Mask explodes

[phelana]

My friend got newly certified yesterday and whilst diving his mask exploded. The tempered glass was in masssive shards, very sharp at that. He was not injured but scared to death. Anyone have a simliar experience?

Follow your My Anguilla Bliss

 

[wetbehindthegears]

I thought tempered glass was supposed to break into small non sharp bits??

 

[diver 85]

No exploding experience here but as an eye doctor, I've thought about this some(over the past 20 years of so)......We have NOT used glass in lenses for wellover 15+ years on a daily bases.....plastic is 6X safer than glass & polycarbonate is alot stronger than plastic(figure out the math vs glass on the latter).....
I would imagine it's a money thing--ie glass is CHEAP compared to the other 2 & doesn't scratch as easy....If there are enough of these accidents, you'll see glass go to the wayside just like in the ophthalmic industry....

 

[james croft]

Does not sound like tempered glass to leave shards. Tempered glass breaks up into tiny little cubes of glass. I have had the misfortune of breaking a mask or two but not from diving. More like rough handling when traveling. I suppose the mask "imploded", not exploded. This may have been caused by your friend not equalizing his mask when descending. This occurs from time to time by inexperienced divers. Most divers equalize their masks without even realizing they are doing it by exhaling through the nose into the mask to keep the air pressure in the mask equal to the water pressure outside the mask. This will keep the mask fom imploding. It would be unusual to make the mask explode as upon rising excess air pressure should escape from underneath the mask skirt.
The thing to do is to buy a tempered mask from a reputable manufacturer and exhale into the mask when descending. This should prevent this from happening again.

 

[diver 85]

I thought tempered glass was supposed to break into small non sharp bits??

On paper yes but in real life not all the time.....You do realize what process tempering is???..Basically they heat it up then cool it down to 'stress' it ie not good @ all...A better way is to chemically temper it---but that's a crappy product in the end vs plastic or polycarbonate....

 

[snowflake4727]

That is odd. It is not common at all. I would guess that there was a flaw, or some unseen damage to the glass. Did he equalize the mask on descent?

 

[DiveMaven]

I wonder if it was a dive mask or snorkel mask? Some of the (cheaper) snorkel masks have thinner glass than a dive mask and aren't meant to go very deep.

 

[The Kraken]

Did it "explode" or "implode"?

the K

 

[dkktsunami]

Have had a lens fall out (or in, not certain) while diving, on the way down at about 20 feet. First reaction was to close eyes trying to protect contact lenses. Didn't take long to figure out that this procedure wasn't going to work too well. Opened eyes and lost one lens. I carry spares so no big deal.

 

[fisheater]

What brand / model mask?

I tend to think that it wasn't tempered.


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