Air bubble in compass

[Scubaguy62]

About 3 months ago I noticed a stream of very tiny bubbles in my compass, which have now grown to a nice 1/4" bubble. I'm not experiencing any problems with the compass, as far as reading it, or its operation, but I'm curious whether this will mean the early stages of my compass' demise.

Thanks for your imput!

 

[RIDIVER501]

I have them too. and the reason so i have been told and have surmised is that I took my reg with me on a trip and while in the airplane the cabin pressure wasn't stable at 1 ATM and probably got to significantly less then 1 ATM during the flight.
The bubble essentially got sucked into the compass housing due to the dip in pressure. It won't effect compass performance untl the bubble become really big so , Yes your compass is on the road to demise, how quickly will depend on how often you fly with it.

 

[MechDiver]

About 3 months ago I noticed a stream of very tiny bubbles in my compass, which have now grown to a nice 1/4" bubble. I'm not experiencing any problems with the compass, as far as reading it, or its operation, but I'm curious whether this will mean the early stages of my compass' demise.

Thanks for your imput!

If it continures to grow, yes. It will most likely get worse with time. Keep an eye on it. Throw it away when it croakes.

I see this quite a bit with the generic rebranded compasses, but not with Suunto or Scubapro. IME anyway.

MD

 

[bdrannik]

I had a this happen once too - the compass was only about 2 months old.. Brought it in to the LDS where it was purchased. Owner asked if I'd left it out in the sun for a while recently, sure enough I'd had it sitting out a few days before on a boat trip.. (He said if they get too hot they can expand quite a bit and that can cause the bubbles) He replaced it and the new one worked fine.. I've since upgraded to a Suunto SK-7 wrist mount..

 

[Scubaguy62]

I don't recall leaving the compass out in the sun for an extended period of time, other than during SI's, and I haven't flown with it, so I wonder if this could be due to something else.

 

[redacted]

I've got one used compass with a bubble. It seems to work OK and hasn't seemed to grow. I find it helps me keep the compass level.

 

[FreeFloat]

I don't recall leaving the compass out in the sun for an extended period of time, other than during SI's, and I haven't flown with it, so I wonder if this could be due to something else.

My Dacor compass is the same way - bubble of about 1/4". Like Scubaguy I've never flown with it, nor has it spent extra time in the sun (other than the usual pre-dive gear-up time).

I'm curious to know if it's "dying", too.

 

[Charlie99]

If it continures to grow, yes. It will most likely get worse with time. Keep an eye on it. Throw it away when it croakes.

The failure mode will be that when the bubble gets big enough, it can cause the compass to stick when the bubble is beneath the floating card.

After mine croaked, I drilled a hole in the bottom, topped off the fluid with water, and sealed the hole with silicone rubber.

It makes a nice handbearing compass for my sailboat.