Real-life Equipment Failures

[syntaxerrorsix]

No doubt.

Capacity being the prime motivator and less lead on the belt being a close second. The majority of AL tanks we see go out are on the cattle boats with the tourists. Most of the locals all use steel tanks.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Here's an interesting failure that occurred last evening. I hooked up with a buddy and a friend of his, who's a very new diver (3rd dive since OW). We went down to visit this octopus den at about 65 feet, and had just turned the dive when the new guy suddenly started having buoyancy control issues. OK ... sometimes that happens when you start back upslope with a new diver. Usually I just hang back and let them work at it for a while. But watching this fellow I noticed he was dumping an awful lot of air from his BCD ... over and over. I swam over to give him a hand, and a quick glance at his gauge showed that he'd just gone through nearly 1,000 psi in the last minute or so. Rut roh ...

I signaled a direct ascent and grabbed ahold of this fellow's D-ring in case he needed assistance, and we started up. He was blowing large amounts of air out of his BCD the whole way up ... and I was working hard to keep our mutual ascent to a reasonable rate. Forget about a safety stop ... it so wasn't happening. We hit the surface, and that's when I could noticeably hear his overpressure valve sputtering. Ah ... stuck inflator valve. Reached over and popped the LP hose off the rig ... only to watch the damn thing arc violently back and forth behind his head. So I reached back and shut off his air ... by then he didn't have much left in the tank anyway.

Examining the hose showed that the schrader valve was completely missing. My guess is that it had somehow come loose either prior to or during the dive, and when I disconnected the hose it flew out.

In 2800+ dives, I've never seen that happen before ... and here it was happening to a fellow with three dives under his belt. To his credit, he remained calm, and is eager to get back in the water.

Oh ... and to address the preceding replies about aluminum tanks ... they're fine for tropical environment, where folks don't wear much exposure gear, don't need much weight and aren't typically doing aggressive profiles. For colder climes, or longer/deeper dives, larger steel cylinders are much preferable.

Right tool for the job, and all that ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Shcubasteve]

New failures.

Had an SR1 come in with a freeflowing 2nd stage. Took it apart and found the main spring was broken. Called sherwood and they replaced it at no cost.

Another failure came from a Kronos 1st stage with the Auto-closure Device (ACD). Everyone had their equipment setup on the way out to the dive site. After about 20 minutes, we all heard an o-ring pop. I replaced the tank valve oring with a new one without success. Upon inspection of the 1st stage it was apparent the ACD had become loose thereby allowing an oring to extrude from within the 1st stage. Replaced the whole regulator with my back up and saved the customer's dive.

 

[Akimbo]

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….

Yeah, or anything else with electricity we are foolish enough to immerse in salt water! Just ask any photographer about the joy of strobe light sync cords. Dive computers are pretty good today, but easily the least reliable major piece of gear we use.

 

[cloudswinger]

hmmm??? I wonder if this guy is trying to safe face, I can't fathom someone being able to shear a hose off by hitting something lobstering unless they were on a scooter. Now I could see someone shearing it off by dropping a tank on a dive boat or something.

I saw this very thing happen on my last dive. I was part of a group of three, we were getting ready to jump in the water. One of the other divers stepped away from his rig that was NOT bungeed in and the whole boat rocked. His rig dropped to the deck, and it came up with a sheared off hose. The boat crew had an extra reg and swapped him out. Then the other guy's reg hose blew, for the second time, but that was fixed with a wrench. He had just gotten it back from the shop!

It made me wonder, if you shear a hose that way, can you damage the 1st stage also? Is it possible to cause some fractures or something?

I see mostly aluminium tanks around here. But we are tropical water divers. I'd rather lug around aluminium than steel anyway.

 

[Paladin]

On labor day, I was diving with my two sons and my oldest boy's Conshelf XI started to freeflow. Not much, just a very slow trickle. We were able to finish the dive and, later, I checked the IP and it locked at 145 psi. I took the second stage apart, cleaned it, replaced the LP seat and reassembled it. It still freeflowed. I put another second on the first stage and there was no freeflow. No matter what I tried, the freeflow on the offending second stage would not stop unless I tightened the poppet adjustment nut to the point where the lever was very loose and floppy. My conclusion is that the poppet spring has become weak and needs to be replaced.

 

[Randy43068]

or the inlet crown has some imperfection allowing air to escape.
Any corrosion on the poppet?

 

[Paladin]

or the inlet crown has some imperfection allowing air to escape.
Any corrosion on the poppet?

It isn't the crown. I swapped it out with another one and it still free flowed. No corrosion, either. The spring is the only thing I can think of. Later, when I have the time, I'll borrow a spring from another reg and see if that makes a difference. As of now, his Conshelf is sporting an Aquarius second stage.

 

[Paladin]

Okay, so I scavenged another poppet spring from my box of misc. reg parts and installed it in my son's Conshelf XI second stage. It sealed right up and, after a bit of tuning, works perfectly with an IP of 145 psi and not the slightest whisper of a leak.

 

[captain]

Okay, so I scavenged another poppet spring from my box of misc. reg parts and installed it in my son's Conshelf XI second stage. It sealed right up and, after a bit of tuning, works perfectly with an IP of 145 psi and not the slightest whisper of a leak.

An IP of 145 could have contributed to the free flow. Did you first try dialing it back, 130-135 psi should be plenty sufficient. I don't run that high on any of my regulators.