LP hose routing for BC power inflator

[elgoog]

Hi all -

We went diving this past weekend in Lake Tahoe and made some more adjustments to our rigs. Both, my wife and I, had the shoulder straps too loose which made the harness ride too low and made reaching the power inflator a bit of a stretch. After tightening that up, the positioning of the inflator seemed good, but I noticed a different problem.
We currently rent the regulators and they come with the "standard" length LP hose for the BC power inflator, I think 24" which is too long for the 13" corrugated hose. I'm not super concerned about the snagging right now but I noticed that the extra length was putting enough directional pressure on the corrugated hose to make the inflator twist around and the corrugated hose to twist into unpredictable positions. We could still reach them easily but the twist was moving the position of the inflator unit itself enough that we had to use two hands every time we needed to make an adjustment to our BCs, just to locate the inflate/deflate buttons.
Is there any good solution for hose routing with the longer rental unit's hose? I saw a couple of setups where the longer LP hose is wrapped around the corrugated hose a couple of times before being plugged in but that looks like it would cause a similar twist.

Another option would be to use the 18" LP hose provided with the rig. Is it easy (or recommended) to swap out the LP hose on the regulator's 1st stage every time when we get the rental? Can I do it myself or is it something I have to ask the dive shop to do?

Thanks in advance,
elgoog

 

[Jim Lapenta]

If they are rental regs yes, you need to ask the shop. They might get pissy if you are swapping their hoses.

Is it hard to do yourself? Not at all. It requires a wrench of the proper size or an adjustable one. Putting it on is where most people who do have trouble end up screwing up the hose or the reg body by trying to gorilla tighten it. You spin it on by hand till it stops. Then take the wrench and snug it up a tad. Recommended torque on most is 35-45 INCH pounds. That's about two finger tips and thumb on a small wrench.

 

[elgoog]

If they are rental regs yes, you need to ask the shop. They might get pissy if you are swapping their hoses.

Is it hard to do yourself? Not at all. It requires a wrench of the proper size or an adjustable one. Putting it on is where most people who do have trouble end up screwing up the hose or the reg body by trying to gorilla tighten it. You spin it on by hand till it stops. Then take the wrench and snug it up a tad. Recommended torque on most is 35-45 INCH pounds. That's about two finger tips and thumb on a small wrench.

Thanks, Jim.