Loss of Diluent

Peter Piemonte

I thought I would pass this on, as many of you may use the "Dive Alert" type of pneumatic horn normally attatched to the LP hose on a BC or wing.
I have had one attatched for years along with a whistle and have never had an incident. However that changed recently.

Near the end of a dive in ~240', I experienced what I thought was a freeflowing bailot reg. It took a few seconds to determine that neither tank was freeflowing, and in that short time, all the onboard Diluent had dumped.

I realized that the brass (male) fitting had stripped out of the plastic housing. Since the fitting was still plugged into the LP hose, gas flowed out quickly.
Over time the metal had apparently worked the plastic until it sheared out.

The loss of my Diluent was not a serious problem, but from now on as several friends do, I will carry another horn in my emergency bag for use on the surface.

Not as scary as Dave Sutton's story but inconvenient

Regards, Peter

breals

I have one, but it's always clipped off in my thigh pocket on my drysuit. It got in the way of my inflator hose and I hit the horn button a few too many times on accident.

__________________
- Bill
Personal Website: www.reals.net
Scuba Blog: www.divedown.com

Abbo

I don't much like air horns on dives. It's a bit like farting in church: it somehow destroys the sanctity of the place. An important part of the pleasure of rebreather diving is the silence. If anything breaks that silence, it better be because someone's dying!

Before I started tech diving, I remember I had a horn just like that. I had forgotten all about the thing till your message brought it back to me. I was taught trimix by Simon Pridmore, an outstanding instructor against whom all others are measured, in my book. As we prepared my rig for deep diving he pulled off the horn, with the laconic comment "potential failure point": just those 3 words. Since I was never further from my buddy than I could swim on a single breath, the horn seemed rather superfluous as a communication device: I was always diving with people who kept each other inside their field of vision and instinctively knew what was required when things went wrong. Nowadays I frequently dive solo when I can't find a buddy that I can trust. I do sometimes dive with recreational divers - sometimes I enjoy the company - but I don't take on the job of sheep dog, rounding them up. I always forget that even bubblers can hear when I say something through my loop. A few weeks back the bubblers I was with nearly laughed their regs off: there was a bunch of Japanese bubblers swimming dead vertical and finning up an enormous mudstorm - and my stentorian voice echoing through the mirk "what the %@&*!!" Clearly, if you need to catch people's attention underwater it is more than enough to just speak up.

Joe

Was that perchance in Guam and if so did you know his employees Chuck (1st mate) and Kim (freelance instructor)?

Chuck was a disillusioned aircraft mechanic and Kim taught Marine biology at the college there.

Abbo

Absolutely. A first rate team!

Peter Piemonte

The horn is not an underwater signaling device. It is a piece of emergengy gear for surface use. IE: separation from the boat. Peter

Joe

They were totally addidcted to diving! My dive buddy at the time, Ralph Fenton, certified them in cave and they subsequently went on a few excursions to Mexico with us.

They were first rate all around!!!

silent running

Thanks for the post/heads-up Peter. I too have a dive alert horn and keep it in my pocket. I'd rather add it inline on the inflator hose at the surface, instead of having it inline and fail at depth, as happened to you. I guess even the most simple safety device can add another failure point. It's scary how fast you can loose gas at depth, glad you didn't need anymore dil and it turned out OK. -Andy

Captain Nemo

I have mine as a dry suit feed, so its out of the way whilst diving but can be used on the suface easily if I roll on my back.

__________________
Look beyond the dark side into the light.




Beware of false knowledge; It is more dangerous than ignorance.

Dave O

I have mine clipped off in a pocket. I had one leak a while back. Given the construction, I would not put it on my on board DIL.

__________________
Proof that egos never sleep: <dave Sutton>I can do whatever I please ... that's Gods Word spoken thru my mouth.</dave Sutton>

Only people who bat for the wrong team wash their undersuits......... I wanna smell piss when I go diving, not ferkin' fabric softener! <decodiver>

Schizophrenics never dive solo.

My Blog