'Shrink wrap' hose protectors?

[DA Aquamaster]

Jeff is crude, rude and in general a pain in the ass who always pushes and often exceeds the TOS (I try to cut him some slack as I suspect he got picked on and beat up a lot as a child), but he is absolutely right about the hose protectors.

You need to be able to pull the hose protector back to inspect the hose. A hose protector limits the bend in the hose but will still not prevent all the damage that can occur. Visually inspecting the hoses for cracks, weather checking, bubbles wrinkles or other indications of any leaks, de-lamination or other damage should be part of every pre-dive check.

Doing that, I have not had a hose failure in 20 plus years and over 1500 dives and in fact you won't find a hose protector on any reg I use.

 

[Couv]

Jeff is crude, rude and in general a pain in the ass who always pushes and often exceeds the TOS (I try to cut him some slack as I suspect he got picked on and beat up a lot as a child)...

But one has to admit, he has one of the coolest avatars on SB or anywhere.

 

[JeffG]

But one has to admit, he has one of the coolest avatars on SB or anywhere.

Yes...It true.

 

[superstar]

Yes...It true.

Not if you are a Wings fan.

 

[beanojones]

Jeff is crude, rude and in general a pain in the ass who always pushes and often exceeds the TOS (I try to cut him some slack as I suspect he got picked on and beat up a lot as a child), but he is absolutely right about the hose protectors.

You need to be able to pull the hose protector back to inspect the hose. A hose protector limits the bend in the hose but will still not prevent all the damage that can occur. Visually inspecting the hoses for cracks, weather checking, bubbles wrinkles or other indications of any leaks, de-lamination or other damage should be part of every pre-dive check.

Doing that, I have not had a hose failure in 20 plus years and over 1500 dives and in fact you won't find a hose protector on any reg I use.

You maintain(ed) a rental fleet, if I remember things right.

I am much more concerned with not wasting a hose from the crimp biting a hole in the rubber than anything else.

What sort of feedback are you looking for when you visually inspect the hoses? IME, nothing (other than the chunk of rubber missing from the crimp chewing through it) lets you know a hose is failing until it bubbles. That is a visual check of sorts, but one that the hose protector has no impact on, because it either bubbles air along the length, or bubbles up a particular spot.

Hoses fail (IME) from the bite, or just from the failure of the internal banding and the bubbling along the hose. The first can be prevented by a hose protector, and the second does not care about the hose protector. And the hose protector does not keep that from being seen.

Part of this may again be the environment where all my experience is: Tropics or better where gear is out in the sun all day, and UV degradation and temperature degradation is the gear killer, at least of rubber stuff. I have never seen a situation where leaving off hose protectors would help, and plenty where hoses with no hose protectors fail almost immediately (less than a month).