Broken air inflator at the beginning of dive

[jbomb001]

This was not part of my ssi ow. Class either. I keep my gear in good working condition and try to avoid this type of situation all together. However stuff happens and I would like to think that would likely be anyone's first reaction. Although I read a post the other day about a gentleman that didn't think he could even dive with the lp hose not plugged into something.. best advice I could give there is to know HOW your equipment functions.

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[KevinNM]

Ever hear of an expression called "the incident pit"? Why are you going into a harsh environment with a known equipment faullt?

Yup. Get distracted with some major issue, hit inflate to keep yourself stable and find your buoyancy going to hell when you least need that.

 

[Russoft]

OW was 1998 (PADI) for me but I audited an OW class (SDI) in 2012. I never remember learning this. It makes sense and I've often had to simply disconnect the lp hose for some reason but definitely never learned it during formal training. If it was covered, it was a single sentence somewhere in the manual.

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[wgw04024]

Ever hear of an expression called "the incident pit"? Why are you going into a harsh environment with a known equipment faullt?

Wow....

 

[Shugrnutz]

Disconnecting the inflator hose was one of the fist things I was taught.

 

[decompression]

This happened to me yesterday, one of only a handful of failures over 20 years........made a great demo for my students. Sadly it's not required by a few agencies but easily added by a conscientious instructor.


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[gfaith]

Disconnecting the inflator hose and reconnecting should be one of those skills we practice regularly. I bought a couple of those inflator hose hats that seem to make the connecting/disconnecting much easier.

 

[divezonescuba]

A guy came in and related an inflator incident that happened to him in Cozumel at the Palancar Caves site. He was not able to remove the inflator due to corrosion. He ended up being pinned to an overhead surface for 15 minutes while the dive guide pried off the inflator with his knife.

Even under optimal conditions (diver owned gear) the inflator should be inspected and tested on a regular basis. Sometimes, the lubricant becomes hardened causing these types of problems. Other inflators use regular Schrader valves, as in tires, which sooner or later begin to fail.

 

[tursiops]

OW was 1998 (PADI) for me but I audited an OW class (SDI) in 2012. I never remember learning this. It makes sense and I've often had to simply disconnect the lp hose for some reason but definitely never learned it during formal training. If it was covered, it was a single sentence somewhere in the manual.

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I'd have to go back and check for sure, but I believe in 1998 the PADI Confined Water class (the pool sessions) already had this as a required skill. I can believe you don't remember it, however. It is not in the SDI curriculum.

 

[BFRedrocks]

I recall being taught this in my PADI OW class, and it being one of the specific skills required (and tested) during my PADI self-reliant/SSI solo diver course. Definitely a good skill to not only know, but to think about during a dive as you may have to react fairly quickly in disconnecting the hose. Certainly always something to work on (along with reconnecting it which is generally harder to do) as it's an easy one to practice.