My First Catastrophic Failure

[H2O Gal]

Everyone is saying what they would have done in this situation.....I believe that until an emergency happens, NO ONE knows how they will handle it! Yes, we have all been taught what to do in different emergency scenarios (some of us YEARS ago), but we can't be totally sure what we would do until it actually happens to us underwater.

I think since what the OP did worked and there were no bad outcomes from his decision it was an acceptable one.

 

[Hammerhead]

or was the o-ring weak and not seated properly?

This is also why I ALWAYS set my gear up. . . .

I set my own gear up too. I also do a visual check on the O-ring.

Imagine my surprise when one blew at 25msw on a pretty fast, low viz current dive last May.

Spoke to the dive shop teccie, convinced that the O-ring had been fine, looked spick and span, and was not leaking at the surface.

His answer?

"Did you check the side of the O-ring facing into the valve?"

We're all goodie-two-shoes (mostly) when it comes to checking our own gear, but I've never seen anyone do this, despite the sense it makes...

 

[Seaduced]

What caused the "O" ring to blow? Is it because the black reg. knob was not tightened well? If so was that the boat crews fault or the DM who this happened to? I always do my own reg. installs, not matter what, period!

I did the setup for this dive on the boat ride out, checked the pressure, reg and inflator function, then turned the air off. It didn't leak during air checks after the setup or when I turned it back on for the dive. The air had been on for several minutes when I began the descent and blew about 30 seconds into the decent. After they swapped the tank, I checked the yoke, listened for a leak, then donned the gear, checked pressure, reg and inflator function.

I looked my reg over after the dive, the seal seat looked clean and was not damaged. It's possible I didn't get the yoke tight enough, but I'm careful about that, because a boat crewman overtightened it once and it took awhile to get it off. So, I do my gear now.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Been tightening yokes for myself and for others for over 40 years... in that time I've had one o-ring blow some time (in this case about 20 minutes) after the initial pressure application. (I've seen two or three go in a fill station, with rising pressure, but only one in use under water) I don't think my inspection/installation procedure was different on that one, and I didn't change anything in the way I do things after that.
My conclusion? The yoke/o-ring interface is only 99.95% reliable, even if you do everything right.

Rick

 

[ClayJar]

I've had two O-rings blow during use. Each happened near the beginning of a pool session with which I was working as a divemaster. The funny thing is that I'm extra careful to obviously check my O-rings when working at the pool with new students (to set a good example).

The only conclusion, then, is that the potential for an O-ring to spontaneously fail is directly correlated to the attention paid to said O-ring (i.e. Murphy has a cousin). Either that, or perhaps it's simply a reminder that *anything* can fail at *any* time, so it can pay to be prepared for whatever comes your way.

(For a thinking diver who pays attention to their gear, does their pre-dive checks, and follows procedures, the likelihood of an underwater failure can be exceedingly low. Still, anything can fail at any time, even if it's not at all likely, so be prepared anyway.)

 

[Randy43068]

Been tightening yokes for myself and for others for over 40 years... in that time I've had one o-ring blow some time (in this case about 20 minutes) after the initial pressure application. (I've seen two or three go in a fill station, with rising pressure, but only one in use under water) I don't think my inspection/installation procedure was different on that one, and I didn't change anything in the way I do things after that.
My conclusion? The yoke/o-ring interface is only 99.95% reliable, even if you do everything right.

Rick

I'll take those odds any day.

 

[paul madox]

Get din better than yoke

 

[Seaduced]

Get din better than yoke

Unfortunately, in my area, DIN yokes are not available at the dive operations I'm familiar with.

My conclusion? The yoke/o-ring interface is only 99.95% reliable, even if you do everything right.

Rick

Using Rick's numbers, statistically, I should have about 1900 dives before the next one pops!

 

[Rick Murchison]

... I should have about 1900 dives before the next one pops!

I believe that's about right
As for "getting DIN," that's great advice, but there are many places in the world where the only tanks available have yoke-only valves; if you don't have a yoke reg, you don't dive at all.
It's a terrible incovenience, I know, but I suppose we'll have to endure it until the whole world comes 'round.
Rick

 

[scubadude79]

2) On the surface, get buoyant - try to inflate BC, if the air is gone, manually inflate, maybe ditch weights, plenty of people around to recover them (yea, I was worried about losing them).

Or maybe catch them with their head at the bottom.
Be careful when ditching weights with people knowingly below you, especially if you have to go home with them.

Anyway, good job on the CESA.