Piranha RUBBER UltraFlex hoses

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

A bit off the Piranha topic ( no experience ) but does concern hoses, specifically braided flex hoses. From the DGX website:

Keep in mind that all SCUBA hoses will fail sooner or later either due to age, storage conditions or handling. Scuba hoses, regardless of brand and materials, require some minimal care. Do not allow hoses to receive prolonged exposure sunlight, as the heat and UV from strong sunlight will significantly shorten the life of the hose. Do not attempt to flush the inside of the hose with any form of solvent or other chemical, new hoses are factory clean and if you have any reason to think they are no longer clean then the hose should be replaced. Prior to every dive trip you should always pressurize and inspect your hoses for mechanical damage, corroded fittings, bulges and leaks.Dive Gear Express suggests replacing all SCUBA hoses every five years or 500 dives, whichever comes first.

The Alert Diver article titledAir Hoses: A Closer Look has triggered some inquiries regarding material used in the construction of our double braided flex hoses. We've reached out to all our hose suppliers and they assure us we are not receiving any hose constructed with an inner lining of Polyester-basedThermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU). Unlike "ether" based TPU, the "ester" based version of TPU can undergo changes calledhydrolysisthat cause rapid failure of the hose in hot and humid conditions.

Miflex branded hoses are constructed with an inner lining of Polyether-based TPU. Dive Gear Express flex hoses are constructed with an inner lining of High Syntactic Polyvinyl Chloride. Regardless, neither is Polyester-TPU and in our history with all the double braided flex hoses we've sold, we've never received a returned hose that exhibited anything we think could be the hydrolysis problem described in the Alert Diver article.
 
Any updates on these ultra flex rubber hoses for durability and reliability? Thank you
 
Any updates on these ultra flex rubber hoses for durability and reliability? Thank you
I had a 40” LP yellow flex hose from pirhana that I used for my primary second stage. It was easy to store but seemed to kink fairly easily right after the fitting of the first stage, like a cheap garden hose. It didn’t affect diving, only on the surface when my second stage was hanging without being clipped. I switched to a regular rubber hose just recently because of my discomfort with this observation, not because of any real problem with the hose.
 
It isn't just Miflex, I should have said the issues with braided hoses. It is not yet determined if the incidents are isolated or indicative of a bigger problem. There are many threads out there, here are a couple :
Another braided LP hose failed. Phantom from DGX this time

Problem with generic braided hoses
Any original issues with Miflex hoses are solved now. The article you are submitting is from 2015...
The only 'problem` IMO is that you need to precautionary change them every 5 years. That's 10€ per year in my case.
 

Back
Top Bottom