Sticking drysuit inflation valve
Incident Date
2016-01-02
Incident Description
Whilst descending from the entrance to the deep section the diver injected air into the drysuit at various times. It was noted that the valve did not close as cleanly/ crisply as it should. On the last injection the valve failed to close as expected and the suit continued to inflate. Fortunately the diver was just under a roof flake (at -28m) which prevented drastic buoyancy problems. Disconnecting the hose was attempted at which point the diver probably accidentally caught the inflation button again which caused the valve to close. The dive was subsequently aborted at the bottom of the Hindenburg to avoid similar problems and a safe return to base was made.
Lessons Learned
With hindsight the valve had probably been sticking slightly for a few dives. Cleaning out the port later revealed an accumulation of very fine silt. The auto-dump valve on the suit would have kicked in at some point and the manual dump valave could have been used at any time had the buoyancy problem become critical.
| Factors |
|
| Line Management |
Negligible |
| Gas Management |
Negligible |
| Equipment Management |
Major |
| Equipment Failure |
Major |
| Training |
Negligible |
| Medical |
Negligible |
| Planning |
Negligible |
| Procedural Error |
Negligible |
| Cave Environment |
Negligible |
| Weather |
Negligible |
| Other Factor |
Negligible |
