O Rings: Ever had one blow at depth?

[Incident]

So yesterday I had the O ring on my HP hose for the SPG/Console blow when I pressurized the hose. Caught me a bit by surprise, and got me wondering what would happen should that have blown at depth. Obviously depending on the remaining volume of air in the cylinder, it could get ugly, as that would be a pretty fast leak, resulting in an OoA situation.

It seems logical that a failure of an O ring would happen at the time the hose is pressurized, as that would be when the change in pressure on the O ring is most abrupt.

Just curious though if the likelihood of an O ring blowing out midway through a dive is common, or more uncommon?


Also, if you don't have a Save-D-Dive kit, get one. I am sure any number of other divers or the DM would have had some, but having O rings with me certainly justified the $3 I spent on the little box of them.

 

[Kevrumbo]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/308518-blown-o-ring-depth-o.html

 

[Oldbear]

...
Just curious though if the likelihood of an O ring blowing out midway through a dive is common, or more uncommon?
...

Incident,

This is extremely rare, but not implausible. Read the link that Kevrumbo posted; there are good examples on what to do if it happens again.


~Oldbear~

 

[clownfishsydney]

Went on a liveaboard a few years ago and there must have been a bunch of too soft o-rings, many tanks had them blow, including at least three underwater. Luckily they all went just after the start of the dive.

 

[niavlys]

it happened only once to me (on about 150 dives), it was a shallow dive (15 meters). Luckily i was on sidemount so I closed the faulty regulator and used the second one for ascending.

 

[Incident]

Thanks for the link and the comments. Very much appreciate the info.

 

[TracyN]

I was in sidemount and had the o-ring in the din valve go boom mid dive. Fortunately it was early in the dive so I just shut down the tank and exited. Then another time I had the same kind of o-ring go when I went to turn my oxygen bottle for deco. My buddy was a saving grace that day. Had I not used his oxygen after he was done I would have been stuck on a 30 min deco hang. I've also had the SPG o-ring start leaking and the amount of gas lost is minimal. Just watch your supply and surface.

 

[tkdgodess]

Several. Twice with ow students in the pool and a hp spool o ring in the ocean. It was mush when i took it apart.