What length are your hoses?

[blue steal]

Not sure if this would be the right forum for this question.

I am putting together a pressure gauge, regulator, octopus and would like to know what people are using for there HP & LP hose lengths.
Right now, I have a 16" for the inflator and a 26" for the second stage.
For the pressure gauge only I was thinking of going a bit shorter than the standard 32" length to say 26"-28" so that it would not dangle out and could be clipped off to the waist D ring.
Also for the Octo was thinking either 32" or 36" instead of the standard 40".

 

[cmburch]

For the Octo hose to route under the arm it needs to be about 40 inch.

As long as the HP line is convienient for viewing, a shorter length should be fine.

28 inch is standard for the primary. Some go longer when intended for donating. I use 36 inch on my primary for over the shoulder routing and donating. My Reg is side exhaust so no up or down. Many would go longer 40 inch, 5 or 7 feet for donating.

 

[ptyx]

For the HP hose, clipped on the waist D-ring: 24 was too short for me, 30 is slightly too long for me.

I use a long hose setup (7ft primary), so can't really comment on primary/secondary length. However, I would recommend having at least one of them 40in or more. Sharing air with a 32" hose is painful.

 

[KaizerWilhelm]

cmburch is right, 40" for the octo to route under the arm. That's how mine is.

My primary is 32" because as soon as I get my BC I'm going to get an Air 2 and toss the octo and donate my primary if the need ever arrises.

BC hose is 26" and I'm probably going to shorten it down to 22" if I ever get around to it.

 

[tech3324]

second stage: 24"
inflator: 24" (Halcyon wing)
hp: 24" for spg or computer clipped to waist belt
octo: 37" for under arm and clipped to D-ring on chest

These lengths were pretty much determined by what came with the gear. The only one I experimented with and shortened up was the hp hose, and I can read the spg or computer while its clipped with the 24".

 

[Kern]

Inflator; Ideal length will often vary, even between 2 divers using the same wing. I use a 12" hose, but my corrugated hose elbow & my 1st stage would like to occupy the same space.

Main 2nd stage; Anything I could comfortably retrieve, without causing it to bow to much to the side when in use. I use a long hose so its length is of no interest.

HP hose; 22" - 24" clipped to hip "D" ring, much shorter & I would have to work at moving the gauge into a position to read. I use a 24" hose.

Octopus; As you are using a short hose on your main 2nd stage I would suggest leaving the octo around the 40" mark. This way you give yourself a bit of space to manoeuvre if you need to donate. As I donate the long hose, once again my hose length would not be of interest.

 

[scubafanatic]

...ideally, you need a tank, upon which you can mount your BC/wing setup, then mount your regulator on the tank, JUST LIKE it would look if you were to actually go diving, clipping off everything and routing all the hoses just like you'd want....a tape measure might be useful too. I'm assuming you already have one reg set (or can get your hands on one-borrow it) that you can use as a reference/model, as it's really the best way to get everything right (having a physical model). If you don't own a reg, rent/borrow one that is similiar as possible to the reg you plan to own, and use that 'model' reg to practice with, to play with hose routing/placement/lengths.

 

[halocline]

As long as you're playing with hose lengths, why don't you try a couple of dives with a modified long hose arrangement? You can get a hose coupler at divegearexpress or through the trident catalog, which will allow you to put together 2 LP hose to come up with a primary 2nd stage hose that's somewhere between 5 and 6 feet in length. This would rout under your right arm, across your chest, and around behind you head. Your octo would go on a very short hose, probably 24", and hang around your neck on a bungie necklace.

If you don't like it, you can simply undo the coupler and use the regular hose lengths. For that, I would not go any shorter than 40" for the octo. Once you've done a couple of air shares with the longer hose, I doubt you'll want to go back.

As a few people have said, a shorter HP hose makes sense. For me 24" is perfect, but or a larger person I could see 26" being a little more comfortable. I don't see going any longer than that.

Some people might object to the coupler, saying that it adds a failure point. That is true, but it's unlikely to go at once, much more likely that you'd see a few bubbles once the o-rings start to get worn. At that point it's a simple replacement. To me, a standard 5 ft hose is a little too short, and the coupler lets me adjust the length of the hose. Some day I'll order a custom long hose 5'6" or something like that. It's also possible that a 5 ft miflex hose might be very comfortable because they are more flexible.

Occasionally I'll go back to the standard 26-28" primary/38-40" octo, usually when assisting with OW classes and doing air share drills with the students. Every time it strikes me how much more comfortable, convenient, and easy-for-air-sharing the long hose is. This is one case in which the tech agencies have really figured it out. There's no need for a 7ft hose in OW, that's used in restrictions to allow divers to share air single file.

 

[blue steal]

Thanks all for your comments.
Did some measurements at the pool with a borrowed setup reg.
My inflator is 20" and is fine.
Reg length at 26" is ok
Think I'll stick with the 40" Octo as this seems to be the standard.
Pressure gauge console I used was 32" + gauges, so I will go to 26-28" as I will be using a 2" brass pressure gauge only and clip to hip D-ring.