Wing failure

[larsdennert]

I've seen numerous stuck inflators that either inflate slowly on their own or the button gets stuck on. Even seen this on new inflators with less than a dozen dives. You can dissassemble and clean them but there's no adjustment so often replacement is the only option. Leaks I've seen are typically where the hose attaches to the wing and tightening the connection usually solves it. Tough to stay a float with that. Occasionally someone forgets to reattach their hip dump after cleaning. Also seen incidents where the inflator hose wouldn't attach even with no pressure. A balanced rig, a drysuit, an SMB and ditchable weight are really enough escape options against needing a double bladder unless you are carry that many stages.

 

[PfcAJ]

I’ve seen punctured wings. Usually not a big deal.

I’ve seen corrugated hoses tear off. That’s a deal.

Sheared off dump valve passing a cave restriction. Meh deal.

Leaking inflators. Leaking buttons. Leaking hose to inflator. Mostly meh.

 

[James79]

I'm a terrible person to ask since I make my own wings from scratch... For professionally produced parts the only actual failures I've seen are stuck inflator buttons (slow, continues fill) and slow leaks around the inflator hose nipple. All of those I just disconnected the lp hose and manual inflated aas needed.
On my DIY wings, the learning curve was steep and early on I had leaky dump valves, corrugated hose elbow ripped out, and blown stitching on the shell. Being properly weighted made all those events just an annoyance.

Respectfully

James

 

[parzdiver]

When diving inverted, buddy said there was a stream of bubbles coming from the bottom of the wing. While inspecting, there was a hole - something punctured the outer shell and inner bladder of the wing. Was doing easy warm water diving and couldn't find a repair shop, so dived with it for the trip. Replaced the inner bladder when I got back from the trip.

 

[rhwestfall]

One and only one in 30+ years: Brand new wing... I seemed to have to continually be adding air and the dive was a drift at a very constant depth. Looking at it on the boat afterwards, the weld of the bladder to the flange was not good for at least two spots around the flange....

I watch others for issues, nobody watched me... Should have been noticed...

 

[Couv]

I've never had one fail on my units, but my vote is for dump valve-as in should pull dump. I've seen two of those come apart, i.e. parts unscrew. I've also seen on come apart as the owner pulled the entire assembly off of the bladder.

Edit after rereading the selections. I've seen several inflators stick in the "inflate" position.

 

[Boarderguy]

My wife is getting her OW cert in a back inflate BCD and on her second dive the dump cable in her corrugated broke at the valve. This made venting a pain since her short arms and inexperience make raising the inflator over her shoulder tough. Nothing like adding more complications when new to diving and in the Puget Sound.

 

[jadairiii]

2 catastrophic failures I have witnessed, one was the diver had a pull dump on the corrugated hose, when he pulled it the whole thing ripped out of the BC. The second, I saw Tom Mount repairing the dump on the wing of his OMS wing, we were in 200' of water and Tom had his tanks/wing on the deck working on it! It came apart again back on the boat.

 

[joncampo91]

What that end up costing you to fix?

 

[Boarderguy]

What that end up costing you to fix?

I'm an aviation technician so I had the tools and supplies readily available. I removed the corrugated hose from the inflator and 90° dump at the shoulder, cut the broken cable off of the dump and then removed the pin/cable on the inflator. To fix it I looped and twisted a piece of 0.025 stainless steel safety wire in the dump, ran a length similar to the original cable (+/- 1/2") and then created a loop for the pin. Ran the wire through the hose and rubber cement + zip tie at each end. Safety wire pliers and about 2 feet of wire. Relatively easy fix and worked great on our dives today.