First Stage Reg Question

[Scared Silly]

Rental gear gets hammered, drug through the dirt, walked on, tanks get dropped on it, etc. To be very honest I am surprised the reg was sealed in the first place. That said it would appear that the reg is ready for an overhaul. I would not judge a shop too harshly by the quality of the rental gear.

 

[grf88]

Rental gear gets hammered, drug through the dirt, walked on, tanks get dropped on it, etc. To be very honest I am surprised the reg was sealed in the first place. That said it would appear that the reg is ready for an overhaul. I would not judge a shop too harshly by the quality of the rental gear.

The environmental seal is no big deal and could wait till the next service. The hose is another matter, a damaged hose can fail on the dive resulting in an OOA emergency.

 

[Hallmac]

As stated earlier the first stage is a US Divers Pro diver or Royal, really the same just depended upon the second stage offered with it and if it was distributed by Seaquest or US Divers.

The item you are pointing to is the enviromental seal as I discussed ealier. As pointed out the real problem you had was a bad hose. To make sure you or other new divers know I circled the area in your picture. If I had a first stage with the problem you pointed to I would not hesitate to dive it.

The problem circled in red would prevent me from using the reg for a dive.

 

[tddfleming]

I am in central VA. About 45 min from Richmond. As for the hose, I had questioned that, but I had second guessed myself and thought "well they would not have given me that gear." After the hose was mentioned here I went and looked at it again, the hose was pretty much cut all the way around, there was only a small piece holding it to the other part of the hose.

Yesterday when I dropped off the equipment at the LDS, my OW inst. met me there so we could do the paper work. He told the owner about the seal and the fact, which I forgot about, that the second had a very small free flow issue, more of a hissing sound. Which is why I was given the inst. reg. The owner was looking at it when I left the shop last night, however, the hose was not an issue for him.

Would you mind explaining why the hose could have caused an OOA??? Or other issues that it could have caused? More for my own personal knowledge.

Thanks again to everyone for being so helpful. This is a learning process.

 

[grf88]

The outside covering of the hose is completely broken suggesting that the hose has been continually stressed at that point. If it was a low pressure hose and it ruptured while you were diving the tank would empty very quickly resulting in an out of air incident. The mass of bubbles around your head would be very disorienting and could have compounded the situation. Hoses that show any signs of stress should be replaced. If the LDS owner believes this to be a non issue I would not want to use his rental equipment and would look elsewhere for service of my own equipment.

 

[herman]

Run, don't walk from that shop.
An obviously defective seal, a bad hose and a slight freeflow and they are not worried? The seal in and of itself is not a big deal, the reg will work fine with out it and the slight freeflow is also not a big deal in and of itself. However, combined with the frayed hose and lack of concern, it shows a huge lack of responcibility on the LDSs part and frankly on the instructors as well. No way I would teach for a shop with so little concern over the condition of their rental gear.

If the hose ruptured you would most likely instantly be out of air....or more accurately not have access to it. The pressure in the low pressure side of the reg would most likely (depending on how bad the break was) drop to basically zero so both second stages would be useless. Add to that the noise and confusion of the bubbles behind your head ( remember breathing off a free flowing reg??....please tell me you did that skill...) and you have the making of a real emergency. Your buddy or a CESA would be your alternatives assuming you have the presence of mind to do what you were (hopefully) trained to do.

 

[Hallmac]

Would you mind explaining why the hose could have caused an OOA??? Or other issues that it could have caused? More for my own personal knowledge.

When a low pressure hose ruptures air is released from the cylinder at the set intermediate pressure of the 1st stage. Generally 125 to 140 psi or 8 to 9 bars.
The low side does not have a flow restrictor built into the downstream side therefore the 1st stage believes the air demand is high and tries to deliver as much as it is capable of doing.

A cylinder will empty faster with a low pressure rupture than a high pressure side rupture due to the lack of the restrictor. Today's modern 1st stages will continue to function and supply air to the alternative 2nd stage for an ascent to the surface so the OOA will not be immediate. It is a dive ending event however and an immediate direct ascent to the surface will be required. Should the event happen towards the end of the dive when cylinder pressures are low things get uglier.

If you follow the skills you learned in open water training you will be able to handle the emergency and survive with an expanded knowledge of diving. That said, a real diver tries to eliminate as many problems on the surface before a dive as possible. If a hose or any piece of equipment shows signs of damage during your inspection before the dive, it is either replaced or the dive is skipped. Just not worth the risk.

 

[tddfleming]

Yes, did that one-free flowing. I can see how this can lead to a very bad situation. Even worse for a new diver. Glad to find a place to ask the questions that are not in the text book.

 

[Ana]

Rental gear gets hammered, drug through the dirt, walked on, tanks get dropped on it, etc. To be very honest I am surprised the reg was sealed in the first place. That said it would appear that the reg is ready for an overhaul. I would not judge a shop too harshly by the quality of the rental gear.

Well, exactly because rental gear gets hammered, drug, walked on and all that is why it is a perfect factor.

Judging a dive shop based on the shape of their rental gear is appropriate. It tells the customer that they give a dam about their comfort and safety.

It is certainly fair to judge them based on their gear maintenance, for sure more than judging them on the punk du jour answering the phone or behind the counter.

 

[EricQ]

Is the pressure transmitter missing from under the environmental seal?