Real-life Equipment Failures

[MXGratefulDiver]

I wonder what model wing you were using.? There was a recall for the problem you describe on the Apex WTX series wings. Click Here

It's a DSS Torus wing ... one of the original prototypes with by now close to a thousand dives on it. I had pulled the inflator mechanism off recently for maintenance, and I suspect it was "operator error" putting it back on the hose.

Another option I mentioned to my student. Since we're surface swimming out, and the bottom's only about 20 feet below us, and shore's less than 100 feet away ... just drop to the bottom and follow the contour in to shore till you can stand up ... after all, ya got a full air cylinder. No harm using some of it.

Point I wanted my student to understand is that there are always options ... and as long as you're breathing, it's not an emergency.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[kanonfodr]

It's a DSS Torus wing ... one of the original prototypes with by now close to a thousand dives on it. I had pulled the inflator mechanism off recently for maintenance, and I suspect it was "operator error" putting it back on the hose.

Another option I mentioned to my student. Since we're surface swimming out, and the bottom's only about 20 feet below us, and shore's less than 100 feet away ... just drop to the bottom and follow the contour in to shore till you can stand up ... after all, ya got a full air cylinder. No harm using some of it.

Point I wanted my student to understand is that there are always options ... and as long as you're breathing, it's not an emergency.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Being in a similar situation, I would personally opt to just go under and swim in, with the possibility of orally inflating my BCD and staying as horizontal as possible, if that would work.

For a while I was diving with a wing that had a 1/4" hole in it, just fine. It was a nice challenge to try and use as little of the wing as possible, and I got my weighting down to where I could almost dive without the bc, save for the first few minutes of the dive where the tank (LP85) was just too heavy for my lungs to swing.

I think every diver should take a stab at diving without the use of their BC, it would allow them to learn a great deal about bouyancy and weighting, and what their lungs are really capable of.

Peace,
Greg

 

[psiborg1812]

Had an interesting failure the other day while I was out with a student. We were surface swimming out away from shore when I noticed some bubbles escaping from my BCD inflator hose. Lifting the hose up to investigate, the inflator mechanism came completely off the hose, causing my wing to lose all of its air. Tightening up the dump valve on my drysuit, I inflated it and told my student to turn around and head back to shore. Figuring to use this as a teaching moment, I asked her what she'd do if this happened to her and she wasn't wearing a drysuit. What else could she do to return to shore safely?

What would you do?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

This example reminds me why we teach oral inflation of the BCD.

IMHO, if my student can't kick their way to the surface with no air in their BC, then they are WAY too overweighted.

I say ditch the weight belt on the surface to avoid an uncontrollable ascent. Ditch only as a last resort when swimming up.



One interesting "failure" that i had was on a dive where my Octo hose was too loosely screwed in. In the course of the dive, the hose twisted enough so that it unscrewed from the port and caused an o-ring extrusion. All of the sudden heard the sound of bubbles behind me, took off my rig to see what was up, and was able to unscrew the port enough to screw it back to a good seal.
Moral, always make sure your hoses are screwed in tight!

 

[James R]

Ditch my weight belt.

If no weights at all, then what? I rarely dive with any weights/weight belt.

If I couldn't keep air in it by orally inflating and pinching the corrugated hose, I would remove the rig (aka bp/w), flip the rig upside down, orally inflate while holding the rig upside down (since air goes up it would not go out), and then just swim the rig back to shore.

 

[mselenaous]

... as long as you're breathing, it's not an emergency.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Great line Bob. Hope you don't mind if I steal it to use on my students.


Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[FritzCat66]

...as long as you're breathing, it's not an emergency.

Great line Bob. Hope you don't mind if I steal it to use on my students.

Just don't use that kind of logic with the "ponies are bad" contingent here on SB.

As far as equipment failures go, so far I've been lucky enough to catch anything major before I got into the water - the best time to find gear failures.

Regarding those tanks - I noticed they're the painted variety (Faber?). Is that a situation where a hot-dip galvanized cylinder would turn out better?

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I had a student on his OW 1 dive and the pressure gauge hose separated from the gauge. Sounded like a gunshot. Bubbles all over. My guy felt himself all over, looked around, picked up the gauge, and looked at me and thumbed up with a questioning look. Yeah. Let's ascend. The dive Is over..... He was cool. And thought it was a cool thing at the surface.

One other: A guy bought full kit- Zeagle and Apeks. 8 months later, he brings it back screeching for a refund or replacement. The gear was trashed. Faded, all leaking everywhere, hoses cracked, just deteriorated. We finally got out of him- when he'd finish the sea dives, he his would take gear home and dump bag and all in his pool to soak overnight. The Next day, he would hang it all up in the sun to dry til next week. Truly. And he knew better. We had taught him better. He just thought this would be easier.... No, we did Not give a refund or replace....

 

[toddthecat]

One other: A guy bought full kit- Zeagle and Apeks. 8 months later, he brings it back screeching for a refund or replacement. The gear was trashed. Faded, all leaking everywhere, hoses cracked, just deteriorated. We finally got out of him- when he'd finish the sea dives, he his would take gear home and dump bag and all in his pool to soak overnight. The Next day, he would hang it all up in the sun to dry til next week. Truly. And he knew better. We had taught him better. He just thought this would be easier.... No, we did Not give a refund or replace....

 

[Cave Diver]

By far and away the most frequent equipment failures I've had have been HID lights. The ballasts don't seem to last all that long, and I've damaged one cord, apparently.

Well I just somehow got my can light flooded

I've had several interesting can light failures.

We were in Hole in the Wall when one of my light failures occurred. Switched to backup, exited and took the pontoon boat back to Edds. When we unloaded the boat I noticed the o-ring was extruded in a loop almost big enough to pass a dime through outside the lid. Opened up the light and it was filled with water.

I figured I somehow didn't seal it properly, so I sent it back and paid for a replacement bulb/ballast. Ever since then, I would get a small amount of moisture in the can. A year or so after, I sent it back to upgrade the bulb and before it was shipped back to me it was pressure tested. It kept failing the pressure tests, even after replacing the cord, switch, glands etc. Finally, the lid was replaced and it passed.

The best guess we came up with is that I put the battery in and sealed the can immediately after charging the battery. Somehow a small buildup of gasses ignited, causing a small explosion inside the can, extruding the o-ring and either warping or putting a microscopic crack in the lid.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've had several interesting can light failures.

We were in Hole in the Wall when one of my light failures occurred. Switched to backup, exited and took the pontoon boat back to Edds. When we unloaded the boat I noticed the o-ring was extruded in a loop almost big enough to pass a dime through outside the lid. Opened up the light and it was filled with water.

I figured I somehow didn't seal it properly, so I sent it back and paid for a replacement bulb/ballast. Ever since then, I would get a small amount of moisture in the can. A year or so after, I sent it back to upgrade the bulb and before it was shipped back to me it was pressure tested. It kept failing the pressure tests, even after replacing the cord, switch, glands etc. Finally, the lid was replaced and it passed.

The best guess we came up with is that I put the battery in and sealed the can immediately after charging the battery. Somehow a small buildup of gasses ignited, causing a small explosion inside the can, extruding the o-ring and either warping or putting a microscopic crack in the lid.

More likely the freshly-charged battery was warm enough to heat up the air inside the canister. The expanding air put enough pressure on the o-ring to force its way out, allowing water into the can. Once water's inside, the chemical reaction with the batteries would've caused the extrusion and lid issue.

I've seen that happen ... which is why you should always make sure your battery is cool before sealing the can ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)