HOG regulator free flows

[rebelrph]

The OP claims that it was 6 grains of sand but then orders a new purge cover to correct the problem. The two have nothing to do with each other. Also those 6 grains would need to be jammed into the hole where the lever inserts into the air tube. Personally I think the problem was that the reg was set up to loose and continued to free flow once purged because of the venturi effect. My Scubapros will do this too with the adjuster all the way out and the lever set to dive.

Have you seen the small HOG purge button I'm talking about? I'm thinking not. AND I'm not blaming HOG, it's my reg and it has always work well, BUT this is a situation that others may not know can happen. The sand was no where near the lever, it was jamming button and preventing the spring from pushing the button back to the normal position. If you haven't seen one, there's no way I can explain it. When you take it apart you'll say, "Oh, that's what he's talking about." The new full-front purge button eliminates the area where the sand collected, therefore preventing THIS problem in the future.

Yep, EXHALING to clear would have been better (in hind sight), but whenever I did decide to use the purge button on some other dive on some other day the free flow would have occurred then. I wonder at what depth that might have happened and if a trusted dive buddy was as near and so on and so forth. THINGS HAPPEN WHEN DIVING... HOW WE HANDLE THEM DETERMINES A GOOD OUTCOME OR NOT.

KINKING THE HOSE... I never have tried it before and had no idea it would work. Necessity is the mother of invention.

maybe these will help... or maybe they'll just produce more comments... either way I hope to redirect back to the ORIGINAL INTENT OF THE ORIGINAL POST...>>> This was a learning situation for me and I wanted to pass it along to others. ALL of the suggestions mentioned here I have already thought of, but I appreciate the reinforcement.

TC

 

[TSandM]

I've had the same problem. It doesn't take a lot of grit to cause the button to stick. Luckily, the HOG regs are also fairly easy to take apart, so if you unscrew the ring that keeps the cap in place a couple of turns, it will usually stop the freeflow.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It comes down to tolerances. The gap between the button and the face can either be tighter which could cause an issue itself, or larger and could allow larger junk to get in. I personally have never had this happen with any of my dozen or so seconds. But then I don't do beach dives where sand is an issue. The silt and muck we dive in is fine enough to not be an issue.
The new zenith one piece cover is not subject to this. But neither are the soft covers that have been available for several years now and are cheap.
I could go into more detail about clearance fits, interference fits, and the like but not necessary. Lynne's suggestion about unscrewing the ring a few turns will work. But I don't advise trying to do that if you are getting slammed with currents or rolled in surge and surf.
What I'd do is abort the dive and go back to my ow training of breathing from a free flowing reg.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ams511]

Have you seen the small HOG purge button I'm talking about? I'm thinking not. AND I'm not blaming HOG, it's my reg and it has always work well, BUT this is a situation that others may not know can happen. The sand was no where near the lever, it was jamming button and preventing the spring from pushing the button back to the normal position. If you haven't seen one, there's no way I can explain it. When you take it apart you'll say, "Oh, that's what he's talking about." The new full-front purge button eliminates the area where the sand collected, therefore preventing THIS problem in the future.

Truth be told I have 2 HOG Switchback second stages which I have yet to dive. I really didn't need them but Diver's Supply made me an offer I could not refuse. LOL

I did examine the regulators when I received them and the purge button did not strike me as much different then on Apeks' ATX line. I thought the cover was rather interesting in that the vents actually angle down in the back to deflect the flow before it hits the diaphragm. I thought that was was a nice touch. Also the cover doesn't have all the parts that Scubapro likes to complicate their covers with.

 

[lindenbruce]

[QUOTE.>>> This was a learning situation for me and I wanted to pass it along to others. ALL of the suggestions mentioned here I have already thought of, but I appreciate the reinforcement.

TC[/QUOTE]

And that's exactly how I took your first post. Thanks for the info by the way. Good thinking and acting on your part. B.

 

[bullfroger]

I have had a dive rite regulator free flow due to filling a lift bag in cold water. Kinking the hose completely back on itself did not even slow it down. I had to shut off the valve and let me tell you I lost a lot of air in the few seconds it took to try it. And I wonder If it would have went on longer would I have been able to even turn the valve off?

 

[elan]

I had the same situation happen many times on an apeks atx50. The tolerance are too tight and the purge locks easily. they seems to have improved it on XtX. Scubapro has more space between the cover and the button and although I had it locking once it freed up quickly

 

[Bhtmec2]

I have had this happen before.

So I went out today and tried to recreate this issue with my HOG and my other regs.... well it happened.


1st - I just smacked it and it stopped then I pushed it again and it started again.
2nd - I tried kinking the hose..... Did not work.
3rd - I went to my training and reached back and turned off the valve and pushed on the purge valve and smacked it and turned on the valve. Problem solved.....


Since hog has a easy design I surfaced and floated on my back and removed the cover cleaned it out and put it back together and the purge worked fine..... This is not recommended for all but today it was not a problem.


I had this happen before (18 months ago) since I do a lot of beach dives here so I now disassemble my all my regs after each day of diving and make sure no fine sand is there. If it is I use a toothbrush and fresh water to clean out the fine grit. This has stopped any problems I have with any of my regs. This is how I deal with this problem........


Just my two cents.....

 

[Father]

I've seen quick-disconnects... but I'm not sure if they could be hooked up to everything on the end of a hose.
I was wondering if freeflows like this this would be a good reason to have a quick-disconnect on a second stage... so that if it starts freeflowing you can just pop the whole thing off and the connection will automatically cut itself off.

 

[Chilly_Dipper]

I have had this happen before.

So I went out today and tried to recreate this issue with my HOG and my other regs.... well it happened.


1st - I just smacked it and it stopped then I pushed it again and it started again.
2nd - I tried kinking the hose..... Did not work.
3rd - I went to my training and reached back and turned off the valve and pushed on the purge valve and smacked it and turned on the valve. Problem solved.....


Since hog has a easy design I surfaced and floated on my back and removed the cover cleaned it out and put it back together and the purge worked fine..... This is not recommended for all but today it was not a problem.

I'm not sure why you're isolating this incident to HOG regs as I have know quite a few that have had this problem (the Mares Proton comes immediately to mind).

Out of curiosity did you try just depressing the but again? The simply motion of the button being actuated often removes the small debris. I've never had a this (or any other) problem with my HOG regs, but my proton used to do this constantly. My solution was 2 fold

1. During beach entries (or any other) I made sure my reg never touched the ground
2. When it free flowed I worked the purge button repeatedly until actuated smoothly again (usually 3 or 4 quick depresses did the trick)

Also removing the face plate of a reg isn't a big deal for most people and the HOGs are designed with field serviceability in mind (as any good tech reg should be).