failure rate of Scuba equipment and BCD

[Diving Dubai]

with 150 dives..

1. Inflator button stuck down when at 60' Recently been serviced and tried in the pool. Strip down at shop couldn't find an issue but we change the valve
2. pull cord from kidney dump detached - string knot had come undone - fixed on boat.
3. wing punctured by some fool mis stowing their kit - could still dive the rest of the weekend as it only really leaked on the surface

So really only 1 equipment failure in 150 dives (that caused the dive to end)

 

[Freewillow]

6/700 dives, never a failure on my own equipment. But I have seen failures on others, especially rental equipment

 

[Pullnglide]

I have had a inflator valve stuck open twice and had a reg freeze once and free flow but other than that I have not had many problems. My 1st ever sidemount student had a bladder failure on his 3rd dive (dual bladder bc so there was no change besides ending the dive). On his 4th dive during his valve drills he had a free flow. It was an interesting class but he handled all of it very well!

 

[DrBarbarian]

only 'failure' I had was my torch running out of battery during a nite dive..... it was towards the end of the dive though.....

 

[r4e]

I have about 650 dives, mainly in cold waters. I have had:
- during predive check, one failing regulator 1st stage
- during predive check, couple of failing regulator 2nd stages: a hole in rubber mouth piece, twice regulator diaphragms not settled properly after wash
- couple of times tiny air bubbles from hoses/connectors. I either thumbed the dive or accepted the risk. Replaced hose immediately afterwards
- couple of times bubbles from leaking O-rings. Either cured by retightening regulator at surface or by replacing O-ring before dive
- couple of times frozen regulators during beginning of dive and free flowing or shutting off. Normally cured by temporarily swapping regulator
- couple of times BCD inflator freezing during beginning of dive and free flowing into the BCD. Once I hit my head badly under ice when I was not fast enough in releasing the BCD hose. You run out of hands if you are holding a valuable camera without a safety cord.
- once regulator 1st stage freezing mid dive. It was a wreck dive under ice
- once a BCD inflator freezing mid dive in a cave (actually a mine) and free flowing. An ice covering formed very rapidly on the hose connector preventing disconnecting it.
- deco bottle regulator almost freezing in dry habitat

 

[Bob DBF]

If you mean by failure of a BC, an actual failure not a little leak here or there, that is addressed after the dive, on my gear none. That includes all the BCs I have owned since 1963 and well over 500 dives. The important thing to remember on any gear is to inspect it whenever it is in your hands and address any little issue immediately. I have yet to see any gear go from good to bad without warning, except occasionally immediately after service, so get a good tech or DIY and do test dive.

I borrowed a POS BC one time and a seam split at the top, so I wound up doing an a** first ascent to the amusement of my buddies. If it was my BC it would have been scrapped already. When I use questionable gear I prepare for adventure before the splash.




Bob
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That's my point, people, by and large, are not taught that diving can be deadly, they are taught how safe it is, and they are not equipped with the skills, taught and trained to the level required to be useful in an emergency.

 

[mikeycanuk]

I had a o ring on the Atomic QD hose blow at 60'. On that day our pickup from the dock in Coz was really late, never got a phone call either. My son had ear issues and scrubbed the second dive (the one where the o ring went) and the weather was plan crap.

Funny in Grand Turk 3 months earlier I had another "bad" day where all the bad events were taken care off in a single day. I found my son had almost bitten off his mouthpiece. Next I had to go through 3 tanks to find one that was 3000 (there was a 1700 tank that kept showing up and took a few days to get filled). So I took my son's reg and used the octo to breathe from. Oh and I didn't have my boots on when switching tanks so I banged my toe, ouch. So we are diving, I'm staying 10'-15' above the group and I decided to get out the flashlight. The DM signals for my air and I drop the flashlight, I knew the general area, but it was gone. Our 9 other diving days were uneventful.

I now carry a spare Atomic hose with QD and 9/16" wrench along with a spare Apeks mouthpiece and zip-tie in my save a dive kit. The Apeks mouthpiece is not a standard fitment btw!!!

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

In 2,000 or so dives, I have not had any major malfunctions. A couple of little leaks around a tank valve. A mouthpiece came off once. That's about it. I am very anal about my equipment. I clean it rigorously and I buy the best that I can and I take care of it. When I store my equipment it is in a climate controlled scuba closet. During inspections I have found some problems and fixed them.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

One dive computer (Mares wrist air after two years, 85 dives), one regulator (tear in rubber mouth piece prevented proper operation at depth).

 

[Diver0001]

This questions are for the 500+ dives experts

In your own dive experience, how many times did you had failure of your Scuba or BCD.

How many dives did you had with that equipment that failed.

For the BCD failures can you mention if it was the filling valve stick open, or loss of air

Thanks for your time.

Depends on what you mean by a failure.

I've had various "issues" with the regulator over the years. A mouthpiece popping off, a leaking hose, one rental reg that was full of sand that didn't let loose until we were under water, various free-flows over the years. I haven't had a major free flow yet other than from an escaped o-ring, which was not strictly a failure of the regulator. Converted to DIN and got picky about maintenance and haven't had any trouble since.

As for BCD's I've had various problems with the inflator and I pulled the inflator hose off of one once, back in the day when I still believed that pull dumps weren't a massively stupid idea. I also had a rental jacket break during a dive. The backpack became unattached from a plastic pin that was supposed to hold the whole thing together and the tank floated away from my back. I ended up having to turn it over and sort of ride on top of it so I could hold onto the tank in order to finish the dive. I've seen a few divers have run away inflators in the past but in all the cases I can think of it was related to people not remembering that they can unclip the inflator hose and/or dump the excessive air....

As for other gear, I've had computers die a few times. Usually this was related to me not noticing the "LOWBATT" warning but in one case it was a result of a manufacturing defect. I've also had various issues with drysuits leaking, some of which were bad enough that I had to call the dive or not get in the water at all.

R..