Are you ready?
By Rusty Miller
I continue on my last article “Are you ready?” and this week I will talk about two pieces of equipment that goes without any maintenance for too long or over several dive seasons and that is (1) your regulators and (2) your buoyancy control device, or BCD.
Let’s look at your BCD first: We generally take it for granted that it will work every time we use it, and it generally does but all it takes is that one dive that you will need it to work and then it fails usually in a small and aggravating way.
You go to inflate it and it starts to leak around the hose seal at the top of the relief valve. Usually it will hold enough air but there are times I have seen them leak enough to be aggravating to say the least.
The other failure I have seen is the inflater button will be hard to press or when you press it the button will stick open and over inflate the BC so the relief valve opens up and you have to disconnect the low pressure hose to stop it. This type of failure can be the most dangerous kind if you are at-depth and you need to add a little air. If you panic and can’t stop the air flow you might find yourself on a chamber ride for decompression sickness.
Most divers don’t know how to fix the inflator and shouldn’t try to, it needs to be taken to a qualified dive shop technician to fix or replace.
The number one piece of equipment that can cause the biggest issues are regulators. I have written several articles on the importance of having them serviced every year. It’s not so much using them that can degrade their seals but the fact of not using them and letting them sit around without being used for long periods of time.
When you are using them the seals are operating inside and will stay pliable but when they sit the seals will get stiff and harden to the point of failure that when you do finally pressurize them they start leaking.
If you don’t use them much in a year’s time and they are sitting then you need to take them to a dive shop that has a technician who is certified on that brand of regulators and has the correct service kits for that brand.
Too many times I have seen people take in their regulators to a shop that does not sell that brand of regulators and the shop technician says they can work on them. That is a big no-no. Now if the shop says they can send them to a company that is qualified to service them then you should feel comfortable to let them do that.
I hope you have gotten at least out of this article that, just as you regularly service your car or truck, you should have your dive equipment serviced at least once a year so they can last you a very long time. Until next week keep making bubbles.
Russell Miller #59999
