Are my Regs ruined?

[Wildbill]

I dove last Sunday at Venice and had a great time even met new divers. I had to leave early 'cause I had to be at work at 6PM. I got home after noon and was in a hurry because I wanted to catch a nap. I took all my gear and put in a big tub of freshwater to soak until I could rinse them properly on Monday. When I got around to doing this I pulled out my Regs and saw that I had left off the dust plug in the first stage. I left it off all week thinking it would dry out some. I did try them last night by placing on a tank and purged both Octo and reg several times then tested the breathing of both. They seemed to work fine. Should I still have them checked out at LDS when I go get tanks refilled?

Wildbill:cop_2:

 

[wreckchick]

You need to have them taken apart and serviced. Sadly, that's one of those things that there's just no getting around.

Sorry to break the bad news to you

Rachel

 

[Zaphod]

I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion. I know it's standard practice to say "get 'em serviced" (after there's been a water intrusion), but realistically I don't think it's necessary if the intrusion has been clean freshwater. Sure, have the IP checked; look for drift, etc., but only rebuild if there's a problem. There's nothing inside to rust, the o-rings won't deteriorate, the lube won't be removed.

If it happened to me, I wouldn't service them...

You need to have them taken apart and serviced. Sadly, that's one of those things that there's just no getting around.

Sorry to break the bad news to you

Rachel

 

[Rick Murchison]

Personally, I'd break 'em down and inspect everything. I might just blow air through 'em and check IP and operation if I didn't know my way around the innards.
Rick

 

[Zaphod]

But why? (other than for the pure joy of doing it or possibly showing off). I guess I'm not quite clear on EXACTLY what might be going wrong...

Personally, I'd break 'em down and inspect everything. I might just blow air through 'em and check IP and operation if I didn't know my way around the innards.
Rick

 

[Boogie711]

OK - here's a dumbass question from a guy who only dives in fresh water...

... what do you do with a DIN reg in salt water? Do you stick those little rubber or cap things over the DIN threads?

I've never really thought about it.

 

[advtech]

I dove last Sunday at Venice and had a great time even met new divers. I had to leave early 'cause I had to be at work at 6PM. I got home after noon and was in a hurry because I wanted to catch a nap. I took all my gear and put in a big tub of freshwater to soak until I could rinse them properly on Monday. When I got around to doing this I pulled out my Regs and saw that I had left off the dust plug in the first stage. I left it off all week thinking it would dry out some. I did try them last night by placing on a tank and purged both Octo and reg several times then tested the breathing of both. They seemed to work fine. Should I still have them checked out at LDS when I go get tanks refilled?

Wildbill:cop_2:

For years the head tech rep at dacor use to tell evryone to flush fresh water through the regs whenever they came out of salt water or the swimming pool. Claimed it was the best way to thoroghly clean them. They changed their policy when pressure gauges started to become popular. The problem was that you couldn't blow the water out of the bourdon tube and if the reg got into freezing conditions, the guage would loose calibration.

Many divers still pratice switching regs between back gas and deco bottles in event they have to in an emergancy. Iv'e never had a problem yet. Ian

 

[wreckchick]

Boogie, I got some delrin screw caps for my din regs. Those go on before they get a dunking after a saltwater dive. I prefer to toss them in attached to a tank but that's not always feasible.

R

 

[Rick Murchison]

But why? (other than for the pure joy of doing it or possibly showing off). I guess I'm not quite clear on EXACTLY what might be going wrong...

(1) Because "fresh" water isn't fresh. If it's gear in a tub, contaminants from the rest of the gear will be in the water. If it's "fresh" water (lake, river, spring) there are invariably critters in the water that might take up residence inside the reg. Unlike the fresh water rinse and immediate thorough drying in the shop when the reg's broken down for service, "fresh" water in the wild (or the tub) isn't.
(2) When we rinse reg pieces in the shop, we disconnect the hoses first, and take care to not get any water inside the hoses. You can't keep water out of the hoses if you've gotten it inside the first stage with the hoses attached, and again, the inside of the hoses is a nice place for things to grow in the damp dark. Anyone care for a nice lungful of mold spores?
As I said, at the minimum I'd blow a bunch of dry air from the tank through it to dry things out as best as possible to keep unpleasant things from taking root inside - and I, personally, would disassemble, inspect, rinse in cleaner (which is also a disinfectant), fresh water, thoroughly dry and reassemble.
Rick

 

[Rick Murchison]

OK - here's a dumbass question from a guy who only dives in fresh water...

... what do you do with a DIN reg in salt water? Do you stick those little rubber or cap things over the DIN threads?

I've never really thought about it.

Uh, I put the caps on my DIN regs immediately after disconnecting them from the tank regardless of whether I'm diving fresh or salt water. I don't want anything but clean dry air inside my regs.
Rick