HP Hose Failure

[davehicks]

On a dive last week at God's Pocket, up in British Columbia, a tech diver buddy had an HP hose failure in the middle of the week. She is a GUE tech diver using doubles and super experienced. Toward the end of the dive, I saw her at safety stop depth and noticed a steady stream of small bubbles. I came in closer and pointed out the issue. There was no drama, but it made for a good photo opportunity. I ended up loaning her the HP hose off my spare reg-set for the rest of the trip. It always pays to have spares available, for you or a buddy. She had a spare as well, but it was shorter than she liked.

This was a rubber hose and on the prior dive there were no bubbles at all.

 

[Johnoly]

This was a rubber hose and on the prior dive there were no bubbles at all.

Another reason I like rubber hoses rather than the skinny hoses.
Great picture for newer divers cause if you dive long enough, it's going to happen to you also some day.

 

[BoltSnap]

Yep, rubber hoses for me. They smell better than the other thin PoS.

 

[BoltSnap]

On a dive last week at God's Pocket, up in British Columbia

And I'm jealous. I saw your photos from there on IG, and they look fabulous. I plan to go there as soon as I can afford it.

 

[Sascha314]

Do you happen to know how old this hose was?
Its all over the place, well clearly more pronounced in the "middle", but yet its not a single leak.

 

[davehicks]

Do you happen to know how old this hose was?
Its all over the place, well clearly more pronounced in the "middle", but yet its not a single leak.

I don't know. Not new for sure. Is it possible there was a single inner leak and it escaped at multiple points from the rubber sleeve?

 

[uncfnp]

I had the same thing happen in March except the bubbles were only on the proximal 1/3 of the rubber hose. You could see the defects in the hose once we surfaced. I checked my log and it was almost exactly 2 years old with 200 dives.

 

[Darnold9999]

Had one explode behind my head just before jumping in a couple of years ago in Alor. Was quite dramatic! No warning signs at all other than being more than ten years old. Had to sit out the dive, otherwise no damage done and the resort had a spare.

 

[johndiver999]

I don't know. Not new for sure. Is it possible there was a single inner leak and it escaped at multiple points from the rubber sleeve?

yes those hoses are designed to do that. the inner layer(s) have a tiny leak, and in order to prevent the outside hose from popping, they are made with tiny pressure relief perforations. They can do that for a while before it actually fails but I have seen several just pop catastrophically with no warning signs.

 

[The Chairman]

Many contemporary hoses have a very small tube in the center, with a thick jacket. Many hoses have a perforated outer jacket to avoid aneurisms that can be painful when they burst. As a point of reference, the thinner hoses often use the same inner tube, with a much thinner woven outer core. Like most things in Scuba, the differences are more in the mind and perception.