Where should hose protectors go?

[HenrikBP]

So I was replacing some hoses and I remembered this very heated thread.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words.
after 6 months of use, in a commercial environment, with no hose protectors....


View attachment 125725
Corrosion and cracked outer sheaths on all of the hoses without hose protectors.
All of the hoses with the protectors have a similar amount of corrosion, but none have the same cracks in the outer sheath.
These are all primary second stage hoses. Octopus, spg and LPI hoses are showing the beginnings of the same damage.

Thanks, that is an interesting point of reference.

Question: if the hoses have cracks in the outer sheath where they were *not* covered by a hose protector - how does the rest of the hose look like? My guess would be that there are cracks as well - in which case the hose is due for retirement soon anyway - hose protector or not.

 

[ti325v]

Henrick..you guessed incorrectly.

As mentioned these hoses are six months old. Aside from these cracks that I previously said are normal and WILL happen if you do not use hose protectors, the hoses look beautiful, and good as new everywhere else. ( Would you like photos ?)
Take a few minutes read the whole thread, where I was beaten around for advocating their use.
It got so ugly the mods got involved and tried to put a stop to it.
And one more point the anti hose protectors crowd make is that they encourage corrosion...in fact the ones I use have reinforced vents in at the fitting to allow rinse water to access and circulate around the corrosion prone connector. The amount of corrosion on these and the regs I have with hose protectors on them is the same.

One more point....The last bubble I got in a hose was three weeks ago, and it was in the middle of an SPG hose..perhaps you guys are getting bubbles in your hoses at the fittings that are not concealed by your non existent hose protectors because they are being damaged because of the stress on the connection that is clearly reduced by the use of hose protectors ?
After all the argument I have submitted my conclusive proof. :coolingoff:

To those of you who got to the point of abuse..

Randy, 8 damaged hoses, and I can show you eight more with no damage from the same batch (installed at the same time), that were on other regs, because they HAD hose protectors on them. You are still not convinced .

I have no idea what more evidence I can offer...it would seem eight damaged hoses with out protectors and eight undamaged using hose protectors in 6 months is a pretty compelling argument.

The replacements are braided, and guess what..they have hose protectors on them.

They cost $1, and would have saved me over $200 plus shipping to the middle of no where in Vietnam, taking three weeks to arrive just in these eight hoses.

 

[JamesK]

Maybe we should be calling them what they really are, strain reliefs. I personally believe that strain reliefs have a real function and do perform that function. They keep the hose from bending as much at the weakest point, the fitting. To say they do nothing, well I find that to be untrue. Yes, they do hide corrosion. Yes, they do make inspections more difficult, but they do keep the strain off The fitting. On setups where the hose is going to have to bend coming off the first stage they are helpful. We use them on a lot of hydraulic hoses that are flexing near the fittings to help cut down strain on heavy equipment. On my setups I do not use them anymore. Why? Well because I use braided hoses now, my hose routing does not put undue strain on my hoses, and my regs never get hung up where strain would be placed on them.

It's your decision, do what you like.

 

[ti325v]

James...
Spot on, and indeed you are using the right terminology for the intended purpose, there is clearly a stress concentration at that point, and a strain relief is the solution.

 

[Hatul]

In general with scuba gear when you have tightly opposed surfaces salt water gets trapped and it's very hard to rinse out. You see this in the tank boot of steel tanks which tend to corrode there, and I've seen this in one of my lights, and camera housing buttons. The problem is the saltwater gets in there under pressure while the rinse water cannot get in the tight spaces. They're almost waterproof to rinse water.

The Miflex low pressure hoses come with no protector while the Atomic hose has a short loose fitting protector that is easy to move for cleaning.

 

[ti325v]

More photograpic proof...

Hi everybody:
This is a "vented" "strain reliever", "this strain reliever" allows fresh rinse water to reach the fitting, at the same time reducing the stress on the juncture of the hose and fitting.



View attachment 125942
This "Strain Reliever" is incidentally on one of the 2nd stage primary hoses that DID NOT crack, as a result of it being in place as compared to the previous post photo of the hoses that did crack as a result of not having them.

This photo is of the hose fitting....




please note the amount of corrosion is exactly that of the pictures of the damaged hoses in the previous post, not fitted with stain relievers.
No cracks in the casing, no additional corrosion.

I have heard a lot of speculation, and opinions. I have presented photographic proof.

We all have our opinions and are entitled to them, but when presented pictures, well there, there is a saying...

“Time after time, history demonstrates that when people don't want to believe something, they have enormous skills of ignoring it altogether.”

The hoses with "strain relievers" clearly show the same amount of corrosion and no sheath damage as do the ones without the strain relievers.

Just because miflex hoses do not come with "strain relievers" does not mean it is not a good idea to put them on,
as I have done and will continue to do.

Have a great day everybody, I am going out diving, with "strain relievers" on my regs, as well as about 12 sets of shop regs.

 

[Randy43068]

My dive shop experience was different than yours. We noted (all of us working in the shop) that the regulators with hose protectors were MUCH more prone to corrosion and corruption on the hose fittings than those without.

Also we found that those owners who had hose protectors failed to inspect the hose fittings under then, too. I cannot recommend them based on my experience with them while I worked for a dive shop.

Hi everybody:
This is a "vented" "strain reliever", "this strain reliever" allows fresh rinse water to reach the fitting, at the same time reducing the stress on the juncture of the hose and fitting.

View attachment 126017

View attachment 125942
This "Strain Reliever" is incidentally on one of the 2nd stage primary hoses that DID NOT crack, as a result of it being in place as compared to the previous post photo of the hoses that did crack as a result of not having them.

This photo is of the hose fitting....

View attachment 126018


please note the amount of corrosion is exactly that of the pictures of the damaged hoses in the previous post, not fitted with stain relievers.
No cracks in the casing, no additional corrosion.

I have heard a lot of speculation, and opinions. I have presented photographic proof.

We all have our opinions and are entitled to them, but when presented pictures, well there, there is a saying...

“Time after time, history demonstrates that when people don't want to believe something, they have enormous skills of ignoring it altogether.”

The hoses with "strain relievers" clearly show the same amount of corrosion and no sheath damage as do the ones without the strain relievers.

Just because miflex hoses do not come with "strain relievers" does not mean it is not a good idea to put them on,
as I have done and will continue to do.

Have a great day everybody, I am going out diving, with "strain relievers" on my regs, as well as about 12 sets of shop regs.

 

[ti325v]

Hi Randy.
Diving was great, now back to this subject.
I think you have pinpointed a significant difference..
My regs are all used in a commercial environment, and are rinsed twice after use. Once when removed from the tank on the boat, then again before going onto the vented storage shelves in the shop. Not twisted up unrinsed and stuffed in a reg bag as the vast majority of my "open water certified" customer would do.
In fact, we do not let customers even do tank swaps, as we can each do 5 or more in the time it takes a "qualified" diver to do one,.... and we do not drop tanks, nor let water in to the regs..I inspect them every six months and rebuild them every year, though they do not even need to be cleaned, as we pump OCA, and are meticulous about keeping them capped when not on a tank.
Rebuilds are just to inspect and replace dynamic parts. My regs are generally spotless inside. Year after year.
Pump OCA AND never let the customer touch them.
My shop regs have 2000 or more dives on them and they all still have their original sintered air filters.
Personally. I just sent two Delta 4`s back to Oceanic, they were worn to the end of their life inside and Oceanic gave me new ones, for the cost of an annual service ( Way to go Oceanic !!!!)....2-3000 dives or more on each one and spotless inside. With one service at about 1000 dives (I cannot get Oceanic parts as I am not a dealer) but I used them to dust, but they were still clean inside. Incidentally the second stage hose failed on one and it is a special part on the delta 4. It did not fail at the first stage but at the second. It did have a vented strain reliever and the hose looked great. Till you got to the bubble at the second stage swivel.
I believe we have found common ground to agree to disagree and simply blame the customer for not taking care of their gear.

 

[ajduplessis]

Hose protectors should be in a garbage bin!

 

[RJP]

Hose protectors should be in a garbage bin!

"Fire in the hole!"