【Personal Protection】What should I do if diving equipment fails underwater?

Assume that the equipment has the following failures during the dive - gas supply interruption, heavy air leakage, BCD cannot be inflated, BCD continues to automatically inflate, what should you do? Even if the chance of encountering such a trouble is extremely small, you should think of a good response. Today's article is worth repeating reading and recommending it to potential friends. The key moments may actually reduce the damage and even save oneself and others.

How to deal with the following equipment failure

1 gas supply interrupted

2 large amount of air leakage

3 BCD cannot be inflated

4 BCD continues to automatically inflate

Diving Equipment Failure Countermeasures

If the gas supply is interrupted, you have only two options: seek help from your partner or boost your water. This situation does not happen often and the odds are extremely low. However, no one dares to tell you that this will never happen! Infant's law says: As long as something may happen, it will happen! So, you'd better have a plan in mind. When facing this problem, how can you take yourself away from this dangerous situation?

Let's suppose that when you are at a depth of 25 meters , diligently dive, watch underwater beauty, and do what you are supposed to do - suddenly, you find that the regulator seems to be plugged by a mud! So you sucked harder, still the same, the air did not come out from the secondary! Everyone's response must be the same: a surprise! A cry, " tense " followed!

What should you do at this moment?

The failure of this type of equipment - the regulator stopping the gas supply without warning - is at a very modest rate! Today's regulators are designed in such a way that in the event of a fault, most of the cases are large leaks without interruption of the gas supply. A cylinder that is still under pressure cannot supply gas regulators, perhaps only one million or one ten-million chance! As if the chance of an airplane crashing or being struck by lightning is the same, ask yourself: Does it not happen that the odds are low? Or, will you never be so " bad luck " ? I think no one will be so optimistic! After all, what can you do to increase your " survival rate " ? Do you deal with this situation immediately or " prevent " it from happening?

In the following article, I want to discuss four situations:

1. Air supply interruption

2. A lot of air leakage

3.BC cannot inflate

4.BC continues to automatically inflate

A situation: supply interruption (No Air)

In the case of the above-mentioned four types of equipment failure, the sudden interruption of gas supply without warning is the rarest, but at the same time, the most frightening one! If, at this time your reaction is: finished! Then close the only remaining last breath and rocket straight into the water - that's really over! That will be the worst situation that has occurred in the worst case of equipment failure!

The content of all the diving trainings is: When an emergency occurs, it should: stop, breathe, think, and act; because step 2 is interrupted, you cannot think or act well. You should think about this situation at ordinary times, and put it deep into your brain. When it comes to " beggie luck, " take it out! Because, when the actual situation occurs, your response (judgment) time will be only a few seconds, and this time will determine the next few completely different development!

So, when you inhale the last breath, how can you deal with it or deal with it? It depends on what you were at the time ----

If you are equipped with an independent backup air source system, such as Spare Air or Pony Bottle , take it for granted and return to the water in accordance with normal safety procedures! If there is no ~~, start the following three steps:

a. Check whether the standby secondary works properly?

The secondary secondary inspection, in addition to testing whether the secondary secondary normal gas supply, but also to confirm whether the cylinder valve is fully open? After assembling the equipment, many divers will turn on the air supply test and will close the cylinder valve again. Before turning on the water, they forget to turn it on again. The residual air in the tube supplies him two or three breaths. If this is the case, the diver has already dive. In the future, this will be another situation in which the supply of gas supplies is interrupted.

When the pressure in the residual pressure gauge is normal, no gas flows out of the main and auxiliary grades. It may be deadlock of the first level, or the pressure of the cylinder is zero. Likewise, there will be no outflow of any gas at the main and standby levels. When you can't eliminate the interruption of gas supply by yourself, you should move to the surface or your partner! In the end is a potential dive? Or swim to the surface? This depends on your situation at the time to judge!

b. Distant mate or water? Make a decision!

If it is mentioned in textbooks, stay with your buddies in sight and pay attention to each other's situation from time to time. That's easier to handle! Swim to your dive buddy to indicate that your air supply has been interrupted, use his alternate secondary, and return to the surface in accordance with normal procedures. If your buddy from your distance 10 meters away, while he was free you away, or take pictures in chasing a fish, now you have to properly assess the! Can you swim to him in one breath? At the very least, the water will not get farther and farther away from you! This question --- there is no fixed standard answer, can only be decided on your own situation, no matter which judgment you made, all OK . However, if you choose the surface of the water, be sure to do a good job!

c. Choose the water surface, and the program will do it right!

Remember the " Emergency Swim Up CESA" taught by open water ? Perhaps you, who had been diving for many years, have long been behind it? After all, this is not an action that will be done every time you go into the water. The focus of this action is: Open the airway and avoid over-expansion injuries. Looking up at the water and continuing to buzz, even though you think you are in a state where you have finished breathing and have not yet inhaled, even if so , there is still a lot of air in your lungs. Even during the ascent, you must still lung Excess air is discharged! In the remaining air in the lungs is still a lot of oxygen available for you to use, but the desire to breathe is triggered by a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the body pile, so, if you can try to resist this desire, you can hang on than you think For a long time! Not coma in the past.

After going ashore, don't be too happy to think too early and think that you have lost your life! Please use a serious and serious attitude to treat such accidents. Perhaps you should arrive as soon as possible to hospitals with potential medical services for further observation or treatment. One thing to keep in mind is that within 12 hours, most DCS (decompression sickness) attacks are still possible. You do not want to be too far away from the hospital at the moment.

After the accident happened, let's think about it again. Where did we go wrong? Human error accounted for most of the reasons. Maybe you installed an all-empty cylinder, maybe you forgot to open the cylinder, or the stranger who was " well-intentioned " before you assembled the equipment into the water , shut your gas cylinders to avoid leaks, Or you may carelessly check the residual pressure under the water to exhaust the air.

In addition to the above-mentioned human error, will the equipment fail? As the text presupposes, the odds are minimal. However, the answer is: There may be this opportunity! When the primary spring inside the primary breaks, or the high-pressure seat thimble breaks, it will cause a first-order outgassing interruption. If the secondary linkage is displaced or damaged, it can also cause the air source to be interrupted. A lot of air leaks from the equipment will make you in the dilemma of " no gas available " (a bottle full of 80cu , full open valve can leak in one minute), like the case of high pressure pipe burst - --- High-pressure pipe rarely hangs at once, he will have some " appearance " precursors, such as creases near the first-level part, uplift, continuous small bubbles, etc., in fact, all the regulator failure The common denominator is: a little continuous leakage, if it is found that the situation should be repaired immediately, the regulator will no longer use this regulator before repair. (If a friend says: It doesn't matter! Only a little leakage. Please insist that life is your own, not his)

Another thing, when you've assembled it and discovered that the gas cylinder O-Ring is a little leaky, ask for a gas cylinder or a new O-Ring . It's not because it's missing a little gas, but it's a sign that the cylinder O-Ring is hanging! It is possible that the O-Ring in the underwater cylinder is torn or disengaged resulting in a lot of leaks!

Condition 2: Large Flow ( Free Flow )

If the regulator fails, most situations will be - a lot of leaks!

The actual situation would be: Suddenly, a large amount of gas flows from the second-level source continuously and is sent into the mouth of the diver with great positive pressure. Suddenly, most divers are unable to bite the bite, but the second-level head slides off the mouth! A large amount of gas is accompanied by a loud noise, and it often scares a diver. However, remember that you do not have the danger of " immediateness " at the moment . Inhaling from a large, leaky secondary is not a difficult task. Just bite your mouthpiece, but open your upper lip so that excess gas can escape. Or you can use alternate secondary and continue to breathe.

However, after the above reaction, you should have a clear idea - the air inside the cylinder will then be exhausted! Similarly, in the assessment of potential partners for help or premium? After the decision, if we decided to produce water, we would keep up with normal speed as much as possible. After all, the whole body retreat is what we most hope to see. However, between Surabaya and DCS , I think you will make the right choice!

What would be wrong with this situation? Most of these are due to the damage of the high-pressure seat in the first class and the inability to maintain the pressure in the middle ballast tank. This situation will cause even large leaks in the standby secondary. The metal filter of the first-stage air inlet will have rust after contact with seawater. If it is damaged, the cracked slivers will enter the first level, and they will jam (destroy) the high-pressure seat, causing the first-level head to fail. Or some gravel, smashing and the like jams or damages the airtight gasket in the main secondary, this will happen (however, the standby secondary will not leak at the same time), if the secondary problem Sometimes it can be ruled out by picking it up under the water, pressing the exhaust valve, and quickly shaking it back and forth in the water.

Condition 3: BCD fails to inflate

If you are in the dive, reaching a predetermined depth, you want to recharge BC increase buoyancy, press the inflation valve ---- but found no response! What should you do at this time? Don't give up the weight? This can lead to uncontrolled buoyancy rises, so it should not be the first thing you want to do! You should first kick the water and find BCD 's mouth-blowing valve. Try to inject air into the mouth to see if you can build a neutral buoyancy. If it works, then we have a lot of time to deal with this issue.

If you continue to sink, the air cannot stay in the BCD successfully , or your kick power is not enough to keep you deep. At the moment you may be able to seek assistance buddy, but as the decision depends on the situation, if one cliff diving (wall diving) ---- At this moment we should be abandoned to ?? counterweight up! If possible (such as counterweight integration), some of the weights will be discarded first, but not all! Because at this time you still have an air supply, don't worry about drowning, but you must consider DCS or excessive lung inflation!

I have seen some tragedies. Most of the divers have lost their ability to respond to establish positive buoyancy, not equipment failure! But sometimes it is because of human errors. For example, forgetting to take over the BC tube, then making it unreliable, loosening the BC tube, smashing the rope of the deflated valve on the body, damaging the deflated valve, or even falling off! (especially some people will remove the purge valve to clean the BCD , not securely)

Condition 4: BCD continues to automatically inflate

When a diver cannot control the ascent rate, the risk is absolutely no less than drowning! In the 2002 foreign diving accident investigation, the first reason was due to drowning, and the second was air embolism.

In this situation, the first priority is to vent all the air in your BCD ! According to the current data from the RSD Dive Lab, the current BCD deflation rate is greater than the inflation rate. That is to say, even if your inflation valve is stuck, you can still use the deflation valve to stop your uncontrolled rise! Then take the opportunity to remove the BC tube from the filling and evacuation valve, but in this busy period, please remember to keep buzzing and open your airway to avoid over-expansion.

If your positive buoyancy is not from BCD inflation, like some old weighted integrated BCDs , the weights are just placed in the BC sideband and sticked with Devil Felt (some with fast shackles), and may also be on the dive With the falling weight, in addition to immediately expelling the BCD air, open the airway and slow down the body into a large shape, all you can do!

After introducing the four conditions, I also put some emphasis on preventing the above situations from happening.

1. Annual Maintenance ---- Regulator and BCD

Many friends will do the annual maintenance of the regulator, but ignore the maintenance and inspection of the BCD , in fact , the probability of BCD failure will not be less than the regulator. The power charging and discharging valve and the deflation valve are the key points. When the next time of maintenance, bring BCD together! Please check the store to see if there is aging corrosion? Parts that need to be replaced? If the store owner says: BCD does not need maintenance! I sincerely recommend that you change one! He doesn't care about your safety!

2. Immediate inspection and troubleshooting before launch

Many people omits the action of checking before going into the water due to the low probability of equipment failure. After the assembled air leakage check, residual pressure check, secondary test suction, filling and discharge valve test action, overall appearance inspection of abnormalities? All ignored! If any abnormalities are found, ask the coach or store to do immediate treatment and not dive under abnormal conditions. It is also a measure to ensure their own safety.

3. Minimize your weight

The purpose of the counterweight is just to offset your buoyancy so that you can dive! Too much weight will only increase or increase your difficulty in buoyancy control. Such as: sinking too fast, or , once the counterweight is removed, the rise is too fast.

4. Regular review of emergency skills

Such as troubleshooting, emergency handling, etc., so that your body remember how to react ( body memory ), when the situation does not occur, panic takes up your entire thoughts, can not make the right response.

5. Keep a proper distance with your dive buddy

Of course, it is the distance to help each other in a timely manner. The communication and understanding between potential partners is also very important! Especially when you enter a certain depth, it is no longer the best choice to surface!

6. Acquisition of independent gas source

In fact, as far as I can see, there are not many divers who are preparing for an independent air supply! I think this is definitely not the price or the reason I can't afford it. It should be a concept.

The information in this article comes from the Internet and was reorganized and edited by China Rescue Equipment Network.