Piranha RUBBER UltraFlex hoses

[rjack321]

I did purchase a 7' miflex copy from Pihrana last year.
Any known issues with them?
I will check mine for disintegration.

Randy's hoses have always used the "good" plastic liner. Its good to check them but they are not known to be susceptible to the degradation some of the other braided hoses had.

The ultraflex (a rubber hose) are ok for bc and drysuit hoses and other low flow applications, but you can kink them off and restrict their flow. So I wouldn't want one as a long hose.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Ultraflex. It is/was my inflator house. I swapped it out last night.

Remember, you can always inflate your BC by mouth. It's a skill we should all practice from time to time so we remember it.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I agree with practicing skills. I don't agree with intentionally neglecting equipment corrections as the motivation to practice skills. I don't know if or when that hose would leak, but I'd be pretty disappointed if I had to cut a dive short because it did - particularly if I was on a dive trip. And heavens forbid it failed while performing a rescue.

 

[PiranhaDiveMfg]

Hey guys it is Randy here and if you have any issues with our hoses please either email or call us and I will be happy to help you out! We have been carrying these now for over 2 years and their track record has been very good and because of that we have more coming in late March with more lengths being added so if you do not see a length feel free to let me know! I have only seen the one hose on here with the material not working the way we had designed these. As with anything from us we will always take care of issues but we need to know and see what you have so issues like these do not happen to fellow divers.... Thanks for trying them and glad to see for the most part you like them. We are happy so far with them and have been testing some now for 4 years in use with good performance..

 

[Jiminy]

How are everyones hoses?

Trying to decide between these and milflex

 

[divad]

My 7' rubber hose is on its tenth year. Still flexible, and "knows" where it's supposed to be.

 

[Jiminy]

My 7' hose is on its tenth year. Still flexible, and "knows" where it's supposed to be.

That is good going to route it under my arm i dont want a hose i have to fight with

 

[Boncel]

So, as I read through the thread, I became confused as to which hoses have been failing. I have miflex hoses on my reg and haven't had issues with kinking, but heaven help me if they burst. I read the reports of the recall, but that was in 2012. I bought my hoses in 2016, and I hope that they solved the issues of bursting. As to the rubber failing and depositing into 2nd stages, could someone clarify which hoses do this, as I don't want a hose ruining my life line.

 

[JackD342]

So, as I read through the thread, I became confused as to which hoses have been failing. I have miflex hoses on my reg and haven't had issues with kinking, but heaven help me if they burst. I read the reports of the recall, but that was in 2012. I bought my hoses in 2016, and I hope that they solved the issues of bursting. As to the rubber failing and depositing into 2nd stages, could someone clarify which hoses do this, as I don't want a hose ruining my life line.

It is covered in several SB threads. Here is a more recent, shorter one.
Do the hoses, which come with Apeks regs have the "crystallisation" problem?

 

[kelemvor]

So, as I read through the thread, I became confused as to which hoses have been failing. I have miflex hoses on my reg and haven't had issues with kinking, but heaven help me if they burst. I read the reports of the recall, but that was in 2012. I bought my hoses in 2016, and I hope that they solved the issues of bursting. As to the rubber failing and depositing into 2nd stages, could someone clarify which hoses do this, as I don't want a hose ruining my life line.

All hoses degrade. The problem with braided hoses is that you can't see the part that degrades and fails because it's only on the inside. Therefore, miflex has started including an instruction booklet with their hoses that instructs you to replace them after 5 years. I'm assuming knock-off manufacturers (the ones who care) will follow suit.

The failure mode in a miflex/braided hose is apparently that the inner material hardens, cracks, and breaks into small crystals which can then clog your second stage. Fortunately, you still should have an octo/secondary so it's not really as critical as a ruptured hose failure would be.

To be clear, all hoses can and do fail. The problem with miflex is that the outer braided section can conceal a failure until you get a more critical problem. Since you can't see a failure with your eyes, they issued a maintenance schedule that should prevent anyone from experiencing a problem. Much in the same way that regulator manufacturers issue maintenance schedules to prevent failures.