I Want to hear about Reg. Failures. Got any stories?

[FroggMan]

What can go wrong?

 

[snowflake4727]

I have witnessed o ring failures in water.
I have also had and witnessed leaky regs.

 

[Colliam7]

What can go wrong?

I have had the turret-to-body O-ring fail on a Zeagle ZX50D first stage, at the time I pressurized it on the surface prior to diving. Simple rebuild (later) - I switched regs to do the dive. An Apeks ATX 200 first stage developed IP creep, with second stage flow - not a catastrophic failure, just a cause for servicing. But, it happened to be the left post on my doubles, so I went ahead and breathed off my necklace reg during the dive, instead of my primary (long hose) reg, so I wouldn't have to deal with the constant bubbling. Free flows have occured in very cold water (<45 degrees) with Apeks AT20s. Again, not a catastrophic failure, but an inconvenience. I have had various port O-ring failures, always on the surface, that caused my to miss some dives, because I was in remote areas, without my O-ring kit.

 

[fdog]

After a couple thousand dives, I haven't had a failure yet.



All the best, James

 

[Gen San Chris]

I have not ever had a serious incident or seen one, I have seen lots of minor leaks and a tank to reg o ring fail on the surface and even an hose fail on a diver but nothing that can be called life threatening!
Modern Scuba gear is well made and safe if its looked after and serviced correctly so such things are not really a cause for concern in this day and age!

 

[shawrg]

Yes, I have had regulator failures that were all noticed, fortunately, on the boat. I had two first stage failures (leaks) that could not be resolved so I replaced the regulator with a backup. I also had a free flowing 2nd stage that could not be resolved but did not have a backup and skipped the dive. Interestingly, each of these instances were the first dive after service was performed by a dive shop!

 

[Wetsuit 4 life]

Yes, I was opening the valve on a tank when the hose from the first stage to the second stage broke, that was a surprise

 

[divinginn]

Worst I have had is a minor free flow in a old reg that had not been serviced in many years. I know I should be dead,but I like living on the edge.

 

[TSandM]

I've had one full-blown freeflow. It was exciting.

I've had several minor leaks from a variety of places. Nothing that caused any kind of urgency, and rarely anything that scrubbed a dive.

 

[wedivebc]

I was standing next to a guy who opened his argon bottle and it didn't have an OPV on the first stage. The LP whip went off like a gunshot and I almost soiled my drysuit.
Other than that nothing but minor o-ring leaks. I have never seen anyone else have a serious failure either.