possible for reg to blow up underwater?

[Lightning Fish]

I'm not sure about regs blowing up, but when you start tech diving you better make sure you O2 clean your mask. When you are deco'n out on 100% you are exhaling ~80% O2 and if you accidentally exhale out of your nose (ie into your mask). When it hits that snot and goo that you spit into your mask.....BOOOOOOOM. Nothing more disturbing than watching your buddies head explode into a pile of goo and watch him sink into oblivion without a head.

ROTFLMAO!!!


I was diving off a boat out of Nanaimo over a year ago and a couple of divers were on rebreathers. They also had bail out tanks. (Bail out or stage bottles ??). When the one diver came up he said his reg on the bail out tank had exploded. The cap on the second stage came off and any of the internals that are held in by the cap were gone.

Bill.

 

[jonnythan]

Someone posted a story about a Scubapro first stage blowing apart into two pieces underwater during normal use. He even had pics.

So I guess a catastrophic, sudden, total loss of gas is the worst case and what you need to plan and train for. It's not very hard to deal with given a decent buddy and practice.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

Someone posted a story about a Scubapro first stage blowing apart into two pieces underwater during normal use. He even had pics.

That would be Xman's Mk20 ScubaPro that blew

 

[jonnythan]

Awesome LIT, thanks for the link. I always have trouble finding it.

 

[Jim Ernst]

i had a reg fall appart at about 20 feet deep, took a nice cool breath let it out and the next breath was a mouth full of water, grabbed octo and then looked down and on the bottom in the sand were several pieces, dive buddy (ishie) and i gathered the parts and so much for the dive, oh this was a rental, i got all of my own equipment that day LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! :11:

 

[drbill]

Somewhat related- there was a guy who rented a ScubaPro reg out here last year. He surfaced outside the dive park and a boat ran over "him" chopping all the hoses off the first stage and doing "minor cosmetic damage" to the first stage. He claimed he wasn't responsible for the damage when he returned it.

 

[DI_Guy]

That would be Xman's Mk20 ScubaPro that blew

There was another Scuba Pro MK 20 first stage that had a catastrophic failure at depth. A hugh crack appeared in the side of the first stage casing. The crack was 1/2 of inch long after the blow out.

I thought there was going to be a recall but Scuba Pro attributed it to over-tightening of one of the ports causing a stress fracture and called it an isolated incident.

DI_Guy


Official Response:

They determined the crack occurred due to a combination over torque and exposure to an underwater environment. The crack may be initiated if exposed to over torquing and over time, a larger crack may develop when exposed to harsh environmental conditions and, in a small number of cases cause a failure.
As a result of these findings, SCUBAPRO recommends that all MK20s be updated with
Universal Yoke Retainer (part number 10.103.115). This retainer transfers the mechanical load to the yoke retainer and not the body. This Universal Yoke Retainer
and proper torque settings have been found to eliminate the stress placed on the body of the regulator at the location of observed cracking.

 

[DI_Guy]

I've heard of BURST DISKS failing under water. (I think that's how Jet Ski's were invented.) There is quite a thrust generated when Burst Disk fails. Now-a-days the "screw-on cap" at the Burst Disk has a number of vents to force the escaping air in different directions to deflect the thrust.

I don't think Burst Disks are used in Europe. Am I right on that ?

Any comments.

DI_Guy

 

[pt40fathoms]

I doubt a regulator could actually explode during normal use. Sounds like a case for the Mythbusters!

As for equipment failures, the worst o-ring failure would probably be a tank valve o-ring failure. I've heard that it extraordinarily rare; you are more likely to be hit by a meteorite.

Funny you should say that! Just this last weekend, while on the way to a little out of the way camping/diving spot, we pulled over to a rest stop to hop in the truck camper and get some water to drink. We noticed a hissing coming from the gear trailer, and thinking a valve got bumped open, we opened the trailer to find much to our surprise, the main O-ring of the tank valve blistered out the side and leaking air.
^
^
^
^
Didn't see a meteorite, but next time this happens I'll be sure to duck just in case......

 

[SeanQ]

Was this the neck o-ring? Perhaps I should have made my statement a bit clearer.

I'll keep my eyes on the sky! :xyxnervou