Scubapro failure at depth

[gotsand]

Thanks for all the replys.

Me: I've been certified only since 1993, but active in/under the water for about 30 years. Living in Florida, I dive recreationally and occasionally for work. I am comfortable operating underwater; blackwater, bluewater, current, rough, calm, animals, whatever (well cold stinks). Most of my diving is in the 70-110 foot range.

As for the "whole story" you've pretty much got it excepting for the fact that I was diving 32% EAN and did a gentle back roll entry into 2-4' seas. I understand it sounds strange, that's why I went public. Alas, there are no hidden factoids I left out, sorry.

BOTH second stages flooded after breathing fine, period. The octo was breathing dry prior to flooding as well. I understand how to purge a reg, snorkel, or anything else I put in my mouth while underwater. I have no probelm dealing with seawater in my mouth, this was different than simply clearing a secondary air source prior to usage. It was two regulators which would suddenly, repeatedly fully flood and require multiple purge attempts in order to run dry. I'd say it happened three times on the primary and at least as many on the octo, likely more.

Seawater was coming in from somewhere, the hoses were flooded, not just the regs.

Someone asked if my regs were flooded upon exit and tank shut off. No, the lines were holding pressure. Yoke was tight, mouthpieces were intact and on.

The LDS (not rental or repair) I spoke with was not trying to sell me anything just offering $0.02 right or wrong.

The tank rental LDS told me the tanks were dry, I will not call them liars. Unfortuantely, I can no longer check them first hand. I spend a lot of money with this shop and the thought of them avoiding a rebuild charge while possibly loosing my future dollars makes no sense. I wasn't hurt, am not angry, just stumped. You're correct I should have tipped the tank right after the dive, but I was a bit tired and my head was elsewhere at the time.

My only question on wet tanks: If there was water in the tank, why would the problem not begin during the descent, when I'm the most inverted? Just asking. The idea that I emptied the wet tank at depth is possible, interesting view.

How would seawater get in to a tank? Seems like it would have to be empty, open, with some additional effort applied to get water in?

Repair LDS promised them back by 7/27. I'll be sure to update on the diagnosis. Thank you all for your opinions.

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
BOTH second stages flooded after breathing fine, period. The octo was breathing dry prior to flooding as well. I understand how to purge a reg, snorkel, or anything else I put in my mouth while underwater. I have no probelm dealing with seawater in my mouth, this was different than simply clearing a secondary air source prior to usage. It was two regulators which would suddenly, repeatedly fully flood and require multiple purge attempts in order to run dry. I'd say it happened three times on the primary and at least as many on the octo, likely more.

Seawater was coming in from somewhere, the hoses were flooded, not just the regs.

Maybe you were just narced and swimming upside down?

..snip..
My only question on wet tanks: If there was water in the tank, why would the problem not begin during the descent, when I'm the most inverted? Just asking. The idea that I emptied the wet tank at depth is possible, interesting view.
..snip..

Maybe the diptube came loose mid dive?

..snip..
How would seawater get in to a tank? Seems like it would have to be empty, open, with some additional effort applied to get water in?

A lot of places I dive, boats can't get up to the pier at low tide and people sometimes have to walk through the water for quite a long way carrying (more like trailing in the water) a couple of cylinders. And the general labourers that sometimes help just love to crack the valves UW and generate bubbles. I've even seen a lot of DMs doing this.
I've seen more than one tank hit the beach with no air pressure left in and the valve open. Temperature variations walking through cooler channels and over hot sandbanks can lead to water sucking back into the tank.

 

[drbill]

I dive only with Mk10/G250's if I'm not renting gear. I have found them to be exceptionally reliable.

My pony reg did start whistling at depth two years ago. When it was in the shop for maintenance, there were two fairly large cracks in the inner cylinder wall of the first stage. It still breathed fine... loud, but fine.

The only time I've had water enter my mouth "from" my second stage it was when there was a crack in the underside of the mouthpiece that I didn't see upon inspection. It would breathe fine if the G250 was not twistec in my mouth.

 

[Mitchell]

Interesting topic. A few weeks ago while diving my wife kept signaling she had water in her 2nd stage primary. She switched to her backup and had the same feeling of water in her mouth. We ended the dive. I inspected the diaphram and noticed that it was folded over. Fixed that problem then went to the next reg. Noticed she had a very small crack in her mouth piece. The only way to see it was to really pull it apart. Sounds strange but really happened.

Looking forward to the real outcome.

 

[gotsand]

Maybe you were just narced and swimming upside down?

That might explain the mermaid.

 

[gotsand]

So,

Both Scubapro and LDS doing repair (also sold me the reg) say there was likely water in the tank. Although no good reason for a lack of flooding during a head-down descent has been offered. Broken dip tube during dive is the best I've heard. The reg is being rebuilt.

Interestingly, when the dealer tried to run the serial #'s through ScubaPro they were told it was sold at key-man pricing and there was no warranty (I paid full price, BTW). Also the LDS now has no records of me buying the gear from them. After insiting I got the gear from them, the LDS told me the key-man thing was no big deal and the warranty work was "taken care of" not to worry. (Previous work has been done no problem without showing the plastic warranty card, which I never got).

Well I pulled my original sales ticket and interestingly it is just hand written on run of the mill sales receipt paper and the store's name is not to be found. They did write their dealer # on the mail-in warranty card, however.

So now, I need to call ScubaPro and tell them the LDS is selling their key-man gear at retail pricing. Also need to have a word with tank rental LDS.

Thanks for the replys.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

SP offers deals at below normal dealer cost to certain key individuals, but the price difference is just not that great - not great enough to warrant risking a deaership. I suspect the shop was just not aware of the numbers being tracked and did not take care to keep the key man reg separate from the other inventory thinking it does not matter which one goes to a customer and which one goes to the instructor/owner/DM, etc.

Be sure to get a service slip from the LDS. It's a four copy NCS form. One copy goes to Sp, one copy goes to the dealers records, one copy goes to the dealer trigger file so they can send a reminder of upcoming service due dates and one copy is your copy and is sufficient to prove you are the original owner and are getting the reg serviced on time since it is dated and has your name, the name of the dealer you purchased it from and the last date of service on it.

 

[CMAN]

Well DA seems to have made the correct call on this one (DA you are the man) , but I still have some questions. 1. How did "sea water" get into the tank? 2. How come it didn't enter the regulator on the head down descent? 3. How common is it to get that much water into a tank?:huh: