Flooded 1st Stage

[Hatul]

I forgot to put the dust cover back on my Oceanic Delta 2 piston 1st stage and dunked it in my rinse tank.

I followed the advice on a web site, removing the SPG HP hose and the plug on the other HP port and ran pressurized air through the thing to blow water out, and now I'm letting it dry.

Any ideas on what else needs to be done? Do I need the have the regulator overhauled?

Adam

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I just serviced a piston first stage today that had obviously been flooded and not dissaembled, inspected and dried. Saving it was an issue very much in doubt and while it still works fine after being cleaned and serviced, there is basically no chrome left inside it and the guy is going to get charged double the normal labor rate for the extra time it took.

So technically no, if the water did not contain any salt and all of the water was removed by passing air through the reg, it probably does not need dissasembled and cleaned/dried. But if you elect not to have it done, you won't know for sure that all is well or not well until the reg develops a problem or until the tech finds a corroded mess at the next annual service.

Getting it serviced is cheap insurance.

 

[redacted]

Sounds like you did a good job correcting the error. I'd dive it and not be worried. There is just not much damaged that can be caused by a FW dunking. The minor corrosion it could cause should not be a problem and will be cleaned up at the next routine service.

 

[Hatul]

I now understand the value of the DVT valve on Oceanic and Aqua Lung regulators.

 

[halocline]

I forgot to put the dust cover back on my Oceanic Delta 2 piston 1st stage and dunked it in my rinse tank.

I followed the advice on a web site, removing the SPG HP hose and the plug on the other HP port and ran pressurized air through the thing to blow water out, and now I'm letting it dry.

Any ideas on what else needs to be done? Do I need the have the regulator overhauled?

Adam

What I would do in this situation would depend on a few things. Are you sure that the dunk tank had clean water? How long was it in there? How much water came out the HP ports when you pushed some air through it? If it was only very briefly dunked in clean water and only a drop or two came out the ports, I would close up those ports, open the LP ports, and blast some air through those. Then maybe go back to the HP ports, do this while thing a couple of times until it's really dry. Running several hundred PSI would not be overkill. BTW, when you did this, did you remove the 2nd stages and LP inflator hose, and plug the LP ports? You should have.

If the water was dirty and/or salty in the dunk tank (it usually is) or you have any doubts, it's probably best to get it serviced. Since I service my own gear, if I had any doubts I'd pull it apart and clean it up. If it was going to cost $150 (like if the LDS claims they need to service all three stages and will not include the warranty free parts, which I'm 100% sure is what my LDS would say) then I'd really think about it given the criteria above.

 

[Hatul]

What I would do in this situation would depend on a few things. Are you sure that the dunk tank had clean water? How long was it in there? How much water came out the HP ports when you pushed some air through it? If it was only very briefly dunked in clean water and only a drop or two came out the ports, I would close up those ports, open the LP ports, and blast some air through those. Then maybe go back to the HP ports, do this while thing a couple of times until it's really dry. Running several hundred PSI would not be overkill. BTW, when you did this, did you remove the 2nd stages and LP inflator hose, and plug the LP ports? You should have.

If the water was dirty and/or salty in the dunk tank (it usually is) or you have any doubts, it's probably best to get it serviced. Since I service my own gear, if I had any doubts I'd pull it apart and clean it up. If it was going to cost $150 (like if the LDS claims they need to service all three stages and will not include the warranty free parts, which I'm 100% sure is what my LDS would say) then I'd really think about it given the criteria above.

I followed the instructions on the site:
What To Do If You Flood Your Regulator First Stage CalvinTang.com

Opened both HP ports and blew air from both ports, so water sprayed out. Then I blew air through both second stages. I probably should have just removed the second stages and just blown air through the LP ports, as I may have blown some water into the second stages.

Then I uncovered all ports and let it dry. If it's not too expensive I may just have the local dive shop service it.

Adam

 

[scubafanatic]

...another issue is if you don't have it inspected/serviced, how much will it bother/worry you while you're out diving.......will it nag/prey on your mind and will always be wondering if/when it will fail on you ? I would have a hard time enjoying my dive, especially if I'm out in the middle of nowhere on my spendy vacation, with the possiblilty of failure tormenting me...paying for inspection/service might be worth just the peace-of-mind.

 

[Couv]

...another issue is if you don't have it inspected/serviced, how much will it bother/worry you while you're out diving.......will it nag/prey on your mind and will always be wondering if/when it will fail on you ? I would have a hard time enjoying my dive, especially if I'm out in the middle of nowhere on my spendy vacation, with the possiblilty of failure tormenting me...paying for inspection/service might be worth just the peace-of-mind.

Yes, it that is the case, spend $20-$30 and have just the first stage serviced for peace-of-mind. But now you can see the advantage of servicing your own gear....come to the dark side.

 

[rstofer]

Yes, it that is the case, spend $20-$30 and have just the first stage serviced for peace-of-mind. But now you can see the advantage of servicing your own gear....come to the dark side.

But where to get the parts? I have most of the tools, I have the manuals and I can buy the specialized equipment. What I can't get are parts.

I can get parts for the Dive Rite Hurricanes so I bought two of those and I MIGHT be able to get some Oceanic parts so I have a bunch of those. AquaLung and ScubaPro seem to be out of the question.

Fortunately, parts are plentiful for my double hose regulators and those are the only ones I care about.

As to the OPs flooded reg: I would have it serviced. I'm not diving a regulator that I am not 100% certain is in perfect condition.

Richard

 

[Couv]

Hello Richard,

One of my hobbies is to buy junk off of eBay and attempt to restore it. Then, I either use it or put it in a plastic bag in my closet never to be seen again. Of course, it still takes parts to do this, so I like to hedge my bets by buying regulators that use mostly the same parts, like SP MK10, MK5, MK7 first stages and SP BA or 109 second stages, also I have several Air II's. I have been lucky so far to scrounge up parts from friends and off of eBay and I use o-rings from a known good source.

When I sell my rebuilds on eBay, even though I have to put in the disclaimer that it must be serviced by a certified tech, I try my best to make sure that it at least works. The only exception would be if I just could not get the parts.

c