Gosh %#@% power inflator valve!!!

[fisherdvm]

Learned a hard lesson. I took two old broken BC and tried to borrow from peter to pay paul.

One had a busted power inflator, the other was simply busted. But both had good inflator hoses.

I took the power inflator off, and saw the copper cable linking the inflator to the pull dump at the end of the hose.

Gosh darned it, I CUT both of the cables... Then tried to reattach the cable to the pin... Then I found out, the pin slides out of the two holes on the inflator. I didn't have to cut either cables at all!

Now I got two busted cable!! Managed to fix the good BC by making a loop on the cable and squeezing an aluminum tube around it (from an 1/8 inch pop rivet head). Then I used copper 14 gauge wire to link it back to the pin. Now I've got a working - high quality back inflate BC!! Got spare parts from the busted one - used that to fix my Dive Rite back inflate that was missing a buckle snap.

I am wondering if I could remove the pull dump and install it on another BC?? Have any one done that?? You'd just have to cut through the jacket and the BC bladder, right? And aquaseal it through the inside of the bladder and the out side of the jacket??

 

[rcontrera]

Typically, dump valves are screwed into the bladder/body of the BC. You will need to find a tool like the one below to take it out:

 

[FatRob]

I cut my wire intentionally and removed it, I see no need to manually dump by pulling the inflator. I have heard first hand horror stories of the whole inflator hose pulling apart because some ape pulled on it rather too hard, resulting in an uncontrolled descent, followed by a rather messy rescue.

You don't want to trust that Al crimp especially not with copper nearby, Corrosion heaven. Also the original pull cable is not copper, even if it looks like it! So your copper extension will most likely be too weak!

You can either leave the dump elbow in or buy the dir part from diverite that replaces it for $15 or so.

I strongly recommend modifying the elbow to the non dump config.

Cheers
R

 

[redacted]

Some screw on (and off) with the tools rcontrara pictured. It is possible to do it without the special tool but can be a PITA. Others are "welded" on and I doubt if you can replace or reuse those. None that I know of use or need aquaseal.

 

[Hoosier]

I think you can get a tool from www.diveriteexpress.com

You don't need a pull dump function. It is just another feature that you can ignore on a rec. BC.

I had better put more money on the inflator (especially SP one).

Just my 2 bar...