Aqualung Legend LX First Stage Failure at depth

[BoltSnap]

Yes. I did contact Aqualung on returning from the trip and after about a week they did not respond. Then I took the regulator to an authorized dealer/service center that was not the same as the one that had done the prior service. I wanted an explanation of what happened from a shop that had no prior involvement with the regulator. I explained the failure to the new shop and asked that in addition to repairing and servicing that they provide a written explanation of what went wrong. That is what I quoted in the post - copy/paste from the email - nothing more or nothing less. I can assure you - there is nothing more to the story. It is quite simple. Take a breath at 60 feet, no air. Get buddy's regulator. Try to purge my second stage - nothing. Try to purge my Octopus - nothing. Buddy checks my tank valve - fully open. No way to continue dive. Ascend to 20 feet for 3 min. Surface. Take gear back to boat and watch live aboard crew and 19 other experienced divers marvel at all of this. I will be happy to post the email from the authorized Aqualung dealer explaining what happened (sentence 1) and what they did to fix it (sentence 2). I have no intention of spending day after day running down Aqualung. If they do not care about a regulator failure sufficiently to contact me in a reasonable timeframe - so be it. I took it to an authorized dealer/service center - isn't that why they have authorized dealers and service centers? A regulator is a system. The system is the hardware and service personnel and manufacturing company. The system is only as good as the weakest link. You can draw your own conclusions on that. If you need a regulator with an ACD, by all means get one, have a ball, have a good buddy. Now you know the rest of the story.

I can only comment on what you write not what actually happened

Considering the seriousness of the matter, I'd send AL a letter detailing what happened with all supporting documents including the email from the dive shop that performed the inspection after the incident. I'd send it to the CEO, Don Rockwell, via courier or certified mail. If this is a true issue with the ACD and there is a design or manufacturing flaw/defect, they need to become aware of it in an official way. You could be saving other people's lives!!

 

[databob]

I will do that - good idea. Thank you for the suggestion. Thank you to everyone that replied and added to this discussion. Happy diving!

 

[BoltSnap]

I will do that - good idea. Thank you for the suggestion. Thank you to everyone that replied and added to this discussion. Happy diving!

You need to keep ALL of the paperwork related to this matter including the receipts from the original dive shop, ALL parts from the first service AND the second service by the second shop (if any), etc. Do NOT throw away anything!!

 

[Ongrade]

This doesn't sound like a design issue to me, it sounds like a service issue. I have 2 AL regs with DIN and 2 with yoke connections. Both are designed so that the ACD must open in order for the regulator to be leak free when connected to a tank. But if the parts are assembled wrong then all bets are off.

Also, just curious how the OP could not notice the breathing getting difficult before the OOA situation?
Perhaps the reg wasn't solely to blame, if it wasn't connected tightly to the tank then the ACD could activate if the reg shifted on the valve.

 

[Wookie]

Has anyone actually tried to shift a regulator attached to a yoke or DIN tank under pressure? A little hint for ya. They don't.

 

[databob]

You need to keep ALL of the paperwork related to this matter including the receipts from the original dive shop, ALL parts from the first service AND the second service by the second shop (if any), etc. Do NOT throw away anything!!

Thank you again. I just mailed the certified letter as recommended and I have the entire history of the regulator from purchase receipt, service and all emails on the issue. Best wishes.

 

[extremetito]

Please update us if you can as to Aqualung's response.
I have a Legend LX with ACD, and have had no problems with it. But Aqualung's failure/reluctance/inertia/inability to respond to an end users critical problem with their product is very, very concerning.

 

[databob]

This doesn't sound like a design issue to me, it sounds like a service issue. I have 2 AL regs with DIN and 2 with yoke connections. Both are designed so that the ACD must open in order for the regulator to be leak free when connected to a tank. But if the parts are assembled wrong then all bets are off.

Also, just curious how the OP could not notice the breathing getting difficult before the OOA situation?
Perhaps the reg wasn't solely to blame, if it wasn't connected tightly to the tank then the ACD could activate if the reg shifted on the valve.

I know this is all hard to believe. I really don't believe it. I have attached the air profile from my dive computer (15 sec sample rate). We were stationary most of the dive filming small things in the sand. I was not breathing hard at all for the entire dive nor did we move far at all. You'll see a little abrupt dip in are pressure before the failure. This did not affect the breathing that I could notice at the rate I was breathing. Of note - on the boat post failure - when we hooked up the regulator and turned on the tank to see what was up pressure would come back to about 1400-1500 over a period of about 5 min. A breath or 2 on the regulator - no air and pressure reads 0. Wait 5 more min and it shows full pressure. Finally - a loose yoke to the degree you are talking about would blow the tank o-ring. Don't believe that - at the end of your next dive loosen the yoke with the tank under pressure. The ACD presses in about 1/8 of an inch. To have the yoke that loose - not happening.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Has anyone actually tried to shift a regulator attached to a yoke or DIN tank under pressure? A little hint for ya. They don't.

On the DIn version, if there is a little bit of pressure - say you have purged the Alt of the Lp inflator fully then the ACD can bind and cause the screw to come loose.

In this case when you pressurise the 1st stage you get a good leak, so you instantly know (like not having an O ring)

I presume the Yoke version doesn't have that issue.

I like ACD, on Din the dust caps aren't that great. I can fully immerse my whole set after dives without worry. It also prevent people on boats lasting your 1st stage with air to dry (which I've always been led to believe is bad)

I'm still not understanding the precise failure, given the ACD is designed to push back against spring pressure as you tighten it up on the valve. So in theory at least it should either fail safe (i.e. gas can flow to the 1st stage OR on connection you get an immediate gas leak - so you know somethings wrong)

 

[databob]

I think you (Diving Dubai) point directly to my biggest disappointment in this whole event. Today - I do not understand the precise failure mechanism and no one in the post-failure efforts really seems overly concerned and/or willing to provide me with that information. I spent the day regulator shopping for a regulator without stuff like ACD, not because I don't like ACD or Aqualung, but because diving with this regulator and not knowing why it stopped providing air at 60 feet will make me very apprehensive on my next trip in a couple of weeks. I have an Aqualung Titan Regulator with ACD and 3 Aqualung BCDS. I am not here to bash them. This started as a Google search to see if there were other people that experienced similar failures. I found none. I posted here so people could take from this what they want (at the minimum love your buddy) and to see if anyone else may have had a similar issue. As recommended, I did send a mail to the Aqualung CEO. We'll see how they respond and I will update this thread once I hear from them. But because the regulator has been "repaired" / serviced I doubt that we will ever really know more about the failure mechanism than I already posted.