Reg Failures

[LeadTurn_SD]

Teller,

Are you asking how can a catastrophic failure occur, or how likely this type of failure is with a correctly serviced, inspected, tested and maintained regulator?

The answers given earlier in the thread describe how a total catastrophic failure can occur (I define a total catastrophic failure as sudden loss of the ability to breath from the reg.... not a freeflow).

You'll note that all of the failures listed are 100% preventable, they are not random failures. They are caused by a lapse by the tech during service, failure to test and inspect by the diver, etc.

A correctly serviced, tested, inspected and maintained reg is not very likely to suffer this type of failure.

The more likely type of failure is a freeflow or other "leak", caused by seats or o-rings failing, which would result in loss of air and cause you to cancel or abort the dive, but should not be a catastrophic event.

Best wishes.

 

[Teller]

Teller,

Are you asking how can a catastrophic failure occur, or how likely this type of failure is with a correctly serviced, inspected, tested and maintained regulator?

The answers given earlier in the thread describe how a total catastrophic failure can occur (I define a total catastrophic failure as sudden loss of the ability to breath from the reg.... not a freeflow).

You'll note that all of the failures listed are 100% preventable, they are not random failures. They are caused by a lapse by the tech during service, failure to test and inspect by the diver, etc.

A correctly serviced, tested, inspected and maintained reg is not very likely to suffer this type of failure.

The more likely type of failure is a freeflow or other "leak", caused by seats or o-rings failing, which would result in loss of air and cause you to cancel or abort the dive, but should not be a catastrophic event.

Best wishes.

I am asking how a catastrophic failure can occur and my definition of catastrophic is the same, sudden and complete loss of the ability to breath from the reg (not a free flow). So then with a properly serviced regulator and the ability to feather the valve of the cylinder you should never loose the ability to access the gas inside of the cylinder?

 

[ianr33]

So then with a properly serviced regulator and the ability to feather the valve of the cylinder you should never loose the ability to access the gas inside of the cylinder?

A blown tank burst disc, or neck O ring, doesn't care if the reg is properly serviced or not.

 

[Teller]

A blown tank burst disc, or neck O ring, doesn't care if the reg is properly serviced or not.

I am trying to compare BM doubles to SM, so if the neck o-ring or the burst disk blew on a set of doubles you would still loose that gas. As I stated earlier I have heard many people say that a major draw back for SM is that if you have a reg fail you will loose half of your gas. The only mishaps I have ever seen with regs all resulted in free flow. I don't consider a free flow in SM configuration as loosing half the gas due to the fact that you have easy access to the valves allowing you to feather the valve and continue to use the cylinder during your ascent. Based on what LeadTurn stated above it would seem the only way a reg would have a catastrophic failure is if it was not maintained or reassembled correctly. If all of this is true I don't see how BM offers more redundancy then SM. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

well a hose can blow... unlikely... but it could happen, especaily if it was weak and was subject to some type of force or accident....

If this is a discussion about side mount loosing half your gas.... couldn't you just hold your breath long enough to switch the regulator from one tank to another? (Maybe 30 seconds?) That doesn't sound too hard... easier than making a free ascent from 100 feet..

you can never make sure that a reg will never fail, but you could train yourself to switch regs in order to yeild a good probablity that you could accomplish it in an emergency...Seems more useful that worrying about the details of a potential failure...

I know nothing about side mount diving other than the little i read on the internet,.

 

[Teller]

well a hose can blow... unlikely... but it could happen, especaily if it was weak and was subject to some type of force or accident....

If this is a discussion about side mount loosing half your gas.... couldn't you just hold your breath long enough to switch the regulator from one tank to another? (Maybe 30 seconds?) That doesn't sound too hard... easier than making a free ascent from 100 feet..

you can never make sure that a reg will never fail, but you could train yourself to switch regs in order to yeild a good probablity that you could accomplish it in an emergency...Seems more useful that worrying about the details of a potential failure...

I know nothing about side mount diving other than the little i read on the internet,.

I am not saying that I wouldn't switch regs but lets just say I need both cylinders to surface safely.

 

[Fishpie]

Swap regs as in detach bad reg from tank and put good reg in its place......

 

[ianr33]

I am not saying that I wouldn't switch regs but lets just say I need both cylinders to surface safely.

Then you have seriously messed up your gas planning!

My take on this is that,yes, with sidemount it is possible to lose half your gas. With proper planning that should not be a problem. (Even when solo.With a buddy it's even less of a problem)

With back mount you could lose ALL your gas if you don't fix a problem or take appropriate action pretty quickly. That is a problem!

Certainly possible to switch regs in sidemount if you have a spare reg to play with (stage,deco tank) Switching regs with only 2 regs (so you have nothing to breathe for a while) would be a real last ditch effort. Imagine unscrewing a reg on a breath hold and watching the DIN O ring fall into the abyss!

 

[Teller]

Then you have seriously messed up your gas planning!

My take on this is that,yes, with sidemount it is possible to lose half your gas. With proper planning that should not be a problem. (Even when solo.With a buddy it's even less of a problem)

With back mount you could lose ALL your gas if you don't fix a problem or take appropriate action pretty quickly. That is a problem!

Certainly possible to switch regs in sidemount if you have a spare reg to play with (stage,deco tank) Switching regs with only 2 regs (so you have nothing to breathe for a while) would be a real last ditch effort. Imagine unscrewing a reg on a breath hold and watching the DIN O ring fall into the abyss!

I agree about the gas planning, this is a hypothetical situation. Basically with the exception of a hose failure I am having difficulty understanding how you could loose half of your gas due to reg failure. I am not looking for a contingency or a "you should have done this or planned for that." Does anyone have an idea?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

..... Neck Oring, burst disc, blown reg face O-ring, smashed cracked second stage...