SP 2nd stage serious water leak

[Couv]

If I understand correctly, your regulator was working fine prior to this dive, it had a problem in current, but it worked fine later. I have to agree with your original suspicion re the exhaust diaphragm became unseated in the current. It could be as Matt suggested a bit on the thin side, or it could actually be the wrong diameter. If it was replaced with a generic one during it's last rebuild, the one installed may be working fine until you are in a current.

Here is a link to a few other checks you can perform including a water tight check.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4320058-post14.html

Keep us posted on your findings.

Couv

 

[weaponeer]

Lots of good posts - I appreciate everyone's input. The first thing I did when I got back on the boat was a vacuum check, which passed ok. I then put pressure back on it and let it sit to see if I was loosing any air from it. It was solid. Only then did I feel comfortable enough to use it on a reef dive.

I am definitely leaning toward it being the exhaust valve now. It makes the most sense from what I experienced. I'm really glad it happened to me and not my wife. She was semi-protected from the ripping current because she was right behind me on the line. If it had happened to her I doubt she would get back in the water, even with a good explaination of why it happened. I'm not too proud to call a dive. Since we were on our way down to about 100 feet on the wreck, ending the dive at 40 feet was a no-brainer for life support equipment. We were 2 minutes into the dive.

Thanks again for all the helpful insight.

 

[Diver0001]

I'm not too proud to call a dive. .

Why not? Putting safety first is a sign of a mature and skillfull diver.

R..

 

[joe8mofo]

Why not? Putting safety first is a sign of a mature and skillfull diver.

R..

He actually stated that he is not too proud to call a dive, basically saying he is mature enough to do so.

By the way I have had this happen in a ripping current as well, water flowed into the exhaust and my regulator was flooding with water, so I couldn't get air. Turning your head sometimes helps, but if possible you can also let go of what you are holding onto and then it will no longer be an issue.

In my scenario it was ripping return current at 35 ft deep near a nuclear plant outflow station on a lake. I took hold of some rocks to stabilize my position when the current hit; then I couldn't breathe because of the rip current so I simply let go and was able to breathe again and swim perpendicular to exit the current. Not a fun experience when you are at depth, but a good experience to enable oneself to figure out what to do in that situation.

 

[Interceptor121]

Why not? Putting safety first is a sign of a mature and skillfull diver.

R..

Fully agree with Diver0001 here. This is not a training dive where you have minimum duration and depth, so you can log it and should write down what happened and what you did for future reference

 

[redacted]

Why not? Putting safety first is a sign of a mature and skillfull diver.

R..

Not knowing what the problem was, turning the dive was the best alternative. But this is a good example where a good understanding of how your regulator works and possible problems would probably have allowed the diver to safely troubleshoot and correct the problem at depth and complete the dive.

 

[Interceptor121]

Not knowing what the problem was, turning the dive was the best alternative. But this is a good example where a good understanding of your regulator works and possible problems would probably have allowed the diver to safely troubleshoot and correct the problem at depth and complete the dive.

Awap you think that putting a finger on the mouthpiece and purging hard would have put the exhaust valve back in place?

 

[Downing]

Keep us posted on your findings.

Couv

Ditto that. A good learning experience for us all.

 

[redacted]

Awap you think that putting a finger on the mouthpiece and purging hard would have put the exhaust valve back in place?

Yes, I'm fairly sure that would correct a folded exhaust valve which it apparently was as it seems to have corrected itself. And if it fails, you start thinking about a torn diaphragm or something and then abort the dive. It would probably do it without even cover the mouthpiece with a good strong purge.