AfterDark
Contributor
I did have a regulator fail closed but it was because the wrong parts were used to assemble it, so it wasn't built to design; which is an example of how hard it is to get a closed failure, it requires human intervention.
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To the best of my knowledge, this is NOT taught in PADI courses, per se. I suspect the individual instructor was offering personal comment, perhaps trying to reassure the student audience that even if a regulator 'fails' it will still deliver air.My question: Why do they teach at PADI OW courses that when a regulator fails, it will ALWAYS FREE-FLOW? Or it was just that one instructor I heard saying this?
Hi Scuba Divers,
I'm sorry if there's another topic about this question... I didn't find any.
My question: Why do they teach at PADI OW courses that when a regulator fails, it will ALWAYS FREE-FLOW? Or it was just that one instructor I heard saying this?
What about other training agencies?
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For me, it isn't a question. It CAN happen. Period. The question is that if it should or should not be mentioned during a course and that if it's good to say it can not happen.
Nothing would surprise me as far as what one instructor may have said. The PADI curriculum mentions that regulators are designed to free flow when they fail. There's nothing that prohibits an instructor from providing additional information, including mentioning that although designed to freeflow during failures, anything is possible... Hell I guess it's possible that a plastic regulator housing could suddenly split open and fall apart underwater.
With that said, I think it would be silly for an instructor to state that any piece of equipment could never fail or only fail in one way. Fin, mask, BCD, reg, tank, inflator valve, hose, weight pocket.. anything could fail in a number of ways. Okay maybe not everything... I've never heard about an individual lead weight failing, but that's about it.
I think we are really splitting hairs here. If you heard an instructor say something that didn't seem right, why not ask him to clarify? The difference between saying "a regulator is designed to free flow when it fails" versus "a regulator will always free flow if it fails" is a pretty subtle difference and doesn't really make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. I could probably sit through any open water class and come up with multiple things that were said in less than a perfect way. Of course we strive to not say inaccurate things, but we are all humans and it's really easy to not word something 100% correct.
I'm not so sure I agree. If the student is taught that as long as he has air in his tank, the worst POSSIBLE failure is a freeflow. That is much less scary than the worst possible case being.. you take a breath, exhale and you ain't getting no more.. that has an entirely different feeling to it and is what I would want my students to think..." don't bet your life on a regulator"
that is why the suicide strap method for your secondary is nice, if the primary fails closed, then switch to the secondary. A second stage failure is extraordinarily unlikely to begin with, and is the only way for it to fail closed, so being able to easily and quickly access your secondary is important. That being said, situational awareness and good buddy etiquette will fix most of those problems.
I'm not so sure I agree. If the student is taught that as long as he has air in his tank, the worst POSSIBLE failure is a freeflow. That is much less scary than the worst possible case being.. you take a breath, exhale and you ain't getting no more.. that has an entirely different feeling to it and is what I would want my students to think..." don't bet your life on a regulator"