Strategies if an o-ring pops at depth

[Justincase]

The only time I ever saw an O-ring failure under water, it was with a DIN valve.

Perhaps a description of the affair will be helpful in terms of what can be done.

It happened to the DM early on a dive in Cozumel. (I know it is usually yoke there, but not with Adora.) He was suddenly in a huge mass of bubbles. I was the closest to him, and he already had his BCD (Transpac) off when I got there. I helped him hold it in place while he worked. He first shut off his air. Seeing this and showing more foresight than you might otherwise attribute to me, I decided he might need another air source, so produced my alternate for his use. (He only took one breath while doing what follows--he clearly expected not to need my air at all.) He took his first stage off, saw that the O-ring had extruded, put it back into place, and replaced the reg on the valve. He turned on the air and resumed breathing.

He put the BCD back on, checked his air supply, and paused a while in thought. He finally decided he did not have enough air to complete the dive in a safe manner, and he returned to the surface to get a new tank while we hung out below. He returned in a couple of minutes and we went on with the dive.

Based on that experience, I do not think an O-ring problem at depth will generally require heroic measures to enable one to reach the surface.

i would have thought that water getting in the First stage would be bad news ...

 

[boulderjohn]

i would have thought that water getting in the First stage would be bad news ...

Water getting in the first stage is bad news if it stays there. Breathe it out and it is not such a bad thing. You can definitely get through a day's diving, take it back to the shop, and make sure it gets dried out.

 

[*dave*]

There was a time when an u/w reg remove and replace was fairly common in an OW course.... It was required for ours, at the time. The water never caused an issue I'm aware of and I was the reg technician at the time. I could see it being a problem if the moisture made its way to the pressure gauge or AI computer, but the regulator end of things doesn't seem to be adversely affected.

 

[rstofer]

Back to Captain's point: double hose regulators don't have purge buttons. Never have...

The training was to open the valve slowly and it still should be. Sometimes you hear the o-ring snap into place. In my view, a totally incompetent view I might add, that is wrong. The o-ring is too small. There was a response above where someone postulated that all o-rings are the same size. Not true! In fact, I like the really old valves with the fat o-ring that physically extends beyond the groove. These new valves (Thermo or other) that use the undersized Viton o-rings are just waiting for a good time to lose the seal.

DIN isn't necessarily any better because, once the regulator is in place, it must not be rotated. Unfortunately, just about everyone picks up the tank by grabbing the valve and they will, more likely than not, rotate the reg. I have seen a couple of seriously chewed up DIN o-rings and one failed in service.

I have a bunch of old J-valves. I like those old valves. When they used an o-ring, they used an O-RING. I'm not sure of my facts but I believe that double hose regs don't really fit the new valves very well. I have blown through a bunch of o-rings on a Thermo valve trying to seat a Royal Aquamaster or maybe a Mistral. Back to the old J & K valves... Big fat o-rings for me!

Richard

 

[davisbd23]

I had an O-Ring go on me last month. It was only at 10 feet, but thought it was worth sharing. I wrote it up here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/304301-blew-o-ring.html and a similar discussion followed.

 

[scubafanatic]

The only time I ever saw an O-ring failure under water, it was with a DIN valve.

Perhaps a description of the affair will be helpful in terms of what can be done.

It happened to the DM early on a dive in Cozumel. (I know it is usually yoke there, but not with Adora.) He was suddenly in a huge mass of bubbles. I was the closest to him, and he already had his BCD (Transpac) off when I got there. I helped him hold it in place while he worked. He first shut off his air. Seeing this and showing more foresight than you might otherwise attribute to me, I decided he might need another air source, so produced my alternate for his use. (He only took one breath while doing what follows--he clearly expected not to need my air at all.) He took his first stage off, saw that the O-ring had extruded, put it back into place, and replaced the reg on the valve. He turned on the air and resumed breathing.

He put the BCD back on, checked his air supply, and paused a while in thought. He finally decided he did not have enough air to complete the dive in a safe manner, and he returned to the surface to get a new tank while we hung out below. He returned in a couple of minutes and we went on with the dive.

Based on that experience, I do not think an O-ring problem at depth will generally require heroic measures to enable one to reach the surface.

...I didn't realize the 'Macgyver' TV show made it all the way down to Cozumel .....

 

[InTheDrink]

The only time I ever saw an O-ring failure under water, it was with a DIN valve.

Perhaps a description of the affair will be helpful in terms of what can be done.

It happened to the DM early on a dive in Cozumel. (I know it is usually yoke there, but not with Adora.) He was suddenly in a huge mass of bubbles. I was the closest to him, and he already had his BCD (Transpac) off when I got there. I helped him hold it in place while he worked. He first shut off his air. Seeing this and showing more foresight than you might otherwise attribute to me, I decided he might need another air source, so produced my alternate for his use. (He only took one breath while doing what follows--he clearly expected not to need my air at all.) He took his first stage off, saw that the O-ring had extruded, put it back into place, and replaced the reg on the valve. He turned on the air and resumed breathing.

He put the BCD back on, checked his air supply, and paused a while in thought. He finally decided he did not have enough air to complete the dive in a safe manner, and he returned to the surface to get a new tank while we hung out below. He returned in a couple of minutes and we went on with the dive.

Based on that experience, I do not think an O-ring problem at depth will generally require heroic measures to enable one to reach the surface.

Guess there's a new drill for me to practise at the pool and yet something else that onlookers can laugh at

Currently I'm not sure how confident i'd be doing all of the above on a single breath. Might try it topside first.

Thanks for the story though - sounds like a pretty cool hombre.

J

 

[john844]

Once the gear is off and you are facing the tank valve, couldn't you get a needed breath of air off it it (not directly of course), like breathing off of a freeflowing regulator? That would extend the time you have to fix the issue. If that was the DM's plan, it would explain why he did not seem worried at that point.

I personally would use this as a complete last resort though. I hope to never be in that situation without a buddy to share air with.

 

[boulderjohn]

- sounds like a pretty cool hombre.

I was impressed.

 

[vladimir]

Once the gear is off and you are facing the tank valve, couldn't you get a needed breath of air off it it (not directly of course), like breathing off of a freeflowing regulator?

We practiced this in my open water class. Yes, it is easily done. Well, it's easily done in the shallow end of a swimming pool, anyway.