HP Hose Failed

[Jonathan]

get your LDS technician to show you how to inspect hose - and do it.....

Alternatively take an equipement speciality course - if you are like enough to get an instructor like I did then he/she will have all sorts of bits and pieces for you to play with.

Good course for those upcoming cold, rainy winter nights.

Jonathan

 

[DiveTub]

Once you have turned the air on, slide the Hose protector back and check the joint (This is usually where things go bad).

Then run your hand down the length of the HP hose checking for bumps. If you feel anything out of the ordinary it is time to replace the hose.

 

[AquaTec]

Stay away from hose protectors, they will hide wear and tear to a hose.

hoses are cheap, when one starts to show some wear just cut it in half and get a new one.

 

[Aquamaniac]

I agree with Aquatec, If you had a hose protector over that area, you may have missed that one.

I know that hose protectors DO work, ( every flex hose in my plant MUST have them), but they do tend to hide problems.

If you are diligent (sp),then use hose protectors, and check the area underneath before and after every dive.

Just my worthless comment

Dave

 

[Bwanar]

OK this really funny....Guys, hose protectors are a good thing. You still need to check your equipment before every dive though. They do go far in keeping down the strains. You should probably replace a HP hose at least every 2 years or so if you do much diving. If you do penetrations then even more often. When Hp hoses go the dump air fast. This is not something you want to happen to you in the water especially if you are not a very experienced diver. You should also get into the habit of doing an in water leak test at the beginning of every days diving. It only takes a second an is a lot easier to see small leaks starting in the water. I would recommend carrying a complete spare reg. but if not at least a spare Hp and Lp hose, most of you already have an Octo and you can always cap off one of your seconds if you have a leak in one of them for the day, if you carry a plug. That is if your not a bodyguard for a newbie that hasn't been taught how to share a reg. or doing serious tech diving (of course then you'd have spare equipment anyway).

 

[wedivebc]

Thank your lucky stars it happened on the surface...whew!!!! I got a cold sweat just looking at that photo!

.

Actually a HP hose failure is far less dramatic than a LP hose due to the restriction in the regulator that limits flow of the HP side

 

[Charlie99]

Thank your lucky stars it happened on the surface...whew!!!! I got a cold sweat just looking at that photo!

Actually, having an HP hose blow is not as bad as a failed LP hose. Even a freeflowing reg is worse than a blown HP hose. On virtually all modern regs the HP port is fed through just a tiny little pinhole. (If you want to check your reg, just unscrew your HP hose and look. It will be hard to even see the pinhole orifice.) This restricts the amount of air that will flow out of a failed HP hose. You'll have several minutes to get to an alternate source of air.

One big problem with HP blowouts, though, is the very fine mist of bubbles that reduces visibilty and can add to the general confusion. LP blowouts have bigger bubbles.

Edit: wedivebc is a faster at typing.

 

[Charlie99]

You should also get into the habit of doing an in water leak test at the beginning of every days diving. It only takes a second an is a lot easier to see small leaks starting in the water.

Even before the in water test, you can do a real easy test on shore or on the boat after you've connected the reg to the tank. Pressurize the system, check the pressure, then close the valve. Come back a few minutes later and see if the pressure has significantly dropped.

In practice, I purge the reg a bit to drop the SPG reading down to 1500 or 2000 psi. Less wear on the reg, and it reduces the chances of forgetting to turn the air back on.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Uncle Pug,

Can you provide a link for a source for 3500 psi duct tape?

That's something I gotta have!


Tobin

 

[Bwanar]

Thanks for correcting me guys, it was late and I was just remembering back a long way to the late 70's when an HP hose went on me. Back then they didn't
use a pin hole as they do now. Although small the hole was about 1/16" if I remember correctly entering the hose. That baby can pass some air! My real point was that avoidance of these problems is a lot better with proper maintance. This includes your whole reg. system, not just the hoses. You would be surprized some of the regs I see that haven't been surviced in years.