Dry Suit Diver Gear Failure

[mnj1233]

Is there anything to avoid such a free flow of air when something get's broken or disconnected? Must be some kind of thing (like a safety valve) to stop this auto or by hand?

Like those things that shut off the waterflow when a hose is bursted...

Just curious,

I dont know about an alternate shut-off available but I would think you could stop or slow a free-flow of an inflator hose by simply using your thumb til you get topside. It does make you think about failures of equipment to discuss these issues. So Ill take a positive from this story and learn a little from it.

 

[The Kraken]

Your buddy.

Please understand that I am making no speculations upon any cause of the accident.

However, if by some strange defect the D/S inflator mechanism separated, then it is entirely possible that the exhausting gasses from the low pressure hose could make it flail around without the victimized diver being able to recover it. In that case it would be necessary for the diver's buddy to secure the hose and remove the defective inflator component.

Once again, I am not speculating upon the cause of the accident, only trying to explain what might occur based upon the observations made by String.

the K

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Back to the original question. The Apeks drysuit inflator hoses have a little cap inside
the hose QD. If it gets cocked sideways, the hose freeflows. I've had this happen
using a small screw driver to depress it to relieve the pressure in the reg so I can take
the reg off my Argon tank. I've never had this happen using the connector on the
suit, probably because it's the right diameter to keep the cap straight. I've got about
700 dives on these, and my GF has about 500.

 

[Solitude Diver]

Thats what the tank valve is for. Of course if you only have a single tank your air supply will be cut off as well,which is why it is nice to have redundant gear on deep dives.

Have to agree. He should have been able to shut down the valve.

Article mentions more than one tank:

"A SCUBA diver suffocated after air escaped from his tanks, an inquest has heard."

If he was diving twins, and properly trained in valve shut down proceedures, a low pressure hose should not have been a big problem.

They mention his buddy frantically trying to help him. Just wondering why he didn't give him an alternate air source? There must be more to the story. I can't imagine a situation (other than entanglement or confined area) that the person with a leaking LP hose could not get to the surface or his buddy, before running out of air (unless he was low on air to begin with.)

A shame in any event. Sad for the family. I wish there more details to learn from, as something sure seems to be missing from the picture.

 

[mnj1233]

Have to agree. He should have been able to shut down the valve.

Article mentions more than one tank:

"A SCUBA diver suffocated after air escaped from his tanks, an inquest has heard."

If he was diving twins, and properly trained in valve shut down proceedures, a low pressure hose should not have been a big problem.

They mention his buddy frantically trying to help him. Just wondering why he didn't give him an alternate air source? There must be more to the story. I can't imagine a situation (other than entanglement or confined area) that the person with a leaking LP hose could not get to the surface or his buddy, before running out of air (unless he was low on air to begin with.)

A shame in any event. Sad for the family. I wish there more details to learn from, as something sure seems to be missing from the picture.

There is more to the story but those familiar cannot discuss it at this time. I was politely asked to refrain from any more speculation specifically so I have to respect that. Krakken makes a good point in general about the difficulties of a hose thats hard to grasp. Sure is a sad day for the diving community there and I hope we can learn from this.

 

[String]

Thats what the tank valve is for. Of course if you only have a single tank your air supply will be cut off as well,which is why it is nice to have redundant gear on deep dives.

Redundancy is obviously the best solution but it is possible to sort out on a single tank dive by just moving to buddys octopus, turning tank valve off, staying on the octo for a minute and reactivating the tank valve. If its just a freeflow due to a frozen first stage it'll probably thaw and be ok then. Of course, how quick the shutdown is depends how much air is actually left in the tank.

 

[String]

"A SCUBA diver suffocated after air escaped from his tanks, an inquest has heard."

The article isnt correct. The diver was carrying a single cylinder.

 

[moneysavr]

Is there anything to avoid such a free flow of air when something get's broken or disconnected? Must be some kind of thing (like a safety valve) to stop this auto or by hand?

Like those things that shut off the waterflow when a hose is bursted...

Just curious,

Kink the hose, not too hard.

 

[dbg40]

Well. Still not anything to nail down, i'ts hard to take a look at your own procedures, or possible gear failures, without any facts. I would interested in knowing EXACTLY what the train of events, and failures were, both human, and mechanical ,so that I may learn from them. I am also most curious about the whole buddy thing going on as well. When possible, I hope somone in the know will post these FACTS.