Halcyon Power Inflator Sticking

[ANDYCA]

I noticed I was a bit light on the first twinset dive of the day last weekend, which was odd. On the 2nd dive of the day I was really struggling staying down so I did a kit check and noticed I had a lot of air in my wing (I use dry-suit for buoyancy) I managed to dump it and disconnect so all sorted. On the surface I tested it again and this time I could hear the air leaking into the wing at quite a steady pace after I released the inflate button. Inter-stage pressure was perfect 9.5bar (138PSI).

I've read a lot about the older style Stainless Steel Halcyon Precision Inflator, but this is the new plastic Halcyon Power Inflator which came with my Evolve 40 Wing in 2015, in the last 3 years it's done ~150 dives and always been washed through with fresh water and dried at the end of the day/weekend. As you can see from the pics it was pretty immaculate even before I started cleaning.

As has been noted elsewhere the newer style plastic inflator does not have a service kit available and is designed to be a throw away item, I did take mine apart but I can't work out how to get the Schrader valve unscrewed without messing up the finish on the plastic button which needs to glide past the stainless steel collar.

Replacements are on back order at the moment so I’m a bit stuck which leads me to my questions for the group:
1. Anyone know of another method of gripping this to unscrew the Scrhader, other than my current plan of wrapping the button in electrical tape and getting some mole gips on it?
2. Is this just par for the course, that these will start to leak air into the wing after a few years even with meticulous maintenance? Or was I just unlucky?
3. If the answer to question 2 was yes, and no respectively…. Are people really accepting that the solution to Halcyon inflator problem, is not to fix the issue but just make it impossible to service, so you have to buy a new one rather than a >$1 Schrader valve or 10c o-ring?

I was at 40m (130ft) that day, but a bit lower and I could have been narced off my bonce and unable to react in time to prevent accelerating to the surface. Or worse it could have happened on day 1 of Truk lagoon with no spare k-valve available.

Any more thoughts on this?

 

[dmc78]

I think your on the right track suspecting the Schrader valve, sounds like air is getting past it somehow.
Can you not use a pair of needle nose pliers to grip the back of the Schrader valve and unscrew it from the housing?
That's how I remove mine but its an Aqualung BCD and my be different.

 

[ANDYCA]

Sadly the housing swivels around the schrader valve, the only thing attached to it from the other end is the plastic button. The stainless steel button version had a hex section you could get a spanner on and a hex slot to help you grip.

There are two holes (you can almost see one at the top in the first picture) in the steel section between the two o-rings which could have been a way to brace the schrader but the shaft visible from these two small holes are smooth so nothing to grip on to, also I suspect they are just air passages and it's not the correct place to try and grip to undo the screw thread anyway.

The most likely explanation is that when these are assembled they grip the button with a specialized tool and loctite ensures it never comes loose.

I was really hoping that going for Halcyon meant it was all serviceable with minimal spares required but I think i'm going to have to keep a spare valve in the toolbox and really make sure the disconnect-and-dump drill committed to muscle memory.

 

[Marie13]

I had issues with my power inflator sticking about a year and a half ago. Thankfully it happened during a pool session.

Took my wing back to DRIS (I had won it at their uw pumpkin carving event). I was told there were known issues and Halcyon was replacing the wonky part, providing the part to dive shops. Something with the inflator button. DRIS has already replaced 6 when I took my issue happened in January 2017. I got mine in 2016. If yours was new in 2015, possibly could be the same issue. At least one other SB poster experienced the same issue.

My wing is an Eclipse 40.

 

[JohnnyC]

Call up your local Halcyon distributor and get them to swap it. Then order a spare from DGX, they're $16.95. I would also recommend you quit using your drysuit for buoyancy, but that's for another thread.

 

[eelnoraa]

3 years 150 dives is not a bad time for a inflator hose service. My first wing is a oxycheq mkV, after a year of frequent used, the inflator was pretty sticky. Just need a service.

 

[ANDYCA]

3 years 150 dives is not a bad time for a inflator hose service. My first wing is a oxycheq mkV, after a year of frequent used, the inflator was pretty sticky. Just need a service.

I completely agree, but Halcyon and my LDS have said this is a non serviceable part and should just be replaced.
3 years for a critical and mechanical diving component before you have to service it is no problem at all.
3 years for a critical and mechanical diving component before you have to throw it away is not great.

 

[ANDYCA]

Call up your local Halcyon distributor and get them to swap it. Then order a spare from DGX, they're $16.95. I would also recommend you quit using your drysuit for buoyancy, but that's for another thread.

No stock for another month in the UK, and the dive store will not just swap out a component out of warranty.
On the drysuit vs. wing for buoyancy, my trim and weighting is finely tuned, I have very little air in my suit so migration is not an issue for normal UK ocean diving... I'm not a cave diver so no weird diving attitudes which would promote air migration to the feet.
Having said this if I'm below ~45m (148ft) and diving a wreck that required inversion I will put a little in the wing as a preventative measure and dump it before I get out of the wreck. I think this is a 'whatever works for you' situation... I've seen too many fast assents due to having air in both wing and suit to make that kind of task loading the norm.

Once I get a replacement I'll attempt to dismantle this one using the mole grips method and post back the results of the autopsy

 

[rongoodman]

I had a similar incident a couple of years go, I think with a 20# Eclipse. Luckily I had one of these, 45-degree Oral Power Inflator, in my dive bag. Buy two so you'll have a spare handy.

 

[ANDYCA]

Cheers Ron,
They do look identical, probably a handful of manufacturers get them all made in the same factory.
Asking around the club it seems the inflate valve is a common failure point.
After shipping and taxes to the UK I'm looking at about £50 and an unknown shipping time for that one, two Halcyons are £56 so I'll probably be better off waiting a few weeks for my LDS to get them in.
Just in case there are any major differences it might be a case of better the devil you know, If I'm going for a different valve I'd ideally like to know I'm going to a better one, but at the very least one as safe as the one I'm diving.