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O RING

	O RING
Author: Jimmyfish Posted: 12-Jun-06 IP: Logged	Went diving last week , rented tanks, got out to the dive site, 35 to 40 ft ledge , well I get down to the bottom, me and my dive buddy give a OK to each other and then move out on the hunt spear fishing , as normal we would head out about 20 yard along the ledge and then turn and meet back in the middle for a check on each other , vis was only about 10 ft , and well I reached about my 20 yard mark and was getting ready to turn around , when out of no where I hear this load pop and bubbling sound , I turn to look behind me , then up, there it is a column of air just rushing to the surface , my air , the O-RING in the tank valve blew , I took one last deep breath and then blew it into my BC , and headed for the top, before I hit the top, the tank was out of air , good thing I was only 40 ft down, I am posting this story , as to make us all aware, no matter how many times you dive, it can happen to you, My gear is always tip top , I checked the prime connection 2 times before the jump , and all seemed good ,I did give the O RING a look over as well before connection, Like I said good thing this was only 40 ft down, as I did not bring a pony or spare air , if I had been down 70 to 100 ft, with no pony or spare air and this happened, I might not be here telling this story. So to anyone wondering if its important to have a pony bottle , or total independent air source for back up just think about this happening at 80 or 100ft, and the answer will become clear. Never dive deeper then you can kick up from the bottom to the surface with no air , with out a total independent air source as your back up octo, your back up octo if hooked to the same air source as your prime is worthless in this situation, as neither have air once the tank O RING goes , but if your octo is connected to a, say 30 cf pony bottle independent , well no worries, you are safe in this situation . I hade this happen to me once before about 25 years ago in N.J. down at about 95 ft , at this level because of the pressure the air was gone out of the tank in like half a minute and that was a 95 cf tank , I had a pony bottle on that dive , that's why I am still hear to tell you about it. (smile) some things to consider if this happens to you , spit your prime right away , more then likely your air flow will get flooded with water if you attempt to breath from it , so spit it, and get on your back up octo, as long as it is not connected to the same air source, don't panic , get your wits about yourself , do not try to fill your BC from its air source, again more then likely you will only flood the BC with water, take a deep breath from your pony and fill the BC manual, and head to the surface , do not worry about the air in the BC one breath will more then likely do ,as you go up you will find you have more lift then you need from the pressure drop , once at the surface manual fill your BC to keep a good float and get to the boat . and as well for the Buddy system , well my dive buddy never knew what happen until after we surfaced together , as he was on a nice spot shooting good size grunts lol , waiting for me to come find him , and well I did after changing out tanks and heading back down thinking he would be stressing looking for me , but no, when I came up on him , he was like a kid in a candy store and excited to point out the large group of grunts and show me his stringer of fish , I am glad we can laugh about this now. but as a learned Diver from N.J. I was always told the buddy system is for top side and fish stories , when you are down under your only buddy , is your air source, and your best buddy is your pony back up, and trust me this is true , everyone when they first start diving kinda stay within hand holding distance of there buddy , but after a few dives you start to venture off on your own with a check on each other as you pass each other by system , you feel safe because there is other divers all around you , but trust me they are busy doing there thing , and you are responsible for yourself when down under, both times this happen to me there where between 6 and 8 people on the same dive and they never seen what happen, I was on a dive back about 20 years ago in N.J. where a diver had a air source problem , another lesson learned the hard way, I was diving with a group of guys that I always dove with back then , and there was a couple of guys that none of us knew, that had came along , well about 15 minutes down into the dive , I see this one guy kinda kicking but going no where and I did notice there was no air bubbles around him , as I started heading toward him , I noticed one of my buddies heading at him too, off from about 50 ft from where I was vis was top to bottom , let me tell you , when you come up on a person in 65 to 70 feet of water, that has no air , they are not the same person as on the boat , they will kill you, and themself trying to get your air , I came up on this guy with my pony octo in hand , but before I could even give it to him he had pulled my prime from my mouth and was grabbing at me like he had gone crazy , mind you I was just a young fella back then 20 years old , only been diving about 5 years never had a situation before , my dive buddy Kenny was one of my teachers and by the time he got to us, we pretty much where in a underwater fight for air, Lucky for me Kenny was there , He grabbed the guys arms, and I pulled back away , got myself air , and then punched my pony octo into the guys mouth , and me and Kenny took him up. Top side I don't think the guy even knew what happen , he was just happy to be alive said he did not remember any of the fight , only me and Kenny holding him and taking him up. But I can tell you this if Kenny did not come along , more then likely we both would have died that day fighting for air. Kenny told me on the boat he seen it coming, when he seen me heading for the guy , and then told he was not pointing at the guy , he was giving me the danger sign trying to warn me , like I said I was a young buck then. I seen Kenny pointing as he was heading at the guy , and I gave Kenny the ok signal thinking he was telling me the guy needs help , never been placed in this position again thank God , but I know if I ever land in this position again , I know now to keep a safe distance from the person , make sure they see your octo, hold it out in front of there face keeping a arms distance from them and your air source, let them see that you are helping them , once they get air they will calm down and then you can help them get there wits and get them to the top , but never just swim up to them expecting them to give you a thank you look, and calmly taking your octo , that?s not going to happen , be prepared if you ever land in this position . And the guys air problem lint in the primary reg filter screen . So the moral of the story is always have a independent back up air source always , and even better keep a 3 cf spare air that you can hand off , if you should come up on a diver in a out of air situation, this is the best way a spare air can save your life trust me. well to all safe diving. If you are going to be diving the west side Florida Clearwater are drop me a note here and maybe we hook up a dive .     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: raf Posted: 14-Jun-06 IP: Logged	Great story! I was diving with friends last summer and had an o-ring problem. The boat owner had a spare, but it didn't fit well and looked weathered. I put it on my tank anyway and jumped in the water and noticed I had a small steady stream of bubbles. I decided to go down anyway thinking it would be OK. But then, about 30 feet, thought better of it. The viz was terrible and I thought why am I putting myself in this situation? The dive would have been 60-80 feet. Have no idea if I would have had a problem or not.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: d2reid Posted: 19-Jul-06 IP: Logged	Great article. As the years go buy I find myself thinking about "emergency" situations and what I would do. I eventually settled on some "rules" that sound an awful lot like the ones that are in the open water manual. I have seen experienced divers become lax on the distance thing. At 20 feet out of sight is ok, no problem, but 120 feet is something else. Just for kicks I tried doing a standard rate ascent without air from 50 feet. Exhaling constantly so I wouldn't get an embolism. Didn?t make it. About 20 feet I was reaching for my regulator. Ok, maybe I could have made it. Point being, experiment a little in a controlled panic free situation. Be safe while doing it. Find out what your limits are so you know. This does a couple of things. In all emergency training one of the underlying concepts is that when you train (and practice) for an emergency you will most likely respond to the emergency the same way you trained for it. The other thing is you to will develop rules that aren?t broken, and you will really know why you can?t break them. Rules and practice. I popped an air hose at 110?. It was a non-event because my dive buddies are always within a body length at that depth. It?s a rule. We practice that. We trade off being leaders and followers so nobody gets to hog the expedition. We also practice swapping air. Good for the receiver and good for the giver. Receiver learns to be patient, giver learns how to quickly replace missing air. New divers with us think we are funny because during the 3 minute safety swap we play pass the regulator. We do it pretty smooth, such was not the case the first couple of times. I thought my wife was going to stroke out the first time I gave her the out of air sign. I have read so much about panicked divers ripping primaries that I don?t even consider giving the octo away. I just hand over my primary, then I go searching for the octo. Of course I sneak a nice deep breath while reaching for it. That may be against doctrine, but I am comfortable with it. One of my dive buddies that has at least 10 years experience on me panicked when he sucked a tank dry chasing lobster. It was pretty weird, I watched him come out from under the Lobster rock, reach for his gauge, his eyes got real big, and he started swimming. He started up from 90 feet, fast. Very unusual activity for him, so I bolted right after him and caught up at 50 feet. Fortunately for me he still had the presence of mind to be calm enough just to rip my regulator out of my mouth and not grab hold. He is a big guy and I am a little guy. Yes Matilda, dive gear does fail. If you plan for it, practice it, and can keep your head when it happens, it isn?t a big deal. Not!     Reply | Report to Moderator