First Stage: Keeping it Dry?

[no_surrender]

@no_surrender

With regards to your AL 1st stage that self seal. You can dunk it fully overnight without damage (I do and have done for 4 years/500 dives on it)

For other regs - A decent cap as I use Din I have screw caps, but wont' do more than immerse them s little and use a rag to wipe residue from them.

I use warm water for rinsing (because in the summer that all that comes out of the tap) I leave my regs in over night (I normally get back through my gear in water and sort myself out) However you still need to give things a wipe - I've soaked mine for a few hours, not wiped them and the mouth-piece still tastes salty.

So agitation and a wipe and soak is all that's required.

Regarding changing regs in the rain. The odd rain drop isn't' going to hurt it'll cause less damage than those people who use their tank to dry the first stage thus possibly blowing water inside

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking into replacing the factory plastic cap with rubber (yoke) for a better seal and avoid submersing the SP first stage. Appreciate all the feedback!

 

[PfcAJ]

There’s nothing more obnoxious than people using their tanks to dry dust caps. It’s incredibly rude.

Use a towel. Or a shirt. Or just blow on it.

 

[no_surrender]

There’s nothing more obnoxious than people using their tanks to dry dust caps. It’s incredibly rude.

Use a towel. Or a shirt. Or just blow on it.

Is it not common though, to be taught this way? Perhaps the divers using their tanks to dry the caps are doing so because they were taught that way and don’t see it as rude or obnoxious. I wouldn’t have known any better had it not been for this forum.

 

[Marie13]

Wrong thread!

 

[Storker]

I usually soak my regs overnight.

That's quite a bit more ambitious than what I'm doing. Cap on 1st, soak for a little while and rinse. Or just rinse thoroughly. Service/rebuild my regs every two years/100 dives, whatever comes first. Never had a serious issue. Don't know if it's because I swear to membrane 1sts (Apeks XTX), if it's good enough practice or if it's sheer luck. But it worked just fine when my reg set was a Sherwood, which isn't a membrane reg

Btw, just for the record: my regs are DIN, so the 1st stage cap screws on and seals fairly reliably

 

[RyanT]

That's quite a bit more ambitious than what I'm doing. Cap on 1st, soak for a little while and rinse.

Yeah, if I'm doing multiple days of diving, they don't get this treatment, often just a rinse. When I get home though, I put all my gear in a big rinse tub and just let it sit overnight. Usually because I'm too tired to go pull all the gear out that same night!

 

[teonchagi]

I wasn't taught to do anything with regards to drying the dust cap. Just put it back on right away after disconnected the reg from the tank. I was diving in a lake yesterday (rain ruined todays plans) and today soaked my regs in a tote of fresh water for a few minutes, then hung them up on my BC hanger to dry. Salt water diving will be a once a year thing for me, and I understand a little more care has to be taken to prevent salt from building up. But how about fresh water? From my understanding, just rinsing in a bucket should be good. If it makes a difference, my reg is the Zeagle Envoy II.

My gear is currently outside attempting to dry (it's raining off and on...so it's not very successful drying). This weekend was the first time in water other than a pool for my gear so I want to make sure I take good care of it.

 

[Marie13]

Rinsing? I dive exclusively freshwater, so I don't rinse unless it's needed.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Hello all, new diver here. I have a few questions about keeping the first stage dry. My wife and I have two different types of first stages. Wife's is whatever comes with the Aqua Lung Core second stage, which I believe is the self sealing type. Shouldn't be an issue if soaked without cap in fresh water after a salt water dive, correct? This is because the valve is closed, right? We learned in class to always dry the cap with tank pressure after the last dive, but it's not necessary to do this between dives while changing tanks. Why is it so important to keep the cap perfectly dry after the second dive, but not necessary after the first?

A few weeks after buying her set-up, I bought a Scuba Pro Mk25 Evo with S600. This first stage isn't "self-sealing" like the Aqua Lung my wife has. How important is it to dry the cap between dives on this reg set-up? I've heard just one drop of sea water in the first stage can ruin it. However, is it really that critical to ensure it is bone dry even while changing tanks? Everything is wet to include my hands while changing tanks so what's the best practice to do this without damaging our equipment?

Another issue we ran into while diving a couple days ago is that it was raining after the first dive and while we were changing tanks. Again, how could have we prevented any water from getting on the first stage while it was raining? It's not like divers just stop because it's raining, right?

Lastly, what's the best way to care for the regulator? Here's what I've been doing...please point out anything that I've been doing that might damage our equipment. After diving, use the tank pressure to air dry the first stage cap, put it on and secure it with the yoke handle. Pull back hose protectors. Submerge the entire reg set-up in fresh water for at least 20 minutes to dissolve salt. Swish it around then hang it up and spray off with water hose. Hang to dry. Secure the hose protectors against the first stage again.

Thanks in advance for all replies!

Kevin

For your first question, you are putting the regulator on a second tank, right? After the last dive you are going to be rinsing your regulator and if you don't put the cap on you will get water in your first stage.

There is no need to dry the cap between dives--only when you are attaching it to your first stage prior to rinsing.

If it's raining or there is ocean spray there may be water in your tank valve. Cracking the tank open for a 1/2 second will blow the water out so it doesn't get into your first stage. If this annoys someone then perhaps that person should either figure out a way to prevent water from ever entering a scuba tank that's sitting on a boat for a couple of hours, awaiting it's turn, or pay to have your regulator serviced/rebuilt because some of that may be salt water.

I don't use a tank to dry my dust cap--blowing it off is usually sufficient, or, like someone else said, use your t-shirt etc. I use Sherwood regulators and rumor has it that the little one-way valve on the first stage could allow water in while soaking it so I only submerge the first stage momentarily. Personally I know the condition of my little purge valve so I don't think any water is going to get in there with few seconds of rinsing but others only submerge their Sherwoods to rinse them while they are pressurized. I bought mine in 1983 and it still looks like new inside so I'll stick to what I'm doing. My second stage gets filled with water and emptied several times in the rinse tank and then I let it drain with the mouthpiece down so water can run out. I never depress the purge button until it is dry (uness it is pressurized).

 

[Zef]

The 20 minuter soak and swish routine is good but I would recommend that if you are going to soak your regs that you do so with them attached to your tank with the air on. It prevents the possibility of water intrusion in the 1st stage.

My family and I do not dive with the regulator caps attached to our 1st stages. We leave them in our regulator bags so we don't have to worry about them being wet and having to dry them when the dive is over, when arriving back at the car or on the boat we just grab the cap and put it on the reg as it comes off the tank. We have always done this when we had yoke type regulators but we have converted them all to DIN and so we believe this is more important with DIN because the caps are deeper and would potentially contain/hold more moisture/water.

Regarding the self-sealing feature of your wife's 1st stage....Some might differ in opinion but my recommendation is to use it as a fail-safe in case she forgets to put the 1st stage cap back on but I would recommend not relying on it as a matter of routine, especially when soaking the reg.

The idea, between dives and at the end of a dive session is to dry your hands and the cap before removing your 1st stage so you do not contaminate the 1st stage, especially with sea water. I recommend putting the thumb of the hand you are holding your 1st stage with after removing it from the tank over the opening of the 1st stage until you are ready to put the cap in place...this prevents the possibility of water ingressing into the opening.

Regarding your question about the rain....the idea is to get the next tank ready and move the regulator over without delay to prevent water from entering the tank. If you have to set the regulator down then you should wipe the cap dry and put it in position on the regulator prior to putting it down. If you cant put the cap then put the reg down so the opening is facing downwards.

Since you can't inspect the inside of the 1st stage without taking it apart, and because it is cost prohibitive to have it opened and inspected on frequent basis, one should take extra care to ensure that nothing but air enters the 1st stage.

-Z