HP hose burst (failure)

[boriss]

TL;DR: See pics, questions at the end...

Went for a dive yesterday and (slowly) pressurized my equipment to do my pre-dive checks. Then, a few minutes later, while donning my wetsuit I hear a loud pop, like an explosion or gun-fire in the distance. 5-10 seconds later, another pop! It took 3 pops before I realized it's my equipment and more specifically my HP hose. I instantly depressurized the stage and removed that hose.

This hose was never abused, it's just an extension so I can use my Shearwater Swift transmitter as can be seen in the picture below. The hose is about 7-months old and always stored indoors with the rest of my gear.

Here are the holes created:

The question I have is how common is this? Why would this happen with a relatively new and unabused hose? Should I consider getting a different type of hose where this won't happen? To their credit, DGX offered to replace or refund the hose, but what should I replace it with? Would a shorty Miflex Carbon hose be a better alternative?

I'm asking because I need to replace this hose, but also because these are the same types of hoses used for SPG on stage/deco bottles and they actually are abused, by cranking the hose 180 degrees and so on. Is it possible this was a fluke or should I try a different brand?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nemrod]

Have you been bending the hose back 180 degrees? It is a little unusual for a HP hose so new to fail. Maybe give it a little more length if you are bending it 180 degrees to allow more bend radius. If not then I would probably chalk it off as a fluke at this point with an eye towards caution.

James

 

[Wibble]

Have had a couple of the short hoses come up in a big "boil" where there's an obvious leak between the internal and outer layers. I bend the hoses back by 180 degrees, so hardly surprising.

Yours sounds a little more of a leak!

 

[PfcAJ]

Get rid of then hose entirely. It’s not doing anything for you in that application.

 

[Subcooled]

How many dives during those 7 months?
7 or 700?

You will need a new hose, preferably from a different batch.

 

[broncobowsher]

What pressure do you normally get the tanks filled to as well?

From the looks of that packaging you should be able to comfortable just run the transmitter directly into the 1st stage and it will be tucked out of the way and protected. No hose needed.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Although extremely rare for an HP hose to fail..... this possibility is the reason why I choose to dive with a fully redundant pony bottle system. That, and I dive solo a lot.

Here's a 15 second video clip that I took of a woman on our boat at LCBR in 2018. (not my buddy). We were on our initial descent and I noticed all the pin bubbles on her HP hose. I ended up approaching her, showing her the leak, then signaling that she was OK but that we needed to buddy up and ascend the 15 feet back to the boat and got her back to the ladder before continuing my dive.

Not a huge deal.....but who knows if it could have been. She was very nice and sported me a couple of jumbo frozen margaritas at Beach Nuts that evening.. !!!

 

[grantctobin]

Get rid of then hose entirely. It’s not doing anything for you in that application.

Thematically I agree, and believe having both SPG and transmitter truly silly. That said, I’m not certain that you can fit a transmitter on a Tek3 and still use each of the LP hoses. This is due to the diameter of the transmitter.

 

[PfcAJ]

Thematically I agree, and believe having both SPG and transmitter truly silly. That said, I’m not certain that you can fit a transmitter on a Tek3 and still use each of the LP hoses. This is due to the diameter of the transmitter.

Good point!

 

[Johnoly]

This may sound stupid, but it happens sometimes in the hydraulics hose business.

That hose should fiz 1st, You very well could have a low pressure rated hose with high pressure fittings crimped on it. The ink markings mean nothing without an ISO certification.