shoupart
Contributor
I feel like a moron- I was cleaning my gear and submersed my reg with the valve cap off. It couldn't have been exposed for more than a few moments, but I'm concerned. Is there anything I can do to get water out?
Help! I immersed my reg w/o the valve cap on
- Thread starter shoupart
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shoupart:
I assume you put it in fresh water? what kind of reg do you have, piston or diaphram?
Not a real big deal.
Take off your SPG from the end of the hose, not from the 1st stage.
Put your reg system on a tank and give it a little pressure.
Purge your seconds a couple times.
Hit your inflator a few times.
That will force any water out that you might have gotten into the 1st.
The biggest problem with water in the 1st is it getting into your SPG and ruining it.
Take off your SPG from the end of the hose, not from the 1st stage.
Put your reg system on a tank and give it a little pressure.
Purge your seconds a couple times.
Hit your inflator a few times.
That will force any water out that you might have gotten into the 1st.
The biggest problem with water in the 1st is it getting into your SPG and ruining it.
cbborromeo
Contributor
regardless of what type of reg you have (unless it's envoronmentally sealed new ones), you should take it in for service. It shoudn't require more than an inspection and cleaning, but they will dry it out and make an internal inspection to make sure everything is working properly. Considering it's your regulator, you shouldn't take a chance. good luck.
If the water was nice & fresh and clean, blowing dry air (regular scuba air) through it for a half a minute or so (see Deepblueme post above) will probably keep it from any damage.shoupart:
If it were my regulator, however, I'd tear it down, clean & rinse & dry & lube & reassemble (basically an annual without changing any parts) just to make sure. If I were within three months of an annual/biannual rebuild I'd just go ahead and do that.
Rick
OP
shoupart
Contributor
Yeah, it was fresh water from the hose here at my house. Thank you for the information, guys, I appreciate it!
If i were you, blow any residual water in the first stage out by sticking it on a tank and purging it through. Then get it in for a service.
Blow it out after removing your computer before.
Service it not necessary imho as the water was clean.
The air from your bottle is that dry that the remaining humidity will dry very fast.
Just don´t go ice diving as first dive after this accident.
Service it not necessary imho as the water was clean.
The air from your bottle is that dry that the remaining humidity will dry very fast.
Just don´t go ice diving as first dive after this accident.
FWIW, I have had occasion to change an o-ring (K-valve) at 90' on a stage... in salt water. The regulator worked fine for the rest of the dive, but was pretty crudded up by the time I got it to the shop a few days later, where I did an annual on it. It still works just fine. Even the SPG escaped unscathed.
Rick
Rick
It's tempting to just blow air through it and call it good.
Don't be tempted to do that. I have worked on the regs of many divers who did just that and usually the annual service gets much more expensive due to corrosion in the reg.
In some regulator designs water can get places where their is air pressure but little or no flow (for example in the compression chamber in an unbalanced piston first stage) where no amount of use or airflow will remove the water. Corrosion is virtually inevitable in that case even with fresh water and the results can be expensive.
Water from your hose at home is probably salt free. Water in the "fresh" water dunk tank on a dive boat is usually salty as soon as the tank is filled and gets progressively worse with each item dunked in it. It's about as bad as sea water and will produce similar results inside a regulator where the water may be dried/blown out but where a substantial amount of salt still remains. This leads to the kind of annual service where lots of expensive parts get replaced. The customer almost always complains - until you show them the corroded parts.
Odd as it may seem I have had divers do this on back to back annual services where the first very expensive lesson did not seem to stick - perhaps because they don't really believe the incredible amount of corrosion that can occur in a short time when salt water gets inside a regulator.
Taking the reg in to have it dissasembled, dried and inspected is comparatively cheap compared to the possible alternatives. And more importantly, it's life support equipment so just how cheap are you willing to be?
Don't be tempted to do that. I have worked on the regs of many divers who did just that and usually the annual service gets much more expensive due to corrosion in the reg.
In some regulator designs water can get places where their is air pressure but little or no flow (for example in the compression chamber in an unbalanced piston first stage) where no amount of use or airflow will remove the water. Corrosion is virtually inevitable in that case even with fresh water and the results can be expensive.
Water from your hose at home is probably salt free. Water in the "fresh" water dunk tank on a dive boat is usually salty as soon as the tank is filled and gets progressively worse with each item dunked in it. It's about as bad as sea water and will produce similar results inside a regulator where the water may be dried/blown out but where a substantial amount of salt still remains. This leads to the kind of annual service where lots of expensive parts get replaced. The customer almost always complains - until you show them the corroded parts.
Odd as it may seem I have had divers do this on back to back annual services where the first very expensive lesson did not seem to stick - perhaps because they don't really believe the incredible amount of corrosion that can occur in a short time when salt water gets inside a regulator.
Taking the reg in to have it dissasembled, dried and inspected is comparatively cheap compared to the possible alternatives. And more importantly, it's life support equipment so just how cheap are you willing to be?
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