Pull Dumps — lose them

[grf88]

Thanks guys and I admit I have probably gotten too complacent with this issue. Thanks for waking me up. I promise to try the hat on my next trip in 3 weeks and will report back.

If the hose hat doesn't do it for you then you should think about a shutoff valve. You will need a regular LP hose the shutoff and an inflator hose adapter or use this unit which will work directly:
On/Off Bc Shut Off

 

[uncfnp]

Maybe give that $200 Atomic titanium inflator fitting a thought. I know it's a lot of money. But if the alternative is diving with a disconnected hose and oral inflation only , this would be one good way to reduce the chances of inflator valve malfunction , IMO.

1) Try hose hat, or
2) Scubapro hose, or
3) Rebuld inflator yearly, or
4) Atomic titanium

Edit. Edit. 2:5) Shut off valve

Thanks guys. Lots to think about.

 

[grf88]

Or 5.On/Off Bc Shut Off

 

[rsingler]

If the hose hat doesn't do it for you then you should think about a shutoff valve. You will need a regular LP hose the shutoff and an inflator hose adapter or use this unit which will work directly:
On/Off Bc Shut Off

With my apologies to @grf88 and Piranha, I use that EXACT valve (minus the LPI fitting) on my bench when I adjust second stages. It's a piece of junk which regularly extrudes an o-ring under pressure. Of course, I'm sliding it back and forth a lot, but that's no excuse.

Maybe use an Omni valve, but not that thing. I would NEVER take that underwater.
I use this one on my pony, so I can keep the system charged during the dive.
Omni Swivel Shutoff Valve

 

[TrimixToo]

I was once buddied with a guy who didn't have his Inflator hose connected. Obviously, I pointed this out during our buddy check. His response was that its deliberate. He said he was properly weighted, and at depth he would need at most 2 breaths to orally inflate his BCD to be neutral.

He had once had a power inflator malfunction and he wasn't ever going there again!

I have to say that it should not be that exciting to have a stuck inflator valve. When it happened to me, I didn't rise more than two or three feet before I had the hose disconnected, the extra air vented, and was stable in the water again. Nobody had drilled me on it yet, either, though later instructors did. This was wearing 7mm 3-finger wet gloves (which actually have a better feel for me than dry gloves up to now, but I have new ones I hope will fix that!).

A friend and I devoted an entire moderately deep (180-190') dive last year to making sure we could disconnect our wing and dry suit inflators at depth. We both wanted to be certain that depth and dry gloves didn't add any problems we didn't know about. The only difficulty either of us had was reconnecting the dry suit hoses, both on swivel valves, because they don't stay still, you can't feel it very well, and you can't see it at all. But since reconnection is optional for either hose if I have a runaway, it does not worry me too much.

So here's a suggestion for most: On the next dive, pick a safe spot and time and just disconnect it. See what it feels like, how much effort it takes, do it a few times, and know you can do it. For extra credit, make sure you can do it one-handed. You might someday need to hang on to something while you do it for one reason or another.

 

[rsingler]

A friend and I devoted an entire moderately deep (180-190') dive last year to making sure we could disconnect our wing and dry suit inflators at depth.

An excellent suggestion!
Yet somehow, I suspect uncfnp might differ with you. As will the 25% of my young (usually slender female - just a fact, not sexism) students who just CAN'T get the hose and LPI apart.

This thread has gotten hijacked for that special group. I certainly appreciate all the great ideas, and the flame-free discussion.

 

[Dan]

Since I don’t have room to slide the hose hat over the quick connect barrel due to having Dive Alert ( DiveAlert by Ideations ) sandwich in between the LP hose & the power inflator (no space to slide the hat over the barrel & into the Dive Alert male connector, see the picture, below). I practice to disconnect the Dive Alert from the power inflator by wrapping my left hand around the Dive Alert with my middle & index finger pinching & sliding up the quick connect barrel while my right hand grabbing & pulling the power inflator down.

 

[divezonescuba]

Having used Atomic inflators for two years, the one concern is that the buttons are laid out in a non standard way. There is no top deflation button. Both the inflation and deflation buttons are on the same side as with some octo inflators. The deflation button is closest to the end and slightly smaller. However the buttons are similarly shaped. This has led to some confusion in the past for other divers not familiar with this layout that have had to use my inflator during training exercises.

 

[AdivingBel]

Wow. Your instructor was much more thorough than ours. However, our instructor did emphasize the extreme DANGER of placing my mask on my forehead.

Yeah, too bad my instructor didn't have a better student. Sometimes it's the instructor, sometimes the student...

 

[Bierstadt]

What kind of action do you suggest?

If it were me I would have been incredulous, not said anything at the time, discussed it later with others, and then decided that something ought to be done, at which time it would be too late because I would not have a name or agency for the guy in question. Probably. What I ought to have hypothetically done is get the name and agency and give them a call, at which point it would be their problem. I don't know what that would accomplish, but it would be the best I could reasonably do. Peace of mind and all that. An experienced dive professional would probably have a more effective response.