Inflator hose broke off at bcd shoulder connection

[Scraps]

I took my daughter (20 years old, less than 10 dives) on a dive to 48 feet.

I had got a small, ladies style bc from a neighbor. When I got it, the power inflator didn't work. I replaced it myself, then took it to a local dive shop to have my work verified and the bc itself looked over. The dive shop owner basically did what I had done. He tugged on everything that could come loose to see if there was any dry rotting. He connected it to a tank and tested all the functionality. Then he filled it again and let it sit for a while to see if it leaked. Everything checked out.

Just before splashing and after the buddy check, my daughter thought there was a leak where the inflator hose connects to the bc. I tightened the connector, and it appeared to solve the problem.

I conducted a weight check, and she was properly weighted at 8 pounds (she's pretty slight and was using a 63 cu. ft. tank).

We conducted most of the dive without incident. She let me know when she got to 1000 psi, and we started to ascend slowly. As we began to ascend, I saw that her inflator hose was completely disconnected from her bc and was held in place only by the lp hose from the regulator.

She was unaware of any problem, and didn't have any trouble ascending to our safety stop because she wasn't overweighted and the tank would have been positively buoyant at that point. However, she was puzzled as to why I was holding on to her bc throughout the ascent.

Although I had been watching her closely, I neither saw the hose disconnect nor saw any release of air, so I don't know when failure occurred. I was swimming on her right side for nearly the entire dive. I'm guessing that, because she had very little if any air in the bladder at depth, there were no visual or sound effects when it failed. But I'm guessing here: I don't know when it failed. It could have been as early as when she dumped air to descend.

Upon inspection afterwards, the threads on the bc side of the connecter had broken. Part of the bc's threading was still in the threading of the inflator hose's connection.

I don't know if this qualifies as a near miss because there was never any sense of urgency in anything either of us did, but I am wondering what I could have done different.

The three opportunities I had to do something different seem to have been 1) deciding to use the used bc, 2) addressing the leak pre-dive, and 3) swimming on both sides of her from time to time so I could see all of her gear configuration.

Thoughts? What could I have done different?

 

[divad]

...........

 

[Marie13]

You could have taken the corrugated hose off to inspect the threads.

 

[Vicko]

Could be that you overtightened it when reconecting. Most of those are made out of cheap plastic and break easily.

 

[CanadaDan]

In hindsight the only thing that bore closer inspection was the post buddy check re-tightening of the inflator. Even then though you may or may not have noticed the crack in the male threads on the bladder. That connection should never require a huge amount of torque to seal.

In the end failures happen and there's no preventing every one of them. Seems you both handled the situation well.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go inspect all my bladder attachment points

 

[Angelo Farina]

Apart from the equipment failure, what happened tells a lesson I am always trying to explain, and I am usually rebutted: there is no need to give a BCD to new divers during their first experiences.
Make proper weighting, give them proper fins and teach them how to use them properly, and they dive in perfect buoyancy and trim control for the whole dive without the need of a BCD.
My two sons both learned this way, and they got their first BCD only after something as 80-100 dives, when they were 12 and had to be certified (using a BCD seems nowadays a requirement for being certified).
The younger one usually do not use it at all even now: during the last dives we did together, the past summer, his BCD had a small seat leakage, and it was inflating slowly, so he simply detached the LP hose and left it alone.
Who needs a BCD when you have the correct weighting, a thin wet suit, a reasonably small tank, and you do not go too deep?

 

[johndiver999]

This is not an unusual problem. I have seen it on several Sea Quest Bc's. Other similar brands as well.

The threaded adapter that is permanently bonded to the BC degrades with age. It looks perfect, but it finally just cracks catastrophically. The whole thing breaks into two sections, often with no warning or any prior leaking.

I have never seem something similar on scuba pro BC's - they must use a different polymer.

The exact same failure occurs at the rear dump assembly, since they are essentially identical.

What I like to do is to unscrew the hardware and then try to gently bend and stress the threaded fitting with your hands. How much force to use? I don't know, but a failure could literally cause a fatality.

If it cracks or fails, you will be happy it happened in the garage versus at 100 feet. Sometimes you can look very carefully at the fitting and start to see small stress crack running around the circumference and between the individual threads. Sometimes, but not always, it will begin to leak slightly around the fitting if you blow it up hard and then carefully look for a small leak. Sometimes you can detect a small leak which is originating from between the threads.

The BC can be in perfect condition - even unused - it is not associated with UV damage as best I can tell, the plastic just degrades with age.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I have never seem something similar on scuba pro BC's - they must use a different polymer.

I have to give Scubapro credit where it is due, the polymers they use appears to age well.

 

[emoreira]

This is a very common fault of every BCD. I've been repairing BCD with this problem since several years now. The way to repair is to replace completely the thread with a new plastic part.

I have already repaired a lot of brands, Mares, PolarPro, SeaQuest, FunDive, Aquatec, Oceanic, Sherwood, Omersub, Aeris, Zeagle.
For me it's not if it will break, but when will it break.
The replacement part and the repair is up the challenge ? Well, it seems that the original thread is not.
I'm an OWD Instructor and I work in a dive school. The BCDs of the school have all been repaired. BCDs with only months are already broken and fixed.
This has already been discussed here in SB. I invite you to search those threads.

 

[emoreira]

I have to give Scubapro credit where it is due, the polymers they use appears to age well.

I've never received a Scubapro BC to repair a broken flange.