Help! inflator hose and dump valves fused shut

[ifukuda]

The inflator hose and dump valve on my Venture Wing has fused shut! When I attempted to force the valve open, I ended up screwing off the hardware on the wing that the valves screw on to...

Soaking the wing overnight did not loosen up the valve...

I would appreciate if anyone has any advice on how I can remove the valves.

Thanks in advance.

 

[redacted]

To better understand the problem I decided to look at my trave wing. The shoulder valve was OK but my pull dump had the same problem you described. Took about 15 minutes to fix. I removed the valve from the BC and set up one container of ice water and another with hot water running into it. I gave it about 4 reps of 30 second hot soak and then a 30 second cold soak. Then I went back to the hot soak for a minute and then set an ice cube in the center of the stuck piece while I went looking for a large set of pliers. There is a small rib on the inner piece that can be gripped with pliers spanning the outside. (I first tried pushing it with a screwdriver but that needed too much pressure to grab) One more trip thru the hot water soak followed by ice cube on the inner piece and it let go. Pliers in one hand on the ouside of the inner sleeve will leave a slight mark but no damage to the seating surface.

Hot and cold are you friend. Now for a little silicone befor I reassemble.

Edit: It left 3 small plier teeth marks on each side of the outer perimerter of the inner piece but they have no effect on the sealing or threaded surfaces.

 

[cool_hardware52]

The inflator hose and dump valve on my Venture Wing has fused shut! When I attempted to force the valve open, I ended up screwing off the hardware on the wing that the valves screw on to...

Soaking the wing overnight did not loosen up the valve...

I would appreciate if anyone has any advice on how I can remove the valves.

Thanks in advance.

It is possible to remove the "nut" from inside the OPV cover with very careful use of big channel lock type pliers, but that's not how I do (did) it. I use a large diameter shallow lathe collet that just grabs the little piece of the "nut" that projects from below the OPV.


This miserable situation has lead me to produce my own "nut" The DSS nut has a large hex on the surface that contacts the wing. This hex makes it easy to remove the nut when it is stuck in the OPV cover.

Ifukuda, if you can't get it apart, stop by and I'll fix You up. It's 30 seconds work with the right goodies.



Tobin

 

[ifukuda]

Thanks for the advice.

Awap,
I'll try the hotwater/coldwater soak tonight. Regarding leaving teeth marks on the "nut", no problem...I 've already crushed about a millimeter of nut while trying to force it off the valve cover when it was dry.


Tobin,
I had to do a search on the web to figure out what a "lathe collet" was...that's a serious piece of hardware. Good call on putting hex shaped "nuts" on your wings. I'm suprised that this isn't the industry norm considering the obvious design flaw of the valve assembly.

 

[Mandy3206]

I had the same problem last week, and didn't wanted to mark the hardware that screws into the bladder.

I got a large piece of truck innertube and cut a piece relatively large (about 6X6) and placed in a hard flat surface like a work bench or floor, then setted the assembly over the piece of rubber and applied force down over the piece of rubber, then turned the valve nut and unscrew it from the hardware that goes into the bladder.

The piece of rubber made enough friction on the hardware and acted as a wrench.

It took some effort, but the pieces came apart without any marks at all, next, I lubed the threads and made sure not to tighten it much, just a 1/10th turn after it setted.

hope this helps, mine wasn't removed for about 10 or so dives, so now I'll remove and clean the dump valves after a couple of dive trips as part of general cleanning.

If it doesn't work, then you can go to pliers, I hope not.

Good luck and let me know how it went.

 

[redacted]

Thanks for the advice.

Awap,
I'll try the hotwater/coldwater soak tonight. Regarding leaving teeth marks on the "nut", no problem...I 've already crushed about a millimeter of nut while trying to force it off the valve cover when it was dry.
.

Key is that last step of getting the whole thing hot causing maximum expansion of both parts then ice on the inner part to cause it to contract, opening up the space between threads. I like Mandy's idea of the rubber friction surface. A lo0t less bad things can happen if that works. And if bad things do happen, the replacement is $12.95 from diveriteexpress.com.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Good call on putting hex shaped "nuts" on your wings. I'm suprised that this isn't the industry norm considering the obvious design flaw of the valve assembly.

Kinda surprising how many "obvious design flaws" become a default standard and get repeated over and over and over.............. Not just in scuba, but scuba is well represented in this category.



Tobin

 

[zboss]

The inflator hose and dump valve on my Venture Wing has fused shut! When I attempted to force the valve open, I ended up screwing off the hardware on the wing that the valves screw on to...

Soaking the wing overnight did not loosen up the valve...

I would appreciate if anyone has any advice on how I can remove the valves.

Thanks in advance.

I have a venture wing but I'm having trouble visualizing what you are talking about...

 

[cool_hardware52]

I have a venture wing but I'm having trouble visualizing what you are talking about...

Many BC / Wings use a two piece assembly for any penetrations thru the bladder. Inside the bladder is a "T" nut. This piece has a ~2" diameter flange that is inside the bladder, and has a ~1" male threaded center post that actually projects through the bladder and / or outer shell of the BC.

On top of this "T" nut is a piece ( I call it a "double nut") that has two sets of threads. It has inner female threads that mate with the "T" nut, and outer male threads that either accept the OPV cover, or the nut on the inflator. These outer threads are ~ 1.85 in diameter.

The problem occurs when you try to remove the OPV cover. The "double nut" stays in the OPV cover and both unscrew off the "T" nut. Conventional designed "double nut" offer nothing to grab to allow removing it from the OPV cover.

This is not typically a problem with the Inflator hose, as the fitting on the hose has a "12" point polygon that engages the double nut, allow the removal of the retainer nut without disturbing the double nut to t nut threads.

Some BC's weld the T nut to the bladder, but this does not solve the problem with Double nuts getting stuck in the OPV cover.

Hope this all makes sense.



Tobin

 

[Mandy3206]

Tobin, great explanation, it clarified some points to me.

My explanation would be a little simpler:

The bladder has a threaded male center post that goes through the outher shell and the "part" in question here is threaded both inside and outside like a plumbing bushing and screws on the male center post locking it to the outer shell of the BC. The OPV, inflator hose elbow or Rapid dump valve, all have a nut that screws on the outer threads of the "part" in question here.

The problem is that when you try to disassemble the OPV, inflator hose elbow or Rapid dump valve, some times the "part" comes loose from the bladders male center post causing the problem described.

I didn't knew that inside the bladder was another piece of hardware (the T nut), I though that the male center post was welded to the bladder.