Malfunctioning BCD at depth

[Freewillow]

Here is what happened to me last week.

On a drift dive along a steep wall, I descended to 25m ( 75 feet ) and started to inflate my BCD in order to stabilize around 30m (90 feet ).

My BCD could not hold air !

Luckilly, I was not overweighted, so I could stabilize at the desired depth of 30 m ( 90 feet ), but I had to slowly swim upwards in order not to sink any further. The quick exaust valve - I discovered it later - was leaking.

There were, I thought, a few solutions at hand:

1. drop 1 kg ( 2 pounds ) of lead could have made me neutrally buoyant. Drawback: lost lead and positively buoyancy issues during the safety stop
2. Give my 1 kg weight to my dive buddy and recover it later at shallower depth with less air in the tank. Drawback: my buddy would end up slightly overweighted

What I elected to do was to launch my large ( 20 litres - 5 gallons ) closed Halcyon SMB.

This allowed me to enjoy my drift dive, suspended to my SMB. I just slowly recoverd the line on my spool ). To float at the surface was relatively easy with the help of my closed SMB.

The points to take from this is that:

You should never be overweighted for a safe dive.
A pretty large SMB with enough line on a reel or spool provides an easy alternative flotation device.
The fact that it was a closed SMB helped me to float confortably at the surface.

Of course, I should have discovered that the valve of my BCD was not competent any more. I tested the BCD on my routine "gear check", but since I did not inflate it fully, this was not detected.

Would you have done it differently? Opinions are welcome

 

[tbone1004]

similar thing happened to me actually a few weeks ago while doing OWT. Was in the control position above the dive team and was orally inflating and apparently the dump was dumping everything I was putting in. With a wing it means roll to the left, reach back and tighten the dump valve which stopped the problem. I always do a positive pressure check on my wings before a dive trip, but not before every dive. Now added to that list is to check that everything is tight...

 

[CptTightPants21]

What is the quick exhaust valve? Is it the OPV on the bottom or an exhaust valve located that the elbow of the inflator? If one is leaking you should have oriented your body slightly so that the air was positioned away from the leak

What were the dive conditions like ?----current, what was the bottom of this steep wall?

If the leak is really bad enough that you have to constantly swim up its time to end the dive, especially since it sounds like this was in the ocean with a deep bottom.

I am assuming you were not in a drysuit.

A few thoughts:

A) No one is going to be "overweight" with a 2lb weight
B) Do you realize your entire thought process was centered on a 2lb piece of lead
C) Always fill the bladder until the OPV engages--I generally orally inflate it fully and then push the inflator to active the OPV

 

[Storker]

On a wall dive, I'd thumb the dive if my BCD started malfunctioning. Even if I had some form of redundant buoyancy. On a dive with a hard bottom within recreational limits, I'd probably continue the dive if I had a redundant buoyancy source.

My opinion may very well be colored by the fact that I dive almost exclusively in a drysuit, so I'm used to having redundant buoyancy. On a wall dive last year, my buddy discovered soon after descent that his BCD was unable to hold air. He was considering continuing the dive using only his suit for buoyancy control, but I thumbed the dive. We did a controlled ascent and surfaced after our safety stop. Given the very short bottom time, we were able to dive again after we'd fixed his shoulder dump valve.

---------- Post added December 1st, 2015 at 06:02 PM ----------

A) No one is going to be "overweight" with a 2lb weight

Totally agree. I add twice as much (2 kg) to my belt in the winter to loft my undergarments better and keep warm in the cold water.

B) Do you realize your entire thought process was centered on a 2lb piece of lead

What's the cost of a 2# lead weight? About the same as a couple of beers?

C) Always fill the bladder until the OPV engages--I generally orally inflate it fully and then push the inflator to active the OPV

Usually I only inflate from my tank, but otherwise I do the same.

 

[redacted]

In warm water with little or no neoprene, a failed bladder is not a problem. I guess you were using a fair amount of neoprene.

 

[Freewillow]

Answers:

Swim suit: 4/5 mm.
Bottom: more than 300 m
Leaking valve: the dump valves that is present in almost all BCD on top of the right shoulder.

Why end up a nice dive if the solution is as "easy" as dumping 2 pounds of lead or inflate a SMB. I do not get the point
In your case, storker, my guess is that you can go back to the surface assistance and repair. in our case, the dinghie that dropped us, came back to the liveboard in order to take more divers.
As I said, to ditch the weight is not the perfect solution. I would end up too light at the end of the dive.

 

[Steve_C]

Why end up a nice dive if the solution is as "easy" as dumping 2 pounds of lead or inflate a SMB.

This assumes that you know what the cause of the problem is and are 100% sure it will not get worse and cause more problems later. You also want to keep a tight hold of the smb line.

Why not just roll to your side so the valve is down?

 

[Freewillow]

Good point Steve. The problem was that I only found out what the origin of the problem - the dump valve - was after the dive. of course, if I would have a bottom at a reasonable depth, I could have taken away the BCD and have a good look at it. You are right, to roll to one side was a very good solution. thanks.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Good point Steve. The problem was that I only found out what the origin of the problem - the dump valve - was after the dive. of course, if I would have a bottom at a reasonable depth, I could have taken away the BCD and have a good look at it. You are right, to roll to one side was a very good solution. thanks.

You had no idea why the BC was not holding air, but you continued a dive with a 1000 ft floor anyway?

 

[Freewillow]

You had no idea why the BC was not holding air, but you continued a dive with a 1000 ft floor anyway?

yes, just because I had a lot of solutions