Another equipment thing to check...happened yesterday (+)

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Beachman

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Virginia Beach, VA (summer),
Maybe some of you have experienced an inflator hose failure before, but this was a first for me. First dive on a wreck
called the Morgan off Virginia Beach in 105 fsw. Had a little air in my BC when I jumped in, deflated and dropped down to the hang bar, joined my buddy, and started swimming down the anchor line. At about 40' I started inflating to slow my descent....nothing happened, except I heard air escaping from the area of my shoulder dump valve! Kept trying all the way down, but the same sickening sound of a rush of air all the way to the bottom as I dropped like a rock.

I did grab the anchor line about 10' from the wreck and slow things up. Sat on the bottom, explained (showed) my buddy the problem. We decided I'd hang out on the bottom by the tie off while he went ahead and played around in about a 30' radius of me. It was just too much trouble for me to try to "swim" with my fins(but?)on the bottom.

After about 25 minutes (we were on 34%) I pulled myself up the line to the hang bar. Everyone else thought I was nuts
'cause they didn't know my problem. Since there was a fair surface current and most divers were hanging on the tag line
before exiting, I removed my weights and hung them on the hang bar at 15'....seemed better than trying to surface and wait for my turn to exit while drowning on the tag line with no bouyancy (I dive a little overweighted normally).
Found out that my inflator hose had split right at the connection to the shoulder dump valve. I use that dump a lot, and I guess all that yanking over the years just weakened the hose.

When I went to pick up another hose for repairs at the dive shop, they said inflator hoses get worn out regularly...sometimes the rubber dry rots, maybe just age and brittleness, etc. They replace inflator hoses on rental
equipment every 2-3 years. My BC is about 5 years old, so I guess I got plenty of use out of that old hose.

Just thought I'd let you know my experience. If you check out your hose, just flex it and look for little tiny cracks starting in the ridges. Easy to see if you know what you're looking for.

DSAO
 
Hi Beachman:

Sorry to hear about your problem. I had a similar one this past weekend. Wanted to try a steel 95 tank so borrowed one from a charter friend. Everything was fine at the surface but by the time I hit 100 feet my bcd was full of water instead of air. No matter how much air I pumped the bcd would not inflate. I ended "climbing" the rope that lead back to the surface after about 20 minutes. At the surface I had to swim without the aid of the bcd from the front of the boat to the back. Unlike you I kept my weights and by the time I got to the back of the boat I was pretty much exhausted. So there's another item we need to check. The tank we are using. It didn't affect the high pressure hose but it did allow water into the low pressure hose. The second dive on my own aluminum 80 tank was perfect.
 
on only my second training dive outside the pool, i was using a brand new Seaquest Spectrum. The store was featuring them on sale that month and i was trying out a few before making the big purchase. One of the other instructors on the boat had an identical model. Several instructors were playing practical jokes on each other and one unscrewed my inflator hose (thinking it was the other guy's) so when i shot some air into it, the bubbles just came out the hose and followed their merry way up to the surface! I had to fin like crazy to get to the surface before my instructor noticed something was amiss and fixed the problem! I took everything good-naturedly, not knowing if that happened to all the newbies or what? Needless to say, nobody but nobody touches my gear nowadays and if they do (like at many tropical resorts) i double and triple check everything!!!!!
 
Hey Beachman, I've been using "Armor All" on my hoses for the past 3 years & don't have any signs of cracks, I thought if it worked on tires & dashes, why not low pressure inflator hoses as well as all of my rubber goods.
Works for me, hope this helps. :idea:



Don
 
Thanks for the reminder Beachman. I have a question for morgan. I can see how a steel 95 would make you more negatively buoyant during your dive than the Al 80 you're used to, but I don't understand how it would (directly) affect the BC's inflator hose or keep you from adding air to your BC as you seem to be saying. That's a new one on me. Can you (or anyone else) explain?

TIA,

Bill
 
Sorry for the confusion guys! We've done a few test dives to see what the problem was. The tank didn't do it. I added what we call here a "duck" on the hose leading to the bcd. You know, those underwater sounding devices so you can call your buddy with. Anyway, it was defective. Since I have replaced it I have not had a problem. I still don't completely understand how it filled with water but I haven't had a problem since so I don't know what else to blame it on. My new "duck" is working fine.
 
Or did I misunderstand something?

My husband had the same thing happen to him. The split was in between the folds of the corrugated hose and hard to see.

Dee
 
Hello don just wanted to add something to your remark about using armor all on your hoses, if you intend on using your regulator for nitrox diving or even on o2 bottles for deco, you may want to think again. Armor all protectant is loaded with hydrocarbons which when you mix hydrocarbons and elevated levels of o2 (above 25% o2) you can have an explosive combination, not to mention this armor all protectant sinks into the material of the hose and eventually can enter the gas path of your breathing air (so you can be breathing in trace elements of this cleaner with every breath. It is wise to stick to the recommended cleaning agent of choise which is warm soapy water (mild dishwashing liquid type soap). I hope this sheds some light on the use of proper cleaning agents for diving equipment.

rainreg
 
The only oral inflation I have on my BC is the same inflator hose that failed. Maybe you're BC has another method for oral inflation. In my case, it would have gone right out like my low pressure air.

DSAO
 
Musta been a brain fart! I was thinking power inflator failure. A split in the hose is a whole different thing!
 

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