near drowning due to regulator failure

[DivingCRNA]

I'm wondering if anyone can explain to me what went wrong with my regulator which nearly caused me to drown last week. I had just started my dive and was down around 15 feet. I started to detect water accumulating in my regulator slowly but did not think anything terrible was happening. I just exhaled forcfully and cleared it. My next breath was fine so I thought it was just a leak from the corner of my mouth. I repositioned my regulator and drew a breath in, and then, I got nothing but water! I started to choke and to cough out the water. When I did inhale again, nothing but water! Thank goodness I'm a seasoned diver and my training kicked in. Even though I was choking and kind of freaked out, I did not go into full panick mode. I stopped, thought and hit the purge button, which enabled me to get enough air to cough out and clear my larynx. It was hard to breathe because my air way was spasming a bit.

I am not sure what happened to the regulator.

You did well not to panic, but did you switch to your safe second (aka octopus) at any point in your difficulties? This occurance is one of the things that you have it for.

I am glad you are OK, and I hope you find out what was up with your regulator.

 

[MrConclusion]

I've always made a habit of "sucking" on my regulators before turing the air on ever since some airline employee diassembled my regs and reassembled them with the diaphrams folded into neat little squares. Luckily, I spotted them through the fromt cover before even assembling my gear! Both had holes where someone had punched a screwdriver through to pry them out without unscrewing the locking ring. Nice attempted murder, guys!

 

[ScubaTexan]

I've always made a habit of "sucking" on my regulators before turing the air on ever since some airline employee diassembled my regs and reassembled them with the diaphrams folded into neat little squares. Luckily, I spotted them through the fromt cover before even assembling my gear! Both had holes where someone had punched a screwdriver through to pry them out without unscrewing the locking ring. Nice attempted murder, guys!

Can you say LAWSUIT??

 

[Diver0001]

Can you say LAWSUIT??

Can someone with the IQ of an airline baggage employee be sued?

Seems to me that Mrwhatsit should have known better and carried his regs on in carry-on

R..

 

[ScubaTexan]

Can someone with the IQ of an airline baggage employee be sued?

Seems to me that Mrwhatsit should have known better and carried his regs on in carry-on

I would actually have to agree, Diver0001, but there is no excuse for negligence on an airline employees part like that. I would love to hear his justification for it...

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

I would actually have to agree, Diver0001, but there is no excuse for negligence on an airline employees part like that. I would love to hear his justification for it...

Unless you've got video of the airline guy going through your kit and disassembling it I contend it could have happened from being packed too tightly in the bag. Why would any airline monkey that had the wherewithal to take apart and sabotage a reg not just steal the thing? Maybe he knows the Poster? Perhaps there is malice aforethought involved...

 

[Diver0001]

I would love to hear his justification for it...

Indeed. It would be impossible to explain without using the words "George Bush" and "Iraq".....

Michael Moore would love this sh--t.

R..

 

[cerich]

Don't know what caused your problem, but I had no problems with my regs till I had them serviced? Does these guys not know what they are doing or are we supposed to live or die with their crap service?

See this thread

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=140137

 

[Snowbear]

It could have been as simple as a little bit of debris in the exhaust valve.

That happened to me once when I puked through the reg. The first time was at about 70'. The first inhale was water since pieces of my breakfast were lodged in the exhaust valve. Made for an interesting and challenging ascent during subsequent pukings, since I didn't want to plug up the backup reg as well :11:

 

[cornfed]

I didn't want to plug up the backup reg as well :11:

That's why your buddy has a long hose... you can plug up his regulator!