Faulty Oceanic and Aeris BC Inflators

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 11,600 Oceanic Reliant BC Inflators and Aeris AW3 BC Inflators. The power inflator buttons can stick, which can cause uncontrolled inflation of the BC. Pelagic has received eight reports of the buttons sticking.

Doug Krause, Life Support Product Manager at Oceanic, told Undercurrent that he is not aware of any in-water incidents. Both are made by Pelagic Pressure Systems (Aeris and Pelagic are both subsidiaries of Oceanic). The major differences between the two inflators is that the Oceanic Reliant inflators have three flow-through holes in the hand grip of the lower inflator mechanism and the Aeris AW3 inflator has one. These differences are cosmetic.

Oceanic dealers sold BCs fitted with Reliant inflators nationwide from February 2004 through June 2004; Aeris dealers sold BCs fitted with AW3 inflators from May 2004 through June 2004. Return them to your dealer or call Pelagic toll-free at (888) 854-4960 or email to service@oceanicusa.com or info2@diveaeris.com.