What gear malfunctions have you ever had?

[victorzamora]

I was on a boat, guy was already in his BCD....was just waiting for his buddy to backroll before getting off. His reg hose exploded (sounded like a gun shot). I'm glad it happened there and not underwater. It was before a fairly deep dive (Mama Vina wreck)

 

[KeithG]

Pulled the zipper pull tab off my wet suit a couple of times - now I just use a piece of wire.
broke a fin strap while gearing up - grabbed spare from save a dive kit
floodded my first ever video camera due to manufacturing defect
booty zippers broke after about 4 years use - i just ignored it. finally replaced them (the booties) 20 years later when the soles wore through
no other issues
my buddy has had the following
inflator hose slow leak continually filled her bcd
Air leak via crack under the swage on her second stage - lots of bubbles but no real danger
loose zip tie allowed her mouthpiece to detach from her second stage - she whiched to alternate
Several broken dive suit zippers
flooded several dive lights

 

[DanMont]

Had a primary reg free flow after doing reg recovery drills in my Ocean Diver course(in cold water). Went to the instructors octo whilst he turned my tank on/off and was fine after that.

Had a BCD inflator stuck at 6m. Vented the BCD to control my ascent (was at the start of the dive) and after not being able to fix on the surface canned the dive. Turned out to be a couple of grains of sand in the inflator.

Had a main dive light die half way through a night dive. Continued by sticking very close to my buddy!

 

[Dahodevil]

Buddy's pressure gauge got stuck on 1500 on his first dive after ow class. He never had the experience to know something didn't look right till he ran out of air at 80 feet. Talk about a panic. I chewed him a new A-hole on the surface for not watching his pressure. The next dive we kept comparing pressure and found the problem. BRAND NEW EQUIPMENT.

 

[kathydee]

two different wing inflator were stuck to auto inflate (on the surface)
have had quite a few bubbles coming from the inflator
O rings on hoses blew at the surface
Popped a light can latch pulling my rig into a RIB & flooded my LiIon battery
my bottom timer failed on one dive
had several drysuit zipper/seals leak
A DPV stopped working
Pinched a wing
Compass came off it's axis

None of these issues were really much of a problem. Mostly solved top side from the tool kit ;-)

 

[drbill]

Keep in mind that these are during a period of over 50 years of diving:

Piston o-ring failure in first stage: aborted dive early

Broken fin strap: returned and got spares from my dive bag

Broken mask strap: held camera up to my mask to keep it on and continued diving and filming. I keep my mask strap inside my hood so the mask doesn't fall off if the strap breaks

O-ring failure in tank valve: returned to shore, no big deal; spares in dive bag

"Flooded" (minor) camera housing: held camera housing face down so water wouldn't affect camera; check o-rings more carefully before dive for hairs

BCD power inflator auto-inflating: disconnected it and continued diving (first BCD I ever used after 28 years of diving without one)

Flooded dry suit (about 5 gallons): Continued dive in winter and retired dry suit to dive locker until I feel like patching all the holes in it

Wetsuit zipper stuck: no one home so I walked down to the fire station and had them rescue me! They all laughed.

J-valve prematurely pulled down by kelp in days before SPGs: survived somehow to dive another day despite CESA from 90 ft

Blown reg hoses: use spare in dive bag or head over to dive shop for a new one

Tank valve debris tube clogged: CESA from 80 ft (reminded me to carry my pony bottle on almost all dives)

 

[Bratface]

I have had a fin strap come unclipped, flooded a dive light, and my computer (Computer #1) quietly died underwater, second computer which was replaced by the manufacturer for computer #1, lost it's mind underwater after six years of use. It showed I was at 395ft (I was actually at 48 ft), it began to scream and flash and demand I go to 162 feet for a mandatory safety stop. Once of the surface, computer #2 turned off never to turn on again.

 

[billt4sf]

Bill, What was that CESA like?

- Bill

 

[miked]

Nothing life threatening, some annoying, some "duh" :

Flooded light, switched to backup

Flooded camera (within first minute of the dive): went back to the boat, gave the camera to a crewman, and said "don't put it in the camera tank, it's toast".

Leaking LP inflator hose at the connection to the valve (1): disconnected it, reattached it, fixed.
Leaking LP inflator hose at the connection to the valve (2): disconnected it, reattached it, it still leaked. Finished the dive with it disconnected.(note: the dive was at a site where the hard bottom was at 27 ft.)

Cable tie that holds the mouthpiece onto the reg snapped/came loose on giant stride entry(?) swam to boat platform,crew replaced it, as I held onto the dive platform.

 

[billt4sf]

Someone should make a poll about this. Let's see what are the most common / least common failures. I would do it myself, but I don't think I have quite the knowledge to categorize them well. It could maybe even become a sticky.

Maybe distinguish between failures on the surface vs. at depth, and / or maybe between those that were setup / failure to check problems vs. those that were actual equipment breakages ?

- Bill