Diving Without an Inflator Hose

[caruso]

disconnect your your power inflator at depth (without it being stuck ) is plain stupid and dangerous advising that procedure is down right moronic.....I have in all my years of diving have never seen any one do it once with a working inflator

Then why do you suppose major scuba gear manufacturers produced SMBs that are inflated via the power inflator hose and on a related thread many SB members state they do exactly that- disconnect the power inflator from the BCD, use it to inflate and shoot the bag, and then reconnect it- all while holding a spool and the line?

 

[CT-Rich]

Why stop at removing the LP hose for your power inflator? You may also want to remove your octopus / alternative second stage. These didn't exist back in the day either and people survived (well..mostly). After all, that added extra hose and second stage adds some additional failure points too. If you need to share air just buddy breath... I bet there are probably other unmentioned "failure points" on your rig that could be removed in lieu of one lonely LP inflator hose.

I use an AirII on my BCD because it eliminate the need for an octopus, two birds with one stone. I figure if I am grabbing it multiple times every dive for years, the muscle memory for the one time I really need it will offset the relatively minor short comings of the AirII.

EDIT2: I can't believe I just wrote all this about LP inflator hoses..

I have seen similarly long threads debating use of zip ties and where the most reliable zip ties can be obtained... you are falling well within the normal for Internet range. Although in the future you may want to include the admonition that death is certain if you stray from the accepted norms.....

 

[chillyinCanada]

Me too, used the BCP for a few years then bought an At Pac. Used it for a very long time until I switched to a BP/Wing
View attachment 523015

Are you about to roll in like that?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've lost the plot.

Does the OP intend to dive solo?

Isn't the power inflate also supposed to be something to assist when a buddy is in trouble? This, to me, seems far more important than figuring out whether or not I personally need to have and/or use my power inflator for my own sake.

My apologies if this angle has already been addressed.

 

[Mike1967]

Are you about to roll in like that?

He'd have regretted that first breath if he did

 

[outofofficebrb]

In my book, a diver who is able to control his buoyancy without bcd is a safer diver than someone who thinks it is impossible to dive without one.
The op has the right to know that a lot of dives are made without bcd and i am sure the op is smart enough to analyse when and how it can be done.

I don’t doubt there are people who can control their buoyancy without a BC. I also think there are some divers who think they can but might not be able to. Then there are divers who think they can do it while having an emergency or other unforeseen task load and that is where complacency and confidence can snowball into bigger problems. Unless someone has been in that situation and has done it successfully, it is speculation and conjecture at best with a heavy price to pay if it is indeed incorrect. I don’t think people believe it’s impossible to dive without it. Through our training we all know we can orally inflate and dump air to help with buoyancy. Those people, including myself, think that it is probably more prudent and convenient to dive with one, especially if an emergency were to occur. It is one less large task load to have to manage with oral inflation at depth while possibly managing a buddy or something else. Should it fail, I believe it is easier to disconnect in a panic than it is to try to connect it. If disconnection is not possible, one could still dump air using the hose or the shoulder or butt vents. Not being able to connect doesn’t really leave you with much of a backup plan if you’re huffing and puffing.

Someone else on this thread made a parallel to brakes on a car or seatbelts. I think another parallel are airbags. You don’t think you will ever get into a car accident; you can either prevent it or avert one or not put yourself into that situation so you therefore do not need airbags. However, that doesn’t mean someone isn’t going to cause an accident that affects you as well. Airbags are there for convenience, safety, and just in case moments where you say hory sheet. They have saved way more lives than they have failed and killed people. The benefit outweighs the risk; I find the benefit of having the LP hose connected outweighs the risk of having it fail and should it fail, we are trained on how to manage it.

I once dived with a buddy who had an air2 that was leaking air, extremely small bubbles. He had much higher air consumption compared to the rest of the group and thought it would be one less thing working against him, which it wasn’t really. He disconnected his hose every dive and I voiced my concerns. He didn’t think it was an issue to have to reconnect it during an emergency. He’s never done it before in an emergency so we won’t know until then. I had an issue with it. He would have to reconnect it before he would be giving up his primary so that he can breathe off the air 2. I expressed my concern to the rest of the group and I stayed close to the others. They were totally understanding. I know the OP is not referring to an air2 situation but I wanted to share a similar story. It affects more than just himself as it made me uncomfortable as his buddy but the idea is reconnecting things in an emergency when it could have been left connected to begin with. The risk was greater than the benefit here.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I am confident that if Scubaboard archives went back to the early 1970's that there would be many discussions decrying how dangerous these new power inflators were and how they made for poor divers.

We called them "push-button divers." I have written a lot on buoyancy compensation, most for NAUI News, and the development of BCDs has been both a major breakthrough and a major cause of accidents. Divers now have become dependent on the BCD, and cannot dive without it. The BCD is also a major money-maker for dive companies. A lot of myths surround both BCDs and diving without one. And, there is major task loading associated with diving with a BCD, as the Dacor Nautilus Constand Volume System never gained market share in the diving community, so we are "stuck" with variable volume BCDs, which must be monitored on both ascent and descent; air added upon descent, air dumped upon ascent.

Getting back to the op-ed, yes, it is perfectly okay to dive without a power inflators. Learn to orally inflate your BCD, and deflate it as needed upon ascent. It is pretty easy, and uses exhaled air, rather than tank air, to inflate the BCD.

SeaRat

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

For normal dives down to around 45 feet I NEVER put air in, or let air out of my BIU while underwater, it just stays empty. But when I get back to my RHIB after surfacing from a dive I love pushing the power inflate button, taking off my rig, tying it off to a line and letting it float there while I climb back on board. With long surface swims my power inflator is great - just blow the sucker up and kick back. Each to their own. My 2psi. M

 

[chillyinCanada]

He'd have regretted that first breath if he did

 

[jadairiii]

Are you about to roll in like that?

Well, it was 1987 so my recollection is a bit weak. My guess is no, the snorkel was for the picture only, I would have rolled with my regulator in my mouth (as I have done since about....1975), but my bc would be empty like that, a crash dive. I do remember it was a wicked current that day, so I would have dropped hard for the bottom.