Near drowning

[DandyDon]

They can leak. I had 3 come back from servicing last year and 1 sucked air easily right thru the second stage before I turned on the tank. When I called them, I asked: "Don't you people test these after you work on them?!" I'm using a different tech this year.

 

[DevonDiver]

I won't dive with an operator that doesn't have O2 on the boat. Simple as that. I ask about it before booking. I expect to be briefed about it when I get on the boat. I'll even ask to be shown where it is.

If a boat doesn't have O2, then they are not a credible scuba operator. There's no excuse.

 

[DevonDiver]

There's a few points and questions that I have:

1) Regulator Failure. The exhaust diagphram can tear or misalign. This can mean that the 2nd stage allows water to flood in. You cannot spot this via the SPG. It has nothing to do with a 2st stage failure (that is fail-safe). The way to confirm that your second stage is sealed is to attempt to draw a breath without the air turned on. If you can suck air in... then it isn't sealed. The emergency reaction should be to immediately seek an AAS (your buddy, or even your own octopus).

2) Inhalation. As taught on the Open Water course; always maintain airway control. When first descending, after taking the regulator out of your mouth, or in any event that you suspect water is in your regulator; use your tongue as a splash-guard and inhale slowly and cautiously. If you inhale water into the lungs, it will lead to serious medical issues (as illustrated in this thread). If your mouth is full of water, you can exhale the water or even swallow it... so that your mouth is clear for further breathing.

3) Oxygen. Oxygen is critical for any near-drowning or DCS emergency. It can literally be the difference between life and death. Any dive boat that doesn't have an adequate (dictated by the time it takes to get to emergency care) supply of oxygen is breaking every industry standard applicable. Local/national laws may not dictate that O2 has to be carried - but a responsible dive operator should nonetheless respect their safety obligation to the customer. If a dive operator chooses not to bother with carrying O2... then you must not dive with them. Be sure to tell them why you choose not to dive with them - if enough potential customers do this, then eventually they'll get the hint and adopt more responsible business practices.

4) Near Drowning. Any inhalation of water into the lungs is a critical medical emergency and must be treated as such from the very start. Even if the casualty apparently 'recovers' there is a high risk of secondary drowning and infection. Another issue that can present, even if only a tiny amount of water spray is inhaled, is Salt Water Aspiration Syndrome. Any of these is potentially life threatening. Be aware of these issues!

 

[DandyDon]

1) Regulator Failure. The exhaust diagphram can tear or misalign. This can mean that the 2nd stage allows water to flood in. You cannot spot this via the SPG. It has nothing to do with a 2st stage failure (that is fail-safe). The way to confirm that your second stage is sealed is to attempt to draw a breath without the air turned on. If you can suck air in... then it isn't sealed. The emergency reaction should be to immediately seek an AAS (your buddy, or even your own octopus).

This seems to be the problem I had with one: "1 sucked air easily right thru the second stage before I turned on the tank," that is - misaligned.

Could this have happened in shipping after servicing?

Is this something I should be able to fix myself?​

thanks!

 

[DevonDiver]

I've seen exhaust diaghrams getting 'bent back' during giant stride entries. It happened a lot, because the rental Aqualung regulators used by one shop that I worked at had a badly designed exhaust baffle...which allowed water pressure on entry to deform the diaghram. It was easy to resolve... you could poke them back into position using a zip-tie.

Either of the 2nd stage diaghrams should be easy to replace or re-align, depending on the model of reg. If they tear, you'd have to have/find a replacement though.

 

[Ron Parker]

Asked by the above SB members are important to obtain answers. Can you provide the answers to the questions.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

The OP hasn't been on in a month. This thread was ressurected after about 7 weeks of inactivity.

She appears to have chosen not to tell who the operator was.

 

[lamont]

I had an exhaust valve fail on a stage bottle I was breathing during a cave course. I got a mouthful of water, but spit it out and switched regulators.

With this kind of failure, though, the regulator purge should still work, and you should still be able to do the OW1-skill of breathing off a free-flowing regulator (something that I never practiced up until this happened, but have gotten in the habit of doing every now and then).

With the OP mentioning that the purge didn't work, either this was a different failure, or there was a skill issue with breathing off a free flowing regulator (or maybe the OP meant they purged it to try to clear water, and then tried to breathe normally? -- which wouldn't work with a failed exhaust valve).

 

[wedivebc]

Many divers are taught to breath off a free flowing regulator in OW class. That means if you ever get a slug of water from a faulty regulator you can still get air from it while you locate your octo. You should practice it before this happens again though.

 

[beachlvr0168]

So sorry haven't been on in a while, crazy at work. The operator was Kenneth's dive shop.