Useful life of HP and LP hoses; identifying manufacturing date; quality differences

[tbone1004]

The HP hose that "we know is from the US" is visually indistinguishable from the HP hoses from these other suppliers except for the fitting size. Same stamp on the crimp, same markings on the hose other than a four-digit number -- which could be the lot number or the number of feet or meters from the end of the spool.

maybe those are actually coming from danicorp then albeit indirectly. If that is the case, then I have no worries, but had it on good authority that they were coming in from out of the country. If the actual marking on the rubber are the same, which should say made in USA on them, then all is well

 

[2airishuman]

@2airishuman
hey may purchase the fittings from Danicorp or may follow the same stamp procedure

It appears to me that the stamp is made by the crimping die, with each of the letters/numbers being stamped by a raised area on one of the fingers of the die. It would not be economical to do this except at very high production volumes.

 

[2airishuman]

maybe those are actually coming from danicorp then albeit indirectly. If that is the case, then I have no worries, but had it on good authority that they were coming in from out of the country. If the actual marking on the rubber are the same, which should say made in USA on them, then all is well

None of these hoses have a country of origin marked on them.

 

[tbone1004]

It appears to me that the stamp is made by the crimping die, with each of the letters/numbers being stamped by a raised area on one of the fingers of the die. It would not be economical to do this except at very high production volumes.

depends on how much you value the liability of a busted hose and having traceability on your products...

 

[JamesBon92007]

Well, then how long do you think they remain safe? Forever? Serious question -- there are some people who do as long as the outside cover looks OK.

After reading about your incident with the old style burst disc I replaced all of mine. But, has there been a sudden epidemic of failed hoses? I have one LP hose from around 1970 that I have removed from service and one HP hose that's waiting to be replaced. All of the others look fine. Am I going to die?

The hose failures that I have seen were always gradual, beginning with such a slow leak that I wouldn't even notice it unless I took the tank off my back and inspected it.

 

[2airishuman]

After reading about your incident with the old style burst disc I replaced all of mine. But, has there been a sudden epidemic of failed hoses? I have one LP hose from around 1970 that I have removed from service and one HP hose that's waiting to be replaced. All of the others look fine. Am I going to die?

The hose failures that I have seen were always gradual, beginning with such a slow leak that I wouldn't even notice it unless I took the tank off my back and inspected it.

The failures mentioned in the DAN report all involved blockage of the hose rather than a leak. This is a particularly insidious problem insofar as there is no practicable non-destructive way to test for it, and the problem does not ordinarily become apparent until the dive is under way. The DAN article indicated that there have been no fatalities, but then, this material has only been used in SCUBA hoses for a relatively short time.

At this point I don't know what to think.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Nothing like beating a dead horse.......
This is how it goes down...I've purchased HP and LP rubber hoses from the same company since 2005. I have always been pleased with the quality and NEVER had one returned or received a complaint. This is the ONLY supplier that would make HP hoses with 3/8" ends on them.
Fast forward 2017. @tbone1004 and several others pointed out when replying to others that they should get X products from me but not hoses because DGX and Piranha were much cheaper. So after my inventory was low I told Randy I'd go in with him on the next hose order. The only way I could stay competitive was to use the same vendor as he does as the price was significantly lower. Now the only hose I get from my original vendor is the HP with 3/8" regulator end. Despite what folks might want to believe the majority of people shop on price alone and it's a cut throat world in the ever decreasing dive gear market.
My wife, my kid, my friends and my customers all dive using these hoses and I don't see any proof as to why they shouldn't.

 

[tbone1004]

@OWIC647 so are your new rubber hoses plastic liners or are they still rubber liners?

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

@OWIC647 so are your new rubber hoses plastic liners or are they still rubber liners?

Just pulled this one and cut it. No plastic liner.

 

[runsongas]

sounds like we're close to yearly testing of braided hoses to verify integrity a la tank visuals