No gas -- what do you do?

[drbill]

As a solo diver, I have no buddy. However, my immediate reaction is to begin a slow ascent and grab my pony reg.

In nearly 50 years of diving I've never had a reg fail on me... which is why I have used the Mk10/G250 almost exclusively since it was released. I dove 6 weeks in Belize with two major cracks in the core of my first stage and it still delivered air fine (if you could stand the constant whistling). Didn't know the reason until I was back in the states and took it in for service. I have had a tank valve get clogged with debris in the dip tube, and all air flow stopped.

 

[muddiver]

That torn mouthpiece or missing diaphragm can cause much displeasure to the uninitiated if wedged somewhere.

Mostly Solo.

The black rectangular triangular tab thing next to the reg inlet is the tape grabber for cover off?

That is the most "Red Neck" dive gear I have ever seen.......

and remember, I'm a commercial diver, so most of the rigs I've seen are 50% home/shop made.

 

[ScubaFeenD]

I'd signal my buddy then reach into my pocket for my wet notes and credit card. Since trimix is expensive, I'm sure my buddy will ask:

(Question hand signal) Will that be MasterCard (inverted three = M), Visa (peace sign = V) or American Express (Inverted peace sign + E)?

Not all buddies take american express; you may be safer just taking your visa card.

 

[muddiver]

Back to the OP:

TSandM you left the door open with the third option on the poll. Your disqualifier in your statement is counter to the deployment of a redundant gas system (i.e. pony, other side of isolated doubles, stage rig, etc).

Like Dr. Bill said, I've never had a second stage, or any stage, fail during a dive. I doubt that a diaphragm or exhaust valve would rip or fail if one serviced their equipment regularly. Rubber and silicon soft parts do deteriorate on their own and bugs will crawl into that which is tossed in the garage for a long period of time and NOT inspected or maintenanced before the season or use. With the exception of the exotic jungle dive trip mentioned, the big story in my opinion, is a result of slovenly equipment care.

Also, I now carry a redundant gas supply on every dive just for such occurances like the hypothetical question originally posted. I have been out on dives as either the "third wheel" or in conditions that turning to one's buddy is an effort in futility. I perfer to try to be self suffecient, even when in a buddy team.

 

[muddiver]

Back to the OP:

TSandM you left the door open with the third option on the poll. Your disqualifier in your statement is counter to the deployment of a redundant gas system (i.e. pony, other side of isolated doubles, stage rig, etc).

Like Dr. Bill said, I've never had a second stage, or any stage, fail during a dive. I doubt that a diaphragm or exhaust valve would rip or fail if one serviced their equipment regularly. Rubber and silicon soft parts do deteriorate on their own and bugs will crawl into that which is tossed in the garage for a long period of time and NOT inspected or maintenanced before the season or use. With the exception of the exotic jungle dive trip mentioned, the big story in my opinion, is a result of slovenly equipment care.

Also, I now carry a redundant gas supply on every dive just for such occurances like the hypothetical question originally posted. I have been out on dives as either the "third wheel" or in conditions that turning to one's buddy is an effort in futility. I perfer to try to be self suffecient, even when in a buddy team.

Oh yea, I forgot the standard procedure I expected to see brought up:

1. Remove primary.
2. Tild head down to necklaced secondary and aquire.
3. Spend 2 minutes trying to sort out problem.
4. Abort dive and start emergency ascent.
5. Deploy SMB with line off reel for deco stops.
6. Stop at 1/2 max. depth for 1 minute.
7. Stop at 1/4 max. depth for 1 minute.
8. Do a 5 minute safety stop at 15'
8. Check ascent in progress aginst ratio-deco or V-Planner pre-printted dive plan for OOA ascent procedure.
9. Surface with a minimum of 500 psi in at least one cylinder before returning to point of entry.

 

[liuk3]

I've had a deco reg fail on me once and my primary reg fail on me once. Both times I went to my backup, fixed the problem, and then resumed using the fixed reg.

 

[TSandM]

Well, in doubles, the answer is obvious!

I'm glad I started this thread. I have learned that there are more failure modes that will cause second stage to fail to deliver gas than I was aware of, and that perhaps trying one's own backup is a more reasonable action than I would have thought. (I still won't go so far as to say that any recreational diver who DOESN'T immediately go for his own backup is not ready for technical training.) Thanks, everybody!

 

[knowone]

That is the most "Red Neck" dive gear I have ever seen.......

and remember, I'm a commercial diver, so most of the rigs I've seen are 50% home/shop made.

Purrty dang good hey. Better than a bought one.

I'll make you a couple if you like.

Nah, there's no patent on it so you could probably whittle one up yourself.

Tell yah what, that gaffer tape really doesn't come off until you want it to.

Cheers.

 

[BoltSnap]

In my experience as a regulator tech, the cause of SS failure (no air) has to do with the SS lever failure. If the adjustment of the SS leaves the lever "loose" (you will hear rattling sound when you shake the SS), lock nut coming off or any other failure that would cause the lever to become distant from the diaphragm whereby the diaphragm would not be able to lower the lever to open the valve for air delivery upon inhalation would cause the SS to stop delivering air to the diver.

The lever needs to be adjusted properly with the appropriate tension to work correctly. If it still fails after proper adjustment, then some internal failure or lock nut coming off would cause a complete air stoppage.

The cause for all of this mess is usually poor technician skills or inattention of the technician as well as using the wrong parts (I have seen this as well). Manufacturers occasionally change parts in a specific regulator and would required all technicians to be aware of this matter and perform the parts upgrade regardless of the condition of the regulator. Some technicians don't get the message and don't do the upgrade leading to potential SS lever failure. Other causes would include faults with respective regulator parts (rare).

F.Y.I. I have seen these problems but they are rare. Switching to the Octo/AirII will provide a viable air supply.

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

You said a rec dive so the answer would be signal my buddy. I dont believe I would go for my air2 or my octo in any case.