Chuck:

Thanks for your most interesting comments, it seems most people agree 
the weakest (and potentially most dangerous) point is the infaltor & 
its accessories.

Regarding ways of limiting biological experiments in the BC, you suggest:

>>  Now you can never get all the water out of your BC so you need to make
sure there is chlorine, a little soap, or something else left in the remaining
drops that will prevent or inhibit growths during storage.>>

What do you think of using chlorinated swimming pool water for this 
purpose, or else what proportion of bleach mixed with tap water could 
be used for "disinfection" of hoses & bladders?

I wonder what the rebreather list people would suggest here...as they 
have a similar problem with counterlungs and breathing hoses, well, the 
whole circuit!  Any rebreather user care to comment?


Looking at the lighter side of things, one of your comments makes me 
recall a funny incident that happened about ten years ago:

>>   Also don't let wasps, caterpillars, and spiders cozy up inside your
regulator or BC mouthpieces during storage.>>

Something similar happened, but not with wasps, caterpillars nor 
spiders. It happened to a German tourist in El Hierro island, the 
westernmost and one of the smaller islands in the Canary Islands off 
the coast of Africa, which are part of the Kingdom of Spain.

The man in question was about to suck air off his regulator as a 
pre-dive test prior to jumping into the water, when some sixth sense 
made him decide to take it out of his mouth and try with the purge 
button first.  As soon as he purged a huge cockroach came flying out of 
his mouthpiece!  Imagine if he had just jumped in without testing it, 
he would have had a free protein supplement along with his air!

So your comments on  wasps, caterpillars, and spiders should be taken 
seriously, but you should add cockroaches!

Regards

Conrad

----------
>De: CHK BOONE
>Para:
>Asunto: Re: OMS wings problems
>Fecha: Jueves 19 de Marzo de 1998 19:30
>
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>From: CHK BOONE <CHKBOONE@ao*.co*>
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>Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 12:51:46 EST
>To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Subject: Re: OMS wings problems
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>
>Conrad,
>
>You wrote:
>
>>> 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 <<
>
>
>---------------------------------------
>   You wont find any meaningful statistics on this - just personal
>observations.
>The most common problems seem to be with sticking inflator mechanisms,
>sticking or leaking LP hose connectors, and worn LP hoses blowing out.
>
>    I certainly suggest rebuilding your inflator mechanism and dump valves "at
>least" once a year.   Get someone at a shop to show you how if you're not sure
>- it's a cinch.     One thing you want to watch for in particular is chrome
>plating flaking off
>of inflator mechanism parts.   Once this starts you should throw it out and
>get another whole inflator mechanism without chrome plating on the shaft if
>you can find it.
>
>   An LP hose adds, not 1, but 2 failure points to your system, the hose
>itself and the connector on the end.    If you run dual bladders for
>redundancy I recommend not using the second LP hose at all - just inflate it
>manually if you need it.
>
>   Most tech divers recommend against any pull dumps for fear of the hose
>pulling off if a hose retainer breaks or weakens - I agree, but I would not
>bother taking it off a recreational rig if you really like it; just make sure
>the hoses are glued down as well as retained by strapping, and check them
>often.    Make sure you glue them back after working on them. (Stick & Seal /
>Shoe Goo / Marine Goop / maybe contact cement).
>
>    Any spot where salt crystals can collect can suffer from accelerated
>abrasion.   Watch for this between the bladder/s and the outer covering of
>wings.   Jacket styles that do not have a bladder are only waterproofed with a
>coating inside the nylon jacket that is easily worn away by such abrasion when
>opposite walls rub against each other.   Flush these out well and keep them
>partly inflated for storage AND transport where feasible.  This is the kind of
>invisible ware that can catch you by surprise during a dive - easily avoidable
>- easily overlooked.
>
>   When you have a trapped volume or film of water that has been seeded with a
>population of microbes from your mouth, hands, or the ocean you are actually
>doing a biology experiment in evolution and microbial population dynamics
>inside your BC and hoses (there is a lot of food in seawater).
>    Don't create a primordial soup inside your BC bladder and hoses and then
>run a test for your resistance to the newly evolved inhabitants when you use
>it again.   Use something like Listerine or just plain soap & water to clean
>out the inside now and then.  (open to more suggestions on what to use here)
>   Soap kills most amoeboid, ciliated, and flagellated microbes by reducing
>the surface tension of water (wetting agent).   They actually burst open by
>osmosis
>(I "think" most bacteria are killed by this also).
>    Many amoeboid forms are able to form a test (shell) to survive periods of
>desiccation and bacteria and viruses need little or no moisture to survive
>anyway, so don't assume that drying out will kill anything.   Viruses are
>tough to destroy and some require specific chemicals to do so - there is
>actually little defense against invasion by them once you leave the womb.
>    Now you can never get all the water out of your BC so you need to make
>sure there is chlorine, a little soap, or something else left in the remaining
>drops that will prevent or inhibit growths during storage.   Don't melt or
>brittlize your bladder with a hair dryer.
>
>    Also don't let wasps, caterpillars, and spiders cozy up inside your
>regulator or BC mouthpieces during storage.
>
>    NEVER EVER drill out the inflator orifice to increase the rate of filling.
>If it
>sticks open you're in for a hell of a ride to the surface before you can do
>anything about it.   A BCD should be able to dump gas through any single dump
>device faster than it can enter through the inflator hose.
>
>    If cave diving in marine caves, be aware that tiny bits and pieces of
>coral, worm tubes, and shells will fall from the ceiling and get caught
>between your tanks and wings (just from bubbles).   Some of these are as sharp
>as broken glass and slight movements of the wings during the dive will work
>them back and forth.
>    Inner tube rubber will help protect the bladders but the shell is going to
>take a beating if you do much of this without protecting it as well.
>
>When ice diving watch for ice forming ON OR IN components and holding them
>opened or closed.
>
>   Most equipment is very reliable when new and the key to being a happy BC
>owner is keeping it that way with proper maintenance and getting the right
>design for your purposes.
>
>
>Chuck Boone
>
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