Here is a ....WHY NOT ?? ...question..

[RICHinNC]

I have just read about the umpteenth post on this board regarding a freeflowing regulator and all the "actions" that ensued.

Why cant a regulator be attached like the hose to the bcd whereby if a free flow occurs, the diver could revert to their own octo....their buddies octo....then quick disconnect the freeflowing reg thus, 1. stopping the freeflow and disorienting bubbles, and 2. negating the need to shut down the tank valve.

Now I am not trained in equipment repair or anything like that and therefore I dont know if it is a pressure thing, .... like the pressure on the bcd hose is vastly different from the reg hose....

but even if a quick disconnect isnt possible is some kind of valve shut off near the reg possible. I dont think i have seen 1 diver in a hundred that could really reach around their neck and shut off or on their own tank. Most tanks are hanging so low it would be easier for most of them to reach under their arm for the valve instead.

Just curious, so if there is someone out there that really knows why it wouldnt work, please enlighten me.

 

[wreckchick]

I don't know the answer to your main question, but I do know that I can reach behind me and turn my valve on and off (given a free hand, of course). That's of the things I check when I'm setting my rig up. On Saturday I did turn my valve on while wearing it just to make sure I could.

R

 

[Rick Murchison]

Not a bad idea... and it'd help in a few cases. But the vast majority of uncontrollable freeflows are caused by a problem with the high pressure seat in the first stage - the freeflowing reg is just the one that starts first as the IP builds. Disconnecting that one would just transfer the freeflow to the other one. Probably not what you want.
---------------
If you can't reach your tank valve, change your configuration until you can.
Rick

 

[Bob3]

A freeflowing 2nd stage is most often indicative of a malfunctining 1st stage.
The 1st overpressurizes the 2nd & it just freeflows. Adding a disconnect would allow the critter to blow up, or out... someplace.


dang Rick, you're a fast typer!!

 

[RICHinNC]

No, I dont wear my tank around my crotch....i can reach it.

Some interesting replies. I still think there are times when it is just the second stage though and here is why. My pony bottle 2nd stage free flowed terribly after my annual service.

I took it back....not the first stage...just the second....and the lds guy said he had "set it" to be more sensitive than it was when i brought it in. I told him to put it back the way it was...he did....no problem since then. So, if i had had some kind of quick disconnect, I could have used it verus having to shut down my pony.

Yep, might not help all the time, but some of the time. I wonder what kind of "another point of failure" it would turn out to be??

(stay tuned....in a couple of weeks i will be doing a cruise eval.... unfortunately not a dive cruise...have to keep the other
non diving half happy too!!)

 

[Walter]

There's no reason a quick disconnect couldn't be used. The pressure for the LPI and the 2nd stage are exactly the same. There have been quick disconnect on some HP hoses since the mid to late '80's. There are times it would work to solve the problem. Keep in mind, Bob and Rick are correct, in most cases, it wouldn't help.

 

[j-valve]

I read on another thread that a diver had a freeflow and kinked the hose the way you would a garden hose. Apart from possible damage to the hose is this also a bad idea if you don't want to loose all your gas while breathing your octo? If the problem is in the 1st stage, why doesn't the octo freeflow as well?

J

 

[jonnythan]

Just my opinion, but quick disconnects are meant to disconnect. Quickly.

I don't want my primary (and especially not my backup) to quickly disconnect from anything.

 

[pos-tech]

aqualund has a small shut off that goes between 2nd and hose. It shuts off air to a second

 

[RICHinNC]

good point there j valve....i have often wondered that myself.