Omniswivel failure - yikes
- Thread starter tridacna
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fmerkel
Contributor
Had one open up and extrude the main o-ring on me on a dive. New reg, newer diver, probably the 3rd dive on it. The 'lock screw' obviously had not been tightened. Factory/assembly mistake. Easy to overhaul. I've never used any special tools. I now blue loctite the lock screw. No problems since. The Seattle Aquarium uses them on their dive tanks. Those things get hundreds of dives/year with lots of divers. If they were an inherent problem they would not be on the kit.
Yup, tank sure drains fast.
Yup, tank sure drains fast.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Yes, yes, I have the angled adapters (70 degree) on my two five-foot hoses (60") that I use on my sidemount. I've not used it on anything shorter.
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
Not sure about Miflex hoses, but just an FYI for rubber hoses regarding a failure like this, you could just switch to your octo and kink the hose and save your gas.
scubafanatic
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Atomic Aquatics swivel hoses don't appear to have the same issues, at least none I've ever heard or read about.
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of importance is that the o-ring that you said failed has nothing to do with it being on a swivel. That's the same o-ring on the end of the hoses that no one ever bothers to change out either.
While the ball swivels can back out, it is usually due to improper assembly and not using blue loctite on the screw that holds the two halves together. Sometimes the ones from asia didn't have the loctite seat properly or due to the temp fluctuations on their ride over it loosened up. Any new ones that I use get that screw backed out and new loctite applied. Had one back out on me, and haven't had one since.
The elbows have a different failure mode that is a lot more entertaining to watch. The two halves of the elbows screw together, and especially the cheap ones from china like to strip threads when assembled improperly due to over torque and shoot the regulator out from the end of the hose. That's a hoot and a half to watch underwater...
While the ball swivels can back out, it is usually due to improper assembly and not using blue loctite on the screw that holds the two halves together. Sometimes the ones from asia didn't have the loctite seat properly or due to the temp fluctuations on their ride over it loosened up. Any new ones that I use get that screw backed out and new loctite applied. Had one back out on me, and haven't had one since.
The elbows have a different failure mode that is a lot more entertaining to watch. The two halves of the elbows screw together, and especially the cheap ones from china like to strip threads when assembled improperly due to over torque and shoot the regulator out from the end of the hose. That's a hoot and a half to watch underwater...
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