What equipment failures have you seen underwater?

[pengwe]

SPG with moisture inside, causing the needle to stick, and show readings completely unrelated to tank pressure.

 

[Seaduced]

During one of my first few dives, while swimming head down, the lower BC dump valve cover popped off. I heard the air escaping, but what really got my attention was the bottom rapidly filling my view. I flipped over to a feet down flair position and inflated. I hit the bottom a bit more than gently.

Because, the BC held air in an upright position, I elected to check the problem at depth. When I reached back to 'unstick' the dump valve, I got a handful parts. I doffed the BC and realized the cover had come unscrewed. So much, for the thoroughness of my gear check. Since the lanyard had retained all the parts, my buddy and I screwed it back on and did a leak check before continuing the dive.

Back on the boat, my dive buddy said while laughing, he couldn't figure out why I would descend so fast, when we so close to the bottom? When I hit the bottom, he knew something was very wrong.

You may have guessed... it was rental gear. But, the real problem was my equipment check. Luckily, I had a flat, open area to crash down on.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

During one of my first few dives, while swimming head down, the lower BC dump valve cover popped off. I heard the air escaping, but what really got my attention was the bottom rapidly filling my view. I flipped over to a feet down flair position and inflated. I hit the bottom a bit more than gently.

...

Back on the boat, my dive buddy said while laughing, he couldn't figure out why I would descend so fast, when we so close to the bottom? When I hit the bottom, he knew something was very wrong.

Imagine that same thing happening on a wall dive like the Tongue of the Ocean off Providence, Bahamas. The bottom is around 6,000' feet :-o

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

Inflator valve stuck open during rescue class so we got to practice run-away ascent procedures...and had to orally inflate my BC during the rest of the weekend. Found out the inflator valve was under recall.

It's all good though. I found a cool way to improve my SAC rate a little. When you think about it, they used to orally inflate the vest all the time back in the day. Before somebody thought to put a valve on the thing...which sticks open.

Steve.

 

[captain]

Inflator valve stuck open during rescue class so we got to practice run-away ascent procedures...and had to orally inflate my BC during the rest of the weekend. Found out the inflator valve was under recall.

It's all good though. I found a cool way to improve my SAC rate a little. When you think about it, they used to orally inflate the vest all the time back in the day. Before somebody thought to put a valve on the thing...which sticks open.

Steve.

Learn to dive with no BC and avoid the runaway accent.

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

Learn to dive with no BC and avoid the runaway accent.

You mean switching to wing/packplate? Dry Suit? Or just strapping the tank to my back?

 

[Jonny boy]

Dang... what ever happened to 'annual maintenance'???

Haven't actually seen any "failures" per se... beyond, perhaps, a fin strap break. Most of what I've seen are regs that freeflow because *somebody* didn't get annual maintenance... hoses that show the "you should start thinking about replacing me" bubbles... drop-pocket weights hit the muck because the diver didn't insert them right...

... but 'failure'... hummm.... can't really think of one...

(humm... ok, after reading a few other posts... yea... wet suit floodings (mine... didn't check to make sure the inflator valve was tightened...)... camera housing floods (not mine)... SAW TANK STRAP BREAK ONCE... of course it *might* have had something to do with the fact that the DM wearing it had just done a back-flip entry from a dock that was about 6 feet above the water... )

er.......i always thought that wet suits flooding was an inherent part of the design, hence 'wet' suits?

 

[captain]

You mean switching to wing/packplate? Dry Suit? Or just strapping the tank to my back?

See the thread on minimalism. Just strap on a tank. divers actually did/do that.

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

See the thread on minimalism. Just strap on a tank. divers actually did/do that.

Cool. I'll check it out. Makes the DMT gear exchange a little easier too!

Steve.

 

[Seaduced]

During one of my first few dives, while swimming head down, the lower BC dump valve cover popped off. I heard the air escaping, but what really got my attention was the bottom rapidly filling my view. I flipped over to a feet down flair position and inflated. I hit the bottom a bit more than gently.

Because, the BC held air in an upright position, I elected to check the problem at depth. When I reached back to 'unstick' the dump valve, I got a handful parts. I doffed the BC and realized the cover had come unscrewed. So much for the thoroughness of my gear check. Since the lanyard had retained all the parts, my buddy and I screwed it back on and did a leak check before continuing the dive.

Back on the boat, my dive buddy said while laughing, he couldn't figure out why I would descend so fast, when we were so close to the bottom? When I hit the bottom, he knew something was very wrong.

You may have guessed... it was rental gear. But, the real problem was my equipment check. Luckily, I had a flat, open area to crash down on.

Imagine that same thing happening on a wall dive like the Tongue of the Ocean off Providence, Bahamas. The bottom is around 6,000' feet :-o

The only real problem was the distance to the bottom and rate of descent, I had to act fast. Since it was one of my first dives, I was a few pounds over-weight, too. At least, I could still do a swimming ascent without the BC lift.