Life Support Equipment - Regulators

[Scott L]

I've trained for it, grandmother has not
... a regulator failure is not OOA

Yeah, wrong term although when a failing regulator does not deleiver gas you are therefore out of air. By the way, your signature is my SB favorite with Scuba Sam a close second...

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

...before we 'slam' the OP too heavily, it might be revealing for everyone responding to this thread to reveal what reg/regs they personally dive....

OK so I dive Oceanic delta IIs, a design from the mid 90s, you want to call those high end? There is just no magic provided by the latest and greatest regs. If you buy into all the glossy ads and bs in Rodale Scuba Diving good for you. Some one has to keep the manufacturers in business, its just not me.

 

[Scott L]

You're missing the fact that no competent diver puts himself in a situation where there is no other means of getting that oxygen and where regulator failure means loss of life. That is why we always dive with some form of redundancy, be it a dive buddy or a pony bottle or twins.

Well this statement clarifies the discussion extremely well. I was going to tell all that spearfisherman often are seperated from their their dive team often at considerable depth especially when using scooters but ReefHound's point reminds that redundancy is a must beyond 60-70ft. A whole lot of divers do not practice this basic concept...

 

[ReefHound]

Yeah, wrong term although a failing regulator does not deliever gas and you are therefore out of air. By the way, your signature is my SB favorite with Scuba Sam a close second...

Actually, regulators are designed to fail open so a failing regulator is most likely going to be free flowing. Very few reg failures are a sudden loss of air.

 

[ReefHound]

Huh? I beg to differ. My grandmother can pull off the side of the road.

I guess it depends on the road and the conditions. A front tire blowout on one of our six lane freeways during rush hour when cars are running 10 feet apart at 60mph likely means a multi-car pile up.

But anyway, I think the main point was that we deal with risks of catastrophic equipment failure in many aspects of life. The riskiest part of a dive trip is the drive to the airport.

 

[Wayward Son]

Actually, regulators are designed to fail open so a failing regulator is most likely going to be free flowing. Very few reg failures are a sudden loss of air.

this isn't entirely true. You ever hear of an upstream design? They were not uncommon in the 1970's.

Such a design will fail by cutting off your air supply.

 

[Scott L]

I guess it depends on the road and the conditions. A front tire blowout on one of our six lane freeways during rush hour when cars are running 10 feet apart at 60mph likely means a multi-car pile up.

But anyway, I think the main point was that we deal with risks of catastrophic equipment failure in many aspects of life. The riskiest part of a dive trip is the drive to the airport.

Another good point. You should post more often...

 

[Scott L]

this isn't entirely true. You ever hear of an upstream design? They were not uncommon in the 1970's.

Such a design will fail by cutting off your air supply.

Will have to get one of those for my ex wife...

 

[ReefHound]

this isn't entirely true. You ever hear of an upstream design? They were not uncommon in the 1970's.

Such a design will fail by cutting off your air supply.

It's 2009.

Ok, a few regulators - not the low end "inferior" models - are upstream designs. I kinda don't think the OP was trying to warn us off Poseidons though. The point stands that the vast majority of reg failures today are going to be free flows, not catastrophic loss of air delivery.

 

[halocline]

this isn't entirely true. You ever hear of an upstream design? They were not uncommon in the 1970's.

Such a design will fail by cutting off your air supply.

Do you have any examples of this happening or are you just 'speculating'? Don't you think that the poseidon engineers thought of that?

Regarding the post about spear fisherman getting away from their buddies at depth, they are engaging in risky dive behavior if they do this without redundant gas supply. If they are injured or killed, the true cause is the risky behavior, not the regulator failure. Regulators are mechanical things, and as such can stop working.