8
Vent: My primary comms unit flooded on a bridge inspection job
It happened Tuesday morning about 30 feet down on the Ohio River. The housing seal on my Kirby Morgan hat failed, and I heard that awful static hiss before the unit went dead. I had to switch to my backup hardwire comms (thank goodness for the old school stuff) and signal my tender to pull me up. The whole thing added an extra hour to the dive while we swapped out the unit topside. Has anyone else had a sudden comms flood with a helmet that just passed its annual? I'm sending mine back to the shop for a full tear-down.
4 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In4 Comments
reese_hayes713mo ago
That static hiss at 30 feet is a gut punch for sure. I'm with @the_drew on doing your own seal check before hitting the water, even with a fresh service sticker. Had a similar flood last spring from a cracked mic gasket the shop totally missed.
8
the_drew3mo ago
Man, that static hiss is the worst sound in the world. Had a flooded comms unit on a job last year, same deal with a recent inspection sticker. What finally worked for me was getting into the habit of a full seal check myself before every single dive, even right after service. I pop the hat on, block the intake, and suck in to feel for any leak at all. Found a tiny nick in a seal that way the shop missed. Sending it back is the right move, but that extra check saved me a second time.
3
Man, that's rough... but honestly, I just don't trust those pre-dive checks to catch everything. A seal can pass a vacuum test and still fail under real pressure at depth. My money is on a bad o-ring or a hairline crack in the housing itself that only shows up when it's cold and wet. The shop should have caught it, but stuff slips through.
3
susan_adams1mo ago
Our shop missed a cracked mic gasket too, so now I do a full vacuum test myself after every service.
1