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My bailout bottle reg failed at 90 feet in the Mississippi last Tuesday
Was doing a routine inspection on a bridge pier near Baton Rouge when my pony bottle regulator started free flowing hard at about 90 feet. I grabbed my buddy's octo, did my stops, and surfaced fine, but the seat on that reg was shot after maybe 40 dives on it. Pulled the whole assembly apart back at the dock and found grit packed in the demand valve. Anybody else seen a reg go down that early, or am I just overdue for a better maintenance schedule?
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laura_chen4126d ago
Wait, are you me from the future? Because I did almost the SAME thing last summer, except mine let go at 70 feet and I panicked so hard I forgot which way was up for a second. Turns out I had been lazy about rinsing my reg after a few salty trips and the grit just sat in there eating the seat alive. Forty dives is short for sure, but if yours is a pony bottle that mostly sits around between trips, that's WORSE for it than using it every weekend, the seals dry out and any junk in there just stays put. Now I do a quick soak and a real rinse after every single dive day, and I pull the demand valve apart every 20 or so dives to eyeball it. Cheap insurance compared to practicing my octo grab at 90 feet in that muddy water.
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