power inflater failure

[FM1520]

Back to the OP for a moment ... the picture looks like one of those SeaQuest hoses that comes with a pull dump. Note also that there's only space on that hose for a single zip tie ... actually, if I'm not mistaken they use a little plastic clamp with a screw that tightens it in place. I'm not a big fan of those, because there's a single point of failure, and pulling the hose a little bit too hard when trying to dump air can cause the failure shown in your photo. I've seen such failures before.

My recommendation is to replace the unit with a standard elbow and hose ... you can purchase a replacement hose for about $30 that gives you adequate space for two zip-ties to clamp it to the elbow. You'll lose the convenience factor of a pull-dump, but unless you're in the habit of swimming vertically that feature's of minimal value anyway ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

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You are correct, it is a SeaQuest with a pull dump, the little clamp with a screw is missing - came off during the dive. Thanks for the info on an alternate power inflater.

 

[dtownsend2000]

Sounds like you handled the situation well.

Another good reason to carry a lift bag/dsmb and line with you on every dive!

 

[Akimbo]

I understand what you mean, but the definition of "life support" is going to depend on a diver's experience, training, and ability to handle unexpected failures. A failure that someone with more than 5,000 dives can deal with easily can end up being deadly for someone who lacks the ability to recognize the problem and deal with it appropriately. We read about those folks regularly in the Incidents and Accidents forum…

I didn’t have a BC during my first 12 years of diving. But I had a weight belt and knew how to release it. I don’t believe that Archimedes' principle has ever failed.

Maybe the problem is teaching that BCs are life support? I contend that suggesting someone stake their life on an overpriced plastic bag is a good way to be featured in the Incidents and Accidents forum.

 

[fnfalman]

Yes, I probably dumped more gas than necessary sorting it out. I probably could have gotten through the safety stop with out sharing air but didn't want to chance it, especially since my buddy's pony was right next to me.

How did you ascend? DId you crawl up the kelp or up the anchor line?

My corrugated hose popped off my BC a while back too. I unscrewed the connector from the BC and didn't screw it back on correctly so the connector popped off at close to the end of the dive. Did my safety stop and didn't notice anything wrong. Got to the surface and couldn't inflate the BC enough to rise out of the water enought o clear my mouth. Thought that it was strange, so I swam back to the boat albeit with a lot of drag. Got on the boat and my BC was half full of water plus noticed how the thing popped off the wing.

One good thing about weighing yourself correctly, you don't have to worry about sinking when your tank is near empty.

---------- Post Merged at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:59 PM ----------

I didn’t have a BC during my first 12 years of diving. But I had a weight belt and knew how to release it. I don’t believe that Archimedes' principle has ever failed.

Maybe the problem is teaching that BCs are life support? I contend that suggesting someone stake their life on an overpriced plastic bag is a good way to be featured in the Incidents and Accidents forum.

I don't believe that BC is life support. I think that it's a "buoyancy control device". I'm curious but can you guys hover back in the days without a BC? Or do you have to swim to keep yourself afloat?

 

[Akimbo]

… I'm curious but can you guys hover back in the days without a BC? Or do you have to swim to keep yourself afloat?

The main thing that made it easier was wetsuit material was not nearly as compressible — Rubatex G231 dominated the market. We would start close to neutral at the surface, swim down becoming a little heavy at depth, be near neutral at the end of the dive, and swim up becoming buoyant on ascent… but the difference was just a few pounds. Being buoyant shallow would have been annoying if safety stops existed.

Aside from that, we were very careful to adjust weight for the profile. It was not uncommon to pick up a rock on dives when we misjudged slightly and got buoyant at the end of the dive. Adding or subtracting a few pounds between dives was common. Using tables really limited the number of dives you could make per day unless really shallow. So, deep dives first and shallow on the second was more common.

These suits were not as warm shallow, but much warmer deep. To me, the modern suit feels as cold at 50' (due to compression) as a Rubatex suit did at 150'. Descents were swimming head-first, which I still do even in drysuits. We made an effort to do decompression dives on a down line, especially with doubles or triples. Decompression dives tended to have a site-specific objective and rarely involve meandering dive profiles.

Try it yourself on a wetsuit dive under about 50'. Wear your BC but don’t put air in it. It isn’t that hard once you shed all that weight that allows sinking feet-first descents.

Freedivers really use modern suit compression to their advantage. The “rule of thumb” is to adjust weight to neutral at 10M/33' (or max working depth if shallower) within a pound. They swim down against suit buoyancy and start a non-swimming falling descent below about 20M/66' (glide mode). It not only optimizes oxygen consumption, it makes them buoyant when they are most likely to suffer hypoxic symptoms on ascent.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

I replaced shorter flex hoses on two OxyCheq wings and joints all were glued to the elbow and inflator valve with contact adhesive. This “belt and suspenders approach” is worth considering if you have any concern of a repeat performance. It will reduce stress on the hose by distributing force over a greater area instead of the clamp or zip tie alone.

Note that removing the hoses required peeling the end back to break the adhesive and was more difficult to clean before installing the new flex hose. Reinstalling the new hoses with contact adhesive (wetsuit glue) is tricky and requires rolling the hose back into the fittings.

Though not a fan of “pull-dumps”, I am more concerned why the internal cable didn’t take all then stress before the connection failed. Was this a zip tie or a molded clamp with screws? It looks like the clamp is gone.



The fallacy is depending on a plastic bag to support your life. As demonstrated a functioning BC is a convenience, not life support.

From the pic, it appears a whole lotta of pulling is required to activate. Not an expert, but I have a replaced 2 inflator hoses, one on a seaquest and another on US Divers (yeah older stuff) and there wasn't that much slack.
Had this been serviced recently? If so, I'd inquire about it.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

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You are correct, it is a SeaQuest with a pull dump, the little clamp with a screw is missing - came off during the dive. Thanks for the info on an alternate power inflater.

You wouldn't need to change the power inflator ... just the hose. This one would work nicely ... Zeagle Replacement Corrugated BCD hose scuba diving gear at Zeagle Express

You can keep the power inflator and elbow you're currently using, as those aren't what failed. Rather than using the clamp which ... as you found out ... has a tiny little screw that can back out and release, use two zipties at each end.

For $20 you won't have to deal with that sort of failure again.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[altaskier]

Way to keep your cool and understand the problem, and then work with your buddies to have a safe outcome!

 

[denisegg]

Just never panic, stay in control..if you have to swim to the surface with a wing that won't inflate because the LP hose distached, or your dry suit flooded because it wasn't completely zipped or your regs are breathing heavy because the IP is way out of range and you were wearing douples and your drysuit was flooded to your knees and you swam your way to the surface and orally inflated your wing just do it (and I was coming out of a cave).. Stop, think, react, and do...Never panic..never give up..never stop..I did it.The folks on the boat said they had never seen anyone with so many failure points at one time..

 

[fjpatrum]

A couple of points:

Being a bit of a red neck living in a windy area, I anchored some decorative flags for my wife by installing grommets in the 4 corners of the flags and zip ties to some steel ironwork. In the past year I had 2-3 grommets rip out of the flags sun rotted cloth, not unexpected.......and at least 8 zip ties fail, not sure if it was the sun or the rubbing on the iron work but it was unexpected.

Honestly I don't see how either the grommet or zip tie failures could be "unexpected". UV destroys plastics (generally making them brittle) and weather will always damage material over time.

As with anything else, what is necessary with this situation isn't so much a belt and suspenders (though I'm a fan of that) but a proper gear inspection regularly. With proper inspection you can see dry-rotted nylon and brittle zip ties well before failure point. You can certainly see when screws are loose/missing such as the hose clamps (vice zip ties) on inflator hoses. This applies with your flags or with dive gear.