Flushing drysuit inflator valve - how often?

[elgoog]

Hello all -

I have the Deep Sea Supply valve flusher that I use to rinse my wing inflator and, more recently, my P-valve. It can also be used to flush through the drysuit inflator valve - this is something I have never done in the life of my drysuit. How often are people doing this?
My diving is exclusively saltwater and I rinse the entire drysuit with a garden hose after every dive day/weekend/trip.

Thanks in advance,
elgoog

 

[fmerkel]

Any time you forget to hook up and it gets saltwater in it. Otherwise I probably wouldn't. Unlike a BC inflator it 'should' stay dry. I have a cap for mine I use when hose rinsing.
They do get corroded internally and sticky after time. To me that indicates overhaul time. A flush won't do a lot to fix that except maybe temporarily.

 

[tbone1004]

if you gear up and have it hooked in before the dive and don't take it out until after, then probably not all that often, but if you are already hosing the suit off, it can't hurt to hook it up and flush it out. Just unzip the suit and aim it away from the inside so it doesn't get the inside wet

 

[elgoog]

They do get corroded internally and sticky after time. To me that indicates overhaul time. A flush won't do a lot to fix that except maybe temporarily.

The idea is to prevent the corrosion (I assume due to salt water intrusion) by rinsing it out regularly. I can't think of any reason it would corrode.

 

[tbone1004]

salt water build up. A lot of it is less corrosion related but more salt built up that causes them to leak

 

[elgoog]

salt water build up.

Yeah, that's primarily what I'm trying to pre-empt.

I think I'm just going to do this every time I rinse the suit - I already use the valve flusher for the P-valve after every dive day anyway and it's just a couple of minutes extra to do the inflator with it.

 

[fmerkel]

Report back how long it takes before it has trouble.
I get about a year out of a valve before I think it needs overhaul and I never flush it out.

 

[Ouvea]

I have both Apeks and Si-Tech inflator valves. Both do accumulate salt and makes the inflator button stick. Taking them apart and cleaning them solves this, usually, on a yearly basis, or as the need arises.

O.