Regulator hoses

[TwoBitTxn]

After having seen my second hose blowout, not me but someone else, I began to wonder.... is there a recommended replacement interval for hoses, both high and low pressure, or it that one of those things that just gets used until it blows out and you hope it doesn't happen at depth.

My department director is an avid diver. On his SECOND dive in blue water after class he blew out his high pressure hose at depth. He kept his calm and all was ok. I can imagine for some other really new diver it could have been a much worse situation. He now has it framed in his office.

Tom

 

[SubMariner]

Tom, was it the hose or the high pressure seat for the hose?

From my experience the seats blow more often than the hoses. And even then, high pressure seats don't blow all that often!

If you take good care of your gear, have it serviced regularly, you (or your tech) can usually see if a hose is deteriorating. Telltale signs like lack of flexibility or cracking around the crimps/seals, discolouration, etc.

Hoses generally last many, many years. IMHO the fact that one blew points to a manufacturing defect or weakness that was present all along and just required the right set of circumstances to finally blow.

Just my $0.02's worth,

~SubMariner~

 

[simonk999]

OK, so what are you supposed to do if your high pressure hose blows? How fast does it empty your tank?

I once noticed a fellow diver's high pressure hose (not the seat) with a big crack in it. I mentioned it, and the response was, "well, it's only a crack in the rubber, not the actual hose, so it's ok".

-Simon

 

[Rick Murchison]

The air loss rate after the immediate "pop" is actually less for the HP hose than for the LP hose - since the HP hose just provides pressure to the gauge, there's no need for much flow, so the orifice in the first stage is very small, and a blown hose will lose air at a rate that's not that tremendous. It's still impressive, and you still need to come on up at a safe rate and abort the dive, but it's not the big deal many think it must be.
The worst is a blown o-ring at the tank orifice on a yoke style adapter - *that* will get your attention with its air loss rate.
Rick

 

[Liquid]

Fortunately, hoses tend to break more often on surface, when opening the tank, as the first pressure gets them.
Unfortunately, it's just more often, but it still DOES happen in watter. Also, HP break more often than LP, and like mentioned by rick-the HP is usualy not a problem in such a case.

Outer cracks in the rubber, are not dangerouse in themselves, but can often point to bad condition of the inside hose. small cracks are usualy nothing to worry about, but if they get bigger along time, just exchange the hose, it isn't to expansive. Treating your equipment anualy will almost reduce the risk to zero. The problem is with rented gear, that get's overworked plenty of times.

The air loss, like mentioned by rick, is usualy not to critical if you start ascending right away. However, in better regulators, the more expansive ones usualy, that can suply huge amount of air, it can be quite quick(i made an experiment once on a mares MR22 Abyss-went from 100 bar to 0 in about 20 secs of free-flow).

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Both cases I am referring to the high pressure hose split. The case I actually saw air was comming out of the hose at what I thought was a high rate of speed. Maybe it was the inflator hose that went on the second case. It sounded like the O ring blew out with the accompanying high volume rush of air. That was actually what I initially thought happened. I went over to make sure they had a replacement O ring and I was shown the split hose. That made me think.

Simon... I can't imagine someone having that attitude toward a cracked hose... not me man.

Tom

 

[The Chairman]

Hey all,

I have replaced many a hose due to the cracking of the outer sheath. It's a good indicator that the rubber has lost it's pliability and should NOT be trusted.

That being said, I see more leaks coming from the gauge swivel than anywhere. Usually we are not as urgent in rinsing off our gauges and corrosion occurs inside the swivel. You turn your gauge once too many times, and here come the bubbles. The fix is to gently pull out the inner brass tube and replace BOTH O-rings after you have cleaned all the corrosion off of the brass tube AND inside the hose and gauge. Use some silicone grease here, but not too much!

 

[scubabunny]

hehe...ok..that explains my leaking console! As a new diver (I'm sharing an embarrasing moment here guys, so bear with me!) I rinsed my gear regularly...however, I let the console with the computer hanging out of the tub. Reason...didn't think the computers should get wet! (don't ask...blond moment!) To me, at the time...computers and water should not mix!

Ok..go ahead an laugh! But, I learned real quick when I was 90ft down, and had a steady stream of bubbles coming out of my console. Think my "better half" was rather upset..until I explained my reasoning..then he just laughed his butt off!

Maybe this should have gone into the "most embarrassing moments" thread???

 

[BetterLateThannever]

Scubabunny,

I just don't know how to reply to that. LMAO!!!!

 

[TjRjn]

Simon... I can't imagine someone having that attitude toward a cracked hose... not me man.

Tom

You obviously haven't' dived in Turkey. :blinking: