highest probability emergency situations?

[Storker]

free flowing first stage [...]

I dive in conditions that supposedly are freeflow country. [...] Never seen a 1st stage freeflow.

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[Omisson]

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I've seen it here in the Northeast.

 

[kr2y5]

Let's break it down:

Can a stuck inflator actually "happen suddenly" or "without any warning"? Practically speaking, no. At a minimum for it to be "stuck" it needs to be depressed... so it can only happen when you are activating it. This makes the amount of time underwater where one might encounter a stuck inflator exceedingly limited.

Does a stuck inflator "leave almost no time to react"? Well, if you are depressing the inflator you are by definition in the process of adjusting your buoyancy and should be very cognizant of what change you are making. There is no reason to have "no time to react" because you are already in the process of reacting to a buoyancy change at that time.

Sudden difficulty accessing your dump valve? Such as... ? Again, that's a different problem. Would suck if you had a stuck inflator valve while you were experiencing whatever additional problem is currently making it difficult to access your dump valve. Figure out what problem THAT is... and fix it.

Trapped air? That's another distinctly separate issue from a stuck inflator hose. To build on what Rich K says above, two nuisances = 1 problem. If your wing/suit traps air and cant be vented properly... fix that issue. This way, if you ever have a stuck inflator... it will only be a nuisance and not a problem. Also keep in mind, that since you'll almost certainly be in the process of adjusting your buoyancy if/when you experience a stuck inflator... would you be venting and adding air at the same time? A little bit of stuck air - whether due to a gear issue or diver orientation - shouldn't be a problem. If you've got a lot of air already in your wing (trapped or not) while you're in the process of ADDING more air, perhaps you're overweighted?

Ultimately, what are potential causes of a stuck inflator hose? Typically it's either poor maintenance (gear not being rinsed, stored, serviced in an appropriate/timely fashion) or a piece of debris such as sand getting lodged in the mechanism. Proper gear maintenance, service, and pre-dive checks will virtually eliminate the first set of issues. Even a slowly leaking, rather than "stuck" inflator can be identified and corrected during the most rudimentary pre-dive check. The second can be largely prevented by taking care where and how your gear is placed before and during a dive. Don't throw it on the ground, drag it through the parking lot, or crawl around on the bottom and the likelihood of debris causing your inflator to stick approaches zero.

I suppose that theoretically speaking your inflator could produce a run-away inflation if you experienced a free-flowing first stage, but with downstream demand valves in both your primary and backup regs that's where all the air from a free-flowing first stage would go.

Long way of saying... don't put major focus on what little things might happen. But do put a little focus on things that can help ensure that nothing major ever does happen.

Yup, that's why I didn't say "easy to find" or that they can "universally be found" but either way I don't think I'd put an undetectably slow leak in the "emergency situation" category.

No ice diving... but plenty of cold NJ diving. Never had that problem. Is it common to occur in that setting other than when the inflator is being actuated... ie "suddenly and without warning?"

That said... if it goes along with the environment it is something to be considered during the dive plan, equipment check, and to be on guard for during the dive. Accordingly it should not "happen suddenly and without warning" unless you jumped through a hole in the ice with the assumption that the water is 85F.

Ray, I think you are arguing with a whole bunch of things I have not said... which I accept as my fault for not being sufficiently explicit.

I was comparing stuck inflator to, for example, running OOA. I am not really concerned about running OOA since I dive doubles, I monitor my gas, I can see it depleting, I know my consumption rate, and I would have to fall asleep on a dive for it to suddenly run out unless something freeflows, in which case I shutdown my valves, something I regularly practice... knowing it used to be an issue for me, now on every dive I try to periodically wiggle each of my valves at least once or twice during a dive to convince myself that I can still do it, and to build muscle memory, so it gets more seamless over time... I am not not worried about running OOA, even if it constitutes something of an emergency, because I am prepared equipment-wise, training-wise, and through regular practice, to make it a low-probability event.

I depress my inflator and deflator without thinking... so no, if it started freeflowing, it would not be happening at a time when I am fully alert and focused on my inflator, and potentially expecting such a problem to happen. I thought the whole point of building muscle memory is for things like this not to occupy your mental bandwidth. So, unlike the OOA situation that comes with a "progress bar", I would consider this rather sudden and unexpected. And, I don't do any stuck inflator drills. Maybe I should.

Of course, diligent maintenance will minimize the risk of this happening (I do flush my inflator and deflator after every dive). But, the same argument can be made for any other issue... I think the point here is that, knowing a stuck inflator to be potentially a fast-evolving event helps to realize that we need to pay more attention to that piece of equipment to make sure it is really low risk.

Anyhow, I never claimed that stuck inflator in and by itself represents an emergency. I do think it creates a potential for a problem that comes with a bit of a time pressure, and time pressure creates a potential for mistakes, so I will take such a risk seriously, however small you might think it might be.

Most other points have been addressed by others... as for having difficulty dumping, my sidemount rig came with only a single dump valve, with a dangling cord that gets entangles with a left chest D-ring. The weight pockets on my sidemount rig also tend to cause air trapping when loaded with larger weights. There are small fixed I made to make things better, but ultimately, I just had to expect it and learn to deal with it. The rig was designed by famous cave divers, and yet, it comes with what I find in practice to be considerable design flaws.. apparently, contrary to what you seem to be implying in your argument, you cannot avoid all problems by being diligent.

 

[RJP]

I depress my inflator and deflator without thinking... so no, if it started freeflowing, it would not be happening at a time when I am fully alert and focused on my inflator, and potentially expecting such a problem to happen.

It's possible to "pay attention" to something without it occupying "too much bandwidth."

I'm assuming you don't mean that you depress your inflator "with no thought whatsoever" so you're already mostly there. It's beyond muscle-memory though. Muscle memory helps your hand find the quick-disconnect for the inflator on the first try. We're talking about knowing to do that in the first place. It's situational application of knowledge if you will. If you're diving in ice-water you should know that free-flow is likelier than if you're in Bonaire, check your gear and dive plan accordingly, and pay an extra 1-second of attention when using your inflator.

---------- Post added April 16th, 2015 at 04:57 PM ----------

Anyhow, I never claimed that stuck inflator in and by itself represents an emergency. I do think it creates a potential for a problem that comes with a bit of a time pressure, and time pressure creates a potential for mistakes, so I will take such a risk seriously, however small you might think it might be.

I was simply responding to a diver saying they were not comfortable with the risk of and/or the ability to manage a stuck inflator.

The overall risk of anything is a function of the "probability" risk associated with the likelihood of the thing happening, and the "impact" risk associated with the sequelae of the incident having actually occurred, and the "response" risk associated with not being able to deal with the incident.

Not saying that you should not respond to a stuck inflator in a timely fashion. Saying you shouldn't worry so much about it occurring in the first place... largely by doing the simple "you should do this as a matter or course" things necessary to ensure it doesn't happen, be on the lookout for situations where it might occur, and know how to handle it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

well nitrox makes things safer as long as you aren't violating MOD which is rather difficult with most mixes. 32% will take you all the way to the limits of recreational diving, so it makes it safer.

As far as most common "emergency" situations, but depends on your definition of emergency.
Regulator failures, first stage will blow due to improper maintenance of the HP seat resulting in total loss of deliverable air to the diver. That's bad. Not terribly common, but it is the most common of the catastrophic regulator failures. Most others are just a nuisance, that is the standard freeflowing second stage whether violent or leaking. Having a cheap $15 IP gauge and checking it before each big dive trip all but guarantees you to not encounter this failure in the water. They plug into your inflator hose, you breathe off of the second stages like you are supposed to during prechecks and make sure the IP locks up. If it is creeping you need a rebuild.

Other than that there aren't any "common" emergency situations that are universal, it all depends on where you are diving. New England diving if you're staying local are a combination of entanglements and currents being most problematic. In NC off the coast we don't have any real common emergency situations, but the most common source of annoyance is divers not paying attention to their pressure gauges and then they see 500, freak out, and then they cause emergencies for themselves. Those are self induced emergencies and they are probably the most common "emergency" out there.

I have never seen that in 40 ys of diving.. Seen pretty many hoses explode, which also prevents the regulator from being used..

Failures:

Freeflow
Auto-inflate bC
Mouth piece falls off
Exhaust valve folds over or compromised making a wet reg.
Leaking SPG
Loose hoses
Failed hoses
Failed BC's hose, OPV, OPV spring zip tie holding hose.

 

[dmaziuk]

I would think realistically if you're rec. diving and doing what they taught you to do, the most likely emergency is slipping and falling in gear while getting off or on-shore: you could break a leg. Or something. You could do that on a boat, too, but there'll likely be more people/things to catch you/grab on to if you go flying.

A non-emergency that can nonetheless be unnerving is misjudging your air and/or navigation and surfacing way off your exit point, esp. where you can't see it. Not a problem but snorkeling in the BCD and gear is not the best way to swim and if you're not sure which way to go, maybe with a bit of a current thrown in, it might feel a little stressful.

 

[Omisson]

This is kind of interesting. I dive in conditions that supposedly are freeflow country. Yes, I've seen bunches of 2nd stages freeflowing. No big deal. Usually it happens after ascent, so we don't care until we're aboard or ashore and can close the tank valve. If it happens pre-dive, you just cover the mouthpiece with your thumb to stop the freeflow. Never had or seen it hapoen underwater, at least not to a degree that just putting the reg in your mouth couldn't stop it. Never seen a 1st stage freeflow.

Also, running low on gas has been pretty undramatic the couple of times I've seen it. Maybe I've only been diving with buddies who have a decent control of their tank pressure. They've known they're low, so when they've had to start sucking the gas out of their tank, they've just cut their SS short & surfaced.




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Last Ice dive I did was at Lake George -11 degrees on the surface with 10 mph winds- and water temp was 33 degrees average- 18 inch black ice cover.

On those dives I saw first stage free flows on one diver's kit that compromised the BCD and regs, and one inflator valve icing failure that inflated the BCD at depth (20 feet) inflating till the ice cover before the lph could be detached. Wearing thick gloves did not make detaching the lph easy....

So YES it does happen.

 

[kathydee]

One risk that was not stressed enough in my OW class is the hazard of CO2 build up. Around dive 40 we were caught in a down current, ignorantly I exerted more than I should have.

The CO2 built up in my system, it felt like I could not get any oxygen into my lungs, like I was suffocating. My hearing faded, my perception narrowed to tunnel vision, my consciousness faded towards blackness, I could barely see.

I had little or no knowledge to help understand what was occurring. Every fiber in my being screamed to bolt to the surface from 100ft - to catch a breath of air. Fortunately, instead, I somehow focused on long breaths. While I could not detect any gas going into my lungs with the breath, I was able to watch bubbles escape from my regulator on exhalation. My sight totally faded to black at one point but not before I was able to ask the DM for assistance to ascend to a shallower depth.

I believe CO2 build up and the enhanced narcotic effect due to higher levels of CO2 in the bloodstream at deeper recreational depths are a great hazard to newer divers.

Perhaps training curriculum has changed, but this risk was not emphasized enough in my training and should have been.

Maybe this is more of a post AOW issue, but since many OW divers exceed the 60ft limit, it is important to mention.

 

[Akimbo]

A lot of good points, but I must disagree.

… But what I would like to know is, what are the most common emergencies that beyond-novice divers tend to face? What are the highest probability emergency issues one might encounter?...

THE most dangerous part of a dive trip is driving to and from the point you get in the water. I have narrowly escaped death far more times on the highway than in the water.

 

[TMHeimer]

A lot of good points, but I must disagree.



THE most dangerous part of a dive trip is driving to and from the point you get in the water. I have narrowly escaped death far more times on the highway than in the water.

Probably true (hey all the statistics say so). But I don't buy it (well, I buy it, but don't care). You're not underwater in a car. Anyway, I'd probably list cramps (for me anyway), current, and getting lost or separated from buddy (if buddy diving). I think a big emergency issue is a diver who hasn't been in a REAL emergency situation (like me, after 500 dives). How will you react? I've had an LPI malfunction and a few other not so nice situations, but that's it. Remember to "stop, think and act".