Damaged the hose and made the octo difficult to remove in a hurry. No problems once we got our own gear except for flooded lights (brand new; replaced by manufacturer).

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Stuck BC inflator - This one coulda been BAD as it happened at the time we where about to ascend from a ~100 foot dive and the diver who had the problem didnt think of just disconnecting the hose so she went up FAST

Just my .02. I wouldn't think of disconnecting the hose, either. I've never used one that I haven't had to wrestle to get the hose off with everything sitting on the ground and some I've had to get someone else to help, there is no way I could disconnect the inflator hose by myself under water. So I wouldn't have thought about it, either.

It sounds like you are talking about disconnecting the inflator hose after the pressure is off. That can be difficult. But with the pressure on, if you can pull the collar back, the pressure will cause it to disconnect. But getting it back on under pressure is another story.

FWIW, with the pressure on it is usually harder to pull the collar back, and underwater wearing the gear and dealing with an inflating vest it is even harder. Tigerman is correct, the proper move is to disconnect the low pressure inflator hose (LPIH), while simultaniously dumping the vest. In the PADI OW diver confined water training each diver is required to master disconnecting their LPIH.

IMHO, every manufacturer has a product or some products that are better than everyone elses. Oceanic makes far and away the best LPIH I've ever worked with. It has a flare on the collar so even gloved fingers can pull it back easily under pressure. The traditional collars are impossible for many divers to disconnect, especially with age/corrosion. For this reason (and others) many PADI certs are given to divers that did not fullfill all the requirements of the course.