Randy43068
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No need to have it serviced. Blow it out by removing port plugs and you're golden.
It's not a big deal.. really
It's not a big deal.. really
Dust cap left off while soaking Reg
- Thread starter vndoc
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spoolin01
Contributor
I really wonder how much risk of water intrusion there is when the seat cap is in place? It's a closed system - absent an open 2nd stage - any opening is small, and the pressure driving water in would seem small. I know you will get water 'inside' if you leave the cap off - is that primarily capillary action in the frit? Has anyone opened up a reg to see if the water goes past the frit, before you blow it past? ...but with the cap in place?... Similarly for the open 2nds - how far (and fast) is water going to flow up that hose with the first stage closed?
Any practical experience? I soak 100% of the time and after opening two regs after 175-250 dives each over 2+ years (including at least one instance of brief soak with the cap off), there was just a small amount of crud inside... I wonder was that because of or despite the soaks? Would it have been different if I'd removed the cap after soaking, to let the frit dry, which I don't always do?
Not being all that familiar with the inner plumbing of the first stage, I've wondered if back flushing with fresh water - were it possible - would extend service life by rinsing out salt water coming in through the frit. Or even forward flushing. It works for motors, pumps, and such.
Any practical experience? I soak 100% of the time and after opening two regs after 175-250 dives each over 2+ years (including at least one instance of brief soak with the cap off), there was just a small amount of crud inside... I wonder was that because of or despite the soaks? Would it have been different if I'd removed the cap after soaking, to let the frit dry, which I don't always do?
Not being all that familiar with the inner plumbing of the first stage, I've wondered if back flushing with fresh water - were it possible - would extend service life by rinsing out salt water coming in through the frit. Or even forward flushing. It works for motors, pumps, and such.
halocline
Contributor
Definitely in spite of the soaks. Soaking a reg in CLEAN fresh water is the only way to get the salt out of the ambient chamber and threaded fittings that are protected by o-rings inside the threads. After 200 dives or so, assuming that's in salt water, having only a little bit of crud in the 1st stage is not so bad. It could have easily come from a tiny bit of water getting in the reg when you remove the reg from the tank, maybe there's a tiny bit of salt water that drips on the filter or stay on the dust cap, or it could have come from moisture in the tank. If you use rental tanks, especially from some of the caribbean spots, you're likely to get some wet air eventually.
I frequently see people blasting tank air at their first stages when removing a reg. In addition to the noise, many times they're just driving salt water right into the filter. The best thing to do would be to rinse off the reg/tank while it's still attached, dry it off a bit, then remove it, dry the dust cap, then soak.
+1 to Matt's post.
It seems counter intuitive, but if you do a lot of diving over a few days you'll have less salt crystal build up. Why? Because the salt water has to evaporate before the crystals form. Keeping the regulator wet-even with salt water is the key. That's why it's more important to SOAK your regulator after an extended diving trip than while on one.
Soaking overnight is the best way to dissolve the salt crystals. If you're concerned about water entering through the second stage and making it's way into the first; hang both stages over a broom handle or something similar so they can dangle in the water-agitate every now and then.
It should go without saying you must put a good dust cap in place. How do you know if it's good? Put it in place, remove all second stage hoses except one and plug the ports. Draw a vacuum on the remaining second stage. Does it hold vacuum? If so, it'll be water tight.
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It seems counter intuitive, but if you do a lot of diving over a few days you'll have less salt crystal build up. Why? Because the salt water has to evaporate before the crystals form. Keeping the regulator wet-even with salt water is the key. That's why it's more important to SOAK your regulator after an extended diving trip than while on one.
Soaking overnight is the best way to dissolve the salt crystals. If you're concerned about water entering through the second stage and making it's way into the first; hang both stages over a broom handle or something similar so they can dangle in the water-agitate every now and then.
It should go without saying you must put a good dust cap in place. How do you know if it's good? Put it in place, remove all second stage hoses except one and plug the ports. Draw a vacuum on the remaining second stage. Does it hold vacuum? If so, it'll be water tight.
c
spoolin01
Contributor
There was a period of time I was having trouble with water in my tanks that would have affected at least one of the regs. Also I'm not really careful about drying the faces when swapping tanks. Anyway, water in the 1st stage from soaking doesn't seem like it's been much of a practical problem so far.
Xaryo
Contributor
A reg is allergic to water. It should never be submerge when it is not under pressure. It take only one or 2 inch in water over a 2nd stage to press on the purge and let water in.
If you can't rinse your reg while being under pressure, better not to rinse it at all.
If you can't rinse your reg while being under pressure, better not to rinse it at all.
My regulators are not allergic to water. In fact they were designed to work in water.
Submerging a second stage and allowing water to enter the second stage housing through the mouthpiece equalizes the pressure and will not activate the purge. Some regulators have a device, such as a "seat saver" that do hold the second stage soft seat off the hard seat and essentially, yes it is like holding the purge button. But for regulators with such devices see use the "rod over the bucket" technique.
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Submerging a second stage and allowing water to enter the second stage housing through the mouthpiece equalizes the pressure and will not activate the purge. Some regulators have a device, such as a "seat saver" that do hold the second stage soft seat off the hard seat and essentially, yes it is like holding the purge button. But for regulators with such devices see use the "rod over the bucket" technique.
c
spoolin01
Contributor
I still wonder how much of a problem it would be even for this kind of reg. If it's sitting at 6" depth, that's a 1.5% increase in pressure if I got the math right. A good portion of the dead space in the reg setup as a whole must be in the secondary hose and it's otherwise a closed system, right?. Unless the water runs down or creeps along the hose due to surface wetting (is the inside surface rubber?), it doesn't seem like it's going to get very far up the hose, much less all the way back to the primary.
Right. The only way for the water to get from the second stage to the first stage-even with the purge pressed and held, would be if the second stage was positioned higher in the soaking vessel than the first stage. But again, this can be totally avoided by hanging the stages by the hose over a rod.
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