Question Have you (or anyone you know) ever seen a yoke regulator dislodged while diving?

[James79]

In another thread the issue of yoke vs. DIN came up (yet again). One of the arguments postulated against yoke was the idea that it could be dislodged or sheared clean off by impact while diving. Having only ever heard of this in the hand-wavy "it could happen" discussions, I'm hoping to get a sense of if anyone has ever seen or heard of happening in practice.
For reference, I believe both yoke and DIN have the pros and cons, but I don't think this theoretical failure mode is a significant factor... but I am open to being proven wrong!

Respectfully,

James

 

[rhwestfall]

Saw a fully rigged tank take a fall out of a vehicle into a grassy (but vehicle stable) area. It fell directly on the first stage. It bent the yoke (actually may have cracked it), and it was a modern heavy yoke, not one of the vintage skinny yokes. Don't recall if the retainer stem bent too...

As to happening while diving, if something caused that much damage, and where it is situated, I'd likely think the divers head would be removed too... Not much to worry about in terms of air delivery with that happening...

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Haven’t seen one “dislodged” but the o-ring between it and the valve blew on my wife’s one time. Luckily it was at 20 feet so she shut her tank off and we did a nice little air share back around the local quarry to the deck. She switched to DIN after that, although we still use yoke when traveling sometimes.

 

[tursiops]

Haven’t seen one “dislodged” but the o-ring between it and the valve blew on my wife’s one time. Luckily it was at 20 feet so she shut her tank off and we did a nice little air share back around the local quarry to the deck. She switched to DIN after that, although we still use yoke when traveling sometimes.

This is more likely and just as problematic as the entire reg being knocked off by an impact.

 

[James79]

Haven’t seen one “dislodged” but the o-ring between it and the valve blew on my wife’s one time. Luckily it was at 20 feet so she shut her tank off and we did a nice little air share back around the local quarry to the deck. She switched to DIN after that, although we still use yoke when traveling sometimes.

Out of curiosity, was it a personal tank or rental? My (limited) experience with that failure mode (no impact, just the O-ring blew) has been either damaged tank valve or worn/damaged O-ring.
To be clear, I don't question anyone's choice of DIN or yoke... this poll is investigating the veracity of one specific failure mode.

Best,

James

 

[jborg]

Haven’t seen one “dislodged” but the o-ring between it and the valve blew on my wife’s one time. Luckily it was at 20 feet so she shut her tank off and we did a nice little air share back around the local quarry to the deck. She switched to DIN after that, although we still use yoke when traveling sometimes.

What's the effect when this happens -- is the regulator still breathable while you're rapidly losing gas, or does it blow the first stage full of water and all bets are off?

 

[PEDiver]

I haven't seen first hand a yoke regulator dislodge (I have seen o-ring failures). There are stories from back in the day before DIN was commonplace in cave diving where yoke regulators became dislodged or sheared off due to impact with a cave ceiling.

 

[Edward3c]

Yes, on the checkout dive in Bali.

We were 35 minutes into the dive when the yoke O-ring blew out. We abandoned the 3-minute optional stop when surfacing as the water would have been 'boiling' and we wanted the boat to know all was OK.

Multiple times after kit was assembled, pre-dive.

 

[James79]

What's the effect when this happens -- is the regulator still breathable while you're rapidly losing gas, or does it blow the first stage full of water and all bets are off?

The one I saw was rapid gas loss, but breathable while it's happening.

 

[James79]

Yes, on the checkout dive in Bali.

We were 35 minutes into the dive when the yoke O-ring blew out. We abandoned the 3-minute optional stop when surfacing as the water would have been 'boiling' and we wanted the boat to know all was OK.

Multiple times after kit was assembled, pre-dive.

To be clear, this poll isn't about blown yoke O-rings. It is about the yoke being knocked loose or broken off by impact when it was otherwise operational.

Was the one you saw an impact failure? Or an O-ring on it's last legs gave up?

Not doubting, just clarifying.

Respectfully,

James