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I have recently had the opportunity to take some fairly old BCDs apart (3 of them). These were all, I would guess, in the region of 20 years old. One of them had a bladder failure where the plastic seal holding the inflator hose had disintegrated. The other 2 bladders had all the attachments held by screw fittings (i.e. one piece inside the bag, one outside) and were serviceable. The actual plastic used for the construction for all 3 bladders was sound. Of course, I have no detailed history of any of these units and can't tell whether they have had thousands of dives on them, or have been stored for 15 years. I have only personally had one problem with BCDs, again the inflator hose (blocked filter). It was only because I didn't address the problem as soon as I noticed the decrease in performance that this was an issue (I only put air in it at the surface, anyway, so was able to orally inflate it when it failed completely). Heating the filter to red hot with a gas flame, and then brushing out the ash solved the problem. JT -- John Taylor, Marketing and Trading Systems, IT Development Credit Suisse Financial Products (Hong Kong) Ltd, 13F, Tower 3, Exchange Square, Central, Hong Kong Office: +852 2101 6927, Fax: +852 2101 7778, Mobile: +852 9031 6395, email: john.taylor@cs*.co*.uk* > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Cobb [SMTP:cobber@ci*.co*] > Sent: Thursday, March 19, 1998 9:59 PM > To: Conrad Daubanton; Tech Diver > Subject: Re: OMS wings problems > > Conrad. > > I have personally never seen any BC fail. I have seen a couple of LP > inflator hoses fail, invariably right as the tank valve is opened. I > have > heard of inflator valves sticking open, the couple I have heard were > on > rental gear or they were frozen (ice diving). I heard one story of the > > inflator hose popping off the BC.In other words they were maintenance > issues. > > I might mention that I have seen BC's so worn and ratty, it is a > miracle > that they held air at all, but they did. > > Lets face it, a BC is not rocket science. When you look at your gear > overall I think that the weakest link you will see is the operator, > and > why make that situation worse by presenting multiple inflators/hoses > and > other issues into the mix? > > Jim > > Sender: Conrad Daubanton Date: 3/18/98 2:00 PM > > >Jim, Chuck: > > > >Does anyone know which part of a Wings/BC unit tends to fail more > often? > > > >Can anyone provide statistics? (Perhaps some shop owner that has > seen > >just about everything). > > > >Then we would know what kind of thing to prepare for. > > > >I've had no recent problems with the gear, but many years ago my > first > >BC (Horse-collar) had bladder problems, and having changed the > bladder, > >it developped overpressure/dump valve problems. Tired of repairing > it, > > I just bought another (stronger) horse-collar BC. This one also > >required a bladder change, but is now perfectly operational, though I > > >no longer use it now. With a Jacket type BC which I seldom use now, > >and with Wings which is what I use most, I've yet to have problems, > >they have never needed any repairs. > > > >Either gear is stronger now, or I give it less abuse than before. > > > >Conrad Daubanton > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html > > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to > `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to > `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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