failure rate of Scuba equipment and BCD

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have a buddy who bought several wings about the same time I got my stuff. He's always tearing stuff apart to "service" it and has had nothing but problems with inflators, dump valves, threads, leaks, etc.
I on the other hand have been using my wings now for years and have never pulled them apart just to service them. I run water fresh into the bladder, slosh it around, dump some out the OPV, dump some out the air inlet, then dump the rest out of the oral inflator. I blow a little air into it and hang it upside down to dry. After all the remaining water drips down to bottom of the inflator hose (than is the lowest point when inverted) I dump it out and I'm done. I also unzip the shell and stick the hose inbetween the badder and shell and rinse that area out once in a while. That's all I do and I've never had to pull any OPV or inflator apart to fix anything in 16 years.
My philosophy is if it 'ain't broke don't mess with it.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I just ticked past 500.

I have have a couple of reg issues fail pre-dive check (loose hoses, minor leaks, o-rings, total failure after service).

-On actual dives, I had slow leaks from SPG spools (ignored) and a sticky inflator valve (disconnected). Neither was enough to call the dive.
-I had one second on the edge of free flow at the surface, when I kicked down to 10' it stopped. I did the dive and swapped it out with a spare on the SI. Since I dive with a pony, I was a bit more aggressive than I might have been sans pony. It was a negative entry, drift dive so no time to fart around. Some would call it a bad decision, it was a great dive.
-I had a BCD bladder develop a pinhole leak, never noticed until a buddy pointed it out.
-I have dropped weights by accident when I was diving integrated, but was able to recover them - 2X. I rarely dive integrated weights now, either belt or harness which have been 100%

Except for the weights dropping, most of my issues were self inflicted and not serious.

 

[redacted]

I have a buddy who bought several wings about the same time I got my stuff. He's always tearing stuff apart to "service" it and has had nothing but problems with inflators, dump valves, threads, leaks, etc.
I on the other hand have been using my wings now for years and have never pulled them apart just to service them. I run water fresh into the bladder, slosh it around, dump some out the OPV, dump some out the air inlet, then dump the rest out of the oral inflator. I blow a little air into it and hang it upside down to dry. After all the remaining water drips down to bottom of the inflator hose (than is the lowest point when inverted) I dump it out and I'm done. I also unzip the shell and stick the hose inbetween the badder and shell and rinse that area out once in a while. That's all I do and I've never had to pull any OPV or inflator apart to fix anything in 16 years.
My philosophy is if it 'ain't broke don't mess with it.

While he probably is "servicing" his wings more than necessary, I don't think that is really his problem. His problem is more that he does a poor job.

 

[gopbroek]

Not at 500 dives yet but I had a BC fail on Sunday, corrugated hose ripped and it would not hold air (older black Diamond BC). I was neutrally weighted and seldom use much air in it so it was a minor problem and finished the dive. If I had need buoyancy at depth I could have used a shoulder low attitude and filled the bottom of the bladder. I plan on patching the hose this weekend.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

900 plus dives, no failures. The key is proper inspection, care, cleaning, storage and maintenance of all equipment. When we travel we rent lead and air tanks. I look at those tanks very closely and replace any questionable o ring. I cannot speak for equipment renters, but I keep my equipment and Debbie's equipment in good order. We always run everything through a confined water session before travel. Some bc's on a trip have been 10 years old and done fine. Others, with heavy use, are taken out of service in a shorter period. One reason I advocate owning your own gear is so that you will know it and its history. If you do, and treat it properly, failure is rare.
DivemasterDennis

 

[1davey]

Trying out thus app for the first time

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

Just shy of 500 dives.

My experience is that there is some "event" with me or buddy once in every ten dives or so. Most are minor, not worth a mention.

More interesting events include; inflator button stuck open while ice diving (environmental can influence reliability). I've also had an inflator slowly leak air into the BC on some rental equipment (most irritating as it took a while to figure out why buoyancy was so terrible that dive). My wife had a regulator free flow properly on some rental equipment. I've had a newly serviced regulator free flow due to shop error. So I make that one more serious challenge every hundred or so dives.

 

[Remy B.]

Thanks for your inputs guys, so far it look like a 10:1 ratio between, BCD and the SCUBA equipment ( hoses and regulators ).

The reason I asked this question, that in the different interventions about bad events that can happen while diving is that they mention more the Free flowing of the regulator event and less the BCD problem, with this thread so far it shows all the contrary.

Whem I rented equipment I noticed once that the inflator bottom was not moving freely and you can feel the sand in between the push bottom and the housing where it slide, I didn't even bothered to put it on the tank and requested another BCD and told the owners the problem I noticed.

Sand seems to be the most common problem with BCD's right ?

A little of topic here
I'm showly buying my dive gear, only remaining items are, the BCD, pony thank with regulator, knife and torch, I got me a set of new Aqua-Lung, Titan LX and Octo regulator, but they still packed in my duffle bag here in Afghanistan once I return home ( hopefuly alive ) I will test them, I was honestly expecting something more rugged but the TiTan seems a little cheepo quality build, but more likely I'm under the wrong impression, I choose Aqua-Lung because they had been around for years since the beggining and heard good comments of their products, I did buy the Titan because I dive in the caribbean and not in cold waters, will this regulator be good for future tec diving ?, I know they are not good for the high %O2 decompresion tanks, but will they work properly at more depth and trimex ??, or this is just a recreational level regulator ?

Thanks for you comments, keep posting your equipment failures

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The best way to avoid BCD problems is not to use one.

 

[dmoore19]

150 dives, no failures of regs or bcd. Only one time has anyone on the boat with me has there been a failure. It was when one the buttons on his integrated air source fell out. We finished the dive with no problem.