How often does it really happen?

[jadairiii]

......What I am wanting to know is how often has/does a regulator actually fail? ....

Problem with your question is it does not take into account manufacturer/model. Most well maintained regulators don't fail, but there are ones that I would never use and others I would not hesitate to use even if you told me it had not been serviced in 10 years.

A 20 year old MR-12 III or a USD Conshelf will never fail, just breath like crap. I have hooked up old Royal Aquamaster DH reg to tanks that hasn't seen a shop in 30 years that worked fine. But open a box with a Poseidon Odin (which I have owned a few of) and I would walk away. My buddy has nothing but Scuba Pro's that are always going in for service for one reason or another, my Apek's never need service. But the Scuba Pro's never "failed".

Although, complete disclosure, I have been using Apeks regs since about 99, I have 5 or 6, in all that time I had one that the diaphragm in the first stage failed, but I believe it was my fault.

 

[flots am]

Problem with your question is it does not take into account manufacturer/model. Most well maintained regulators don't fail, but there are ones that I would never use and others I would not hesitate to use even if you told me it had not been serviced in 10 years.

"Sh** happens" and it's not restricted to one brand or another. If you're divng solo, you need to be able to handle a failure, even if your regulator was forged by the gods.

I own a bunch of first class regulators, but if I'm diving solo, I always have a completely separate alternate, either a pony or sidemount.

flots

 

[Imla]

Solo Diving- Coming out of the Closet on Vimeo

Mark Powell did a nice talk on Solo Diving.

 

[ShootnStr8]

As a person who dives solo the vast majority of the time, I appreciate the advantages of sidemount diving. Having 2 AL 80s with independent regulators provides good redundancy.

Switching to a sidemount configuration doesn't need to break the bank. I started sidemount diving by using a low end BC with an integrated weight system. I attached the bottom of the tanks to an ordinary weight belt equipped with d-rings and keepers. I used a ring bungee configuration to attach the top of the tanks. While this system wasn't as streamlined as dedicated sidemount rigs are, it worked very well.

The solo diving and sidemount forums on this board may be helpful to you.

Blessings!

ShootnStr8

 

[Lorenzoid]

No ... Marcia's death wasn't due to the lack of a buddy ... it was due to her not being mentally prepared to take her dive seriously enough. She got complacent. It's hard for me to say that about someone I thought of as highly as I did her ... but it's what I took away from speaking to someone who was there when she died ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sorry, I didn't mean to attempt to characterize the cause of her accident. Complacency seems to be a major factor in incidents involving divers with many dives under their belts, and that was part of what I was trying to say. I would imagine that having a buddy at one's side, though, could compensate for some complacency. We're all guilty of at least a little complacency. There would be little room for complacency if diving solo.

 

[DaleC]

She was buddy diving, not solo diving.

Someone without the proper mental attitude is in as much danger buddy diving as they are solo, perhaps more so, because the presence of another diver may lure one into taking more risk than one is prepared for (trust me dive). And, once in that risk event, may find the buddy not properly prepared to assist (what would one expect from an unknown insta-buddy anyway?). Being alone often has a sobering effect on bravo as well as eliminating the pressure to conform to other peoples dive plan.
Those last two cannot be underestimated as motivating factors for divers getting in over their head on a dive.

 

[jadairiii]

"Sh** happens" and it's not restricted to one brand or another. If you're divng solo, you need to be able to handle a failure, even if your regulator was forged by the gods.

I own a bunch of first class regulators, but if I'm diving solo, I always have a completely separate alternate, either a pony or sidemount.

flots

Thanks, but his question was "how often does it really happen..." And the reality is, rarely, if ever, with well maintained regulators. (as I stated).

How people deal with that "fear" (rational or irrational) is for another thread. OMS & DiveRite sell a lot of double bladder wings to address the fear of a wing failure. Funny thing is, the only wings I have ever seen fail were OMS.

 

[flots am]

Thanks, but his question was "how often does it really happen..." And the reality is, rarely, if ever, with well maintained regulators. (as I stated).

Assuming you get your regs serviced before the o-rings crack and dissolve, catastrophic failures are much more likely right after service and are usually caused by the tech screwing something up. Even really good techs sometimes make mistakes.

"How often" really isn't relevant. The only thing that matters is knowing that whatever you're breathing can fail and you need to have another one immediately available.

flots.

 

[DevonDiver]

Thanks, but his question was "how often does it really happen..." And the reality is, rarely, if ever, with well maintained regulators. (as I stated).

And likewise, scuba divers 'rarely' die due to gas supply issues. But some do, every month.

The 'rarity' decreases in line with the complexity, technicality and diminished support levels inherent in the dives undertaken. That includes solo diving, as the staple 'first resort' of buddy-supplied contingency gas is removed. It, thus, has to be replaced with a different option.

How people deal with that "fear" (rational or irrational) is for another thread.

It is fundamentally flawed to dismiss 'prudence' as fear.

A prudent diver identifies and mitigates against foreseeable risks. They do not abandon one contingency (i.e. air-sharing protocols) without adopting a suitable replacement (i.e. appropriate redundant gas supply).

The risk...and consequences... of diver OOA are covered in every single scuba course on the planet, regardless of agency or activity. It could be a 'J-valve', buddy-breathing, AAS donation, pony cylinder, sidemount, doubles... whatever... but every diver to undertake a sanctioned course of scuba training, at any level, anywhere on the planet... is trained to adequately address the issue of gas depletion or unavailability when submerged in water.

 

[jadairiii]

..."How often" really isn't relevant. The only thing that matters is knowing that whatever you're breathing can fail and you need to have another one immediately available.

flots.

Actually it is relevant. If one can fail, so can two, so should we carry 3? Or 4 alternate air sources?

Should we carry two of everything that can fail at the same rate as a well maintained regulator?

My fins have spring straps because I have experienced "catastrophic failures" of fin straps. I carry a back-up light when wreck diving because I have experienced "catastrophic failures" of lights. I dive doubles when tech diving because I do not have a direct access to the surface, but for a recreational dive, alternate air source (IMHO) is just adding task loading and extra gear unnecessarily. But I do use DIN because yoke valve O-rings do fail, quite regularly.