Question BC dump valves aren't working

[Nemrod]

OP, please get another BC. You are fighting a battle with no good end and wasting your time. The concept is flawed and not based on the reality of how we dive. A BC is to compensate for loss of buoyancy due to suit compression and adjust for cylinder depletion over the course of a dive and maybe some baby fat. You should be able to go up and down simply by inhaling and exhaling once you are trimmed for depth. You have wrestled with it for two years and learned a lesson or two, now go buy a different BC that has a standard inflator and a simple pull dump or better yet, get a wing/BP system with a plain old single piece webbing and be happy.

The issue you are having is your not knowing where the bubble is inside the jumbo bag of air in relation to any one of the plethora of auto dump valves on the thing. My wife had a similar bag of air from Dacor with an up and down buttons and hers actually worked but she has been a diver since 1979 and knows how to chase the bubble around to get the thing to vent. It did not take much on my part to move her to a wing/BP. Over the years she has had a bunch of BCs and of them it was the worst.

My wife was given the Dacor for free, that was her excuse, why in the name of the almighty did you buy this contraption to begin with? Out of curiosity?

N

 

[Gone for diving]

^^^^
I am surprised it took this long for the correct answer,
Backplate and wing,

 

[SonByrne]

You need a new BC. Diving a BC that you can’t dump air when needed is dangerous. Why have you kept diving it?

Originally, I thought I was doing something wrong because it would dump probably half of the time. Once we realized something wasn't right with the BC, I stopped diving it. The only "dives" I've done since then with it have been in the pool to confirm that it still wasn't working correctly.

 

[SonByrne]

OP, please get another BC. You are fighting a battle with no good end and wasting your time. The concept is flawed and not based on the reality of how we dive. A BC is to compensate for loss of buoyancy due to suit compression and adjust for cylinder depletion over the course of a dive and maybe some baby fat. You should be able to go up and down simply by inhaling and exhaling once you are trimmed for depth. You have wrestled with it for two years and learned a lesson or two, now go buy a different BC that has a standard inflator and a simple pull dump or better yet, get a wing/BP system with a plain old single piece webbing and be happy.

The issue you are having is your not knowing where the bubble is inside the jumbo bag of air in relation to any one of the plethora of auto dump valves on the thing. My wife had a similar bag of air from Dacor with an up and down buttons and hers actually worked but she has been a diver since 1979 and knows how to chase the bubble around to get the thing to vent. It did not take much on my part to move her to a wing/BP. Over the years she has had a bunch of BCs and of them it was the worst.

My wife was given the Dacor for free, that was her excuse, why in the name of the almighty did you buy this contraption to begin with? Out of curiosity?

N

It was recommended as part of the package that they had. I was totally new to the sport (and really still am). It feels like dive shops keep talking crap about each other and like everyone else does everything wrong.

 

[SonByrne]

That does not make sense to me. If you are below the surface and you need to get deeper, you do not dump air you just exhale and you will start sinking. Then as you arrive at the depth you need to ADD air to make yourself neutral.

This is not correct. Dump valves will only dump air if the air bubble is moved to the valve and is located at below at least he top edge of the valve (if its positioned vertically ) or below the valve when it's horizontal.

It's not clear what dump valve you are using , top , bottom or the inflator. Eech will require different techniques but on all the cases the air has to be moved to the valve before you can dump.

I might be remembering some of our conversation incorrectly since this was several months ago now. Essentially, she and one of the instructors at the dive shop both said that it wasn't working properly in the water at depth.

 

[SonByrne]

Get rid of the BC and get rid of the i3 system. There are some people that like it, but I have a friend that also had issues with hers. The theory behind the system sounds good, but it is a complicated system where the more simple hose dump and butt dump work fine and are simple.

Thanks for your recommendation. I may look into it, though I'm not sure I want to sell this to someone since I've had so many problems with it. Any suggestions on what I should do with it?

 

[Searcaigh]

Any suggestions on what I should do with it?

Send it back to Aqualung Product Manager Tom Phillip and tell him to take a dump in it! .... or words to that effect

 

[Nemrod]

It was recommended as part of the package that they had. I was totally new to the sport (and really still am). It feels like dive shops keep talking crap about each other and like everyone else does everything wrong.

I understand that you are invested in the BC. Nontheless and regardless, my recommendation remains the same. Put it behind you and move on to something that does not have the i3 or similar system. The concept is ill conceived and does not work.

I know it was a pile of money but we are talking hundreds, not thousands or some life altering amount from which you cannot recover. If you want to scuba dive successfully without the frustration and all of that, get another BC with a conventional inflation and dump. Or, better yet, bite the bullet and go to a wing and back plate system. There is a learning curve but you will be far better off in the end.

James

 

[dlofting]

I just had a quick look at the manual for your BC. It appears that you can dump air using the i3 "system" or manually using the shoulder valve. Have you tried both?

 

[elan]

I had a chance to look at one of the aqualung BCDs last week. The jacket had i3 labels near the place where i3 lever is supposed to be installed. But it was not an i3 version. So apparently the jacket is the same.

I wonder if you can just ask the shop to convert it to a non-i3 version inexpensively.