Is it possible to prevent water come in the 1st stage？

[happy-diver]

When I was diving in a hot climate with my regular seat on the boat at the stern port side, my gear
would cop a spray being wet and dry numerous times with a thick white crust of salt for protection

A good pressurised hot water soak that day or the next would restore the lustre ready for next time

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The only liveaboards I’ve done are the Southern California Channel Islands boats. You bring your own tank and they refill the same one over and over.
The rig will live on the boat deck in your slot assembled for the duration of the trip. We don’t disassemble and rinse at the end of each dive day.
To get a fill after a dive I towel off the reg/tank valve area and take the reg off being careful to always point the inlet of the 1st stage down so no drops of water drip into the inlet. Then I towel off the valve and then hold the towel over the valve and crack the valve open for a second to make sure any water that might have dripped into the valve hole gets blown out. Holding a towel over the valve silences the loud “sssssssttt” sound that annoys all the snowflakes on the boat.
Now you’re ready for a fill.
I have no idea how they do it on boats in the tropics, but I would probably choose to do my own disassembly/assembly because I doubt a DM needing to fill of a couple dozen rigs will put that much care into it.
The new self closing 1st stage inlet holes are probably a good idea for those that expect to be waited on hand and foot and have no interest in being fanatics about their own gear.

 

[admikar]

The new self closing 1st stage inlet holes are probably a good idea

Spill the beans please?

 

[broncobowsher]

There are multiple areas inside the 1st stage. The air part should never see water. Then there is the part that has to sense the ambient pressure. Generally that gets wet, unless it is environmentally sealed. There are oddities, Sherwood has a dry bleed feature on some models that vents a tiny stream of air to keep the pressure sense side dry.

If there is moisture in the air part of the 1st stage, you have a wet fill or were sloppy installing the 1st stage on a wet tank.

 

[Bigbella]

It can also be matter of local "hard" water, which can leave mineral deposits while gear is soaking.

To give some perspective, RO water (those dispensers outside of many markets, for example) may have a TDS (total dissolved solid) count of 0-10 ppm (if well-maintained), while our household water is north of 375 ppm and we often run vinegar through our kettle on a weekly basis to remove scale. The dissolved material winds up looking like 2 percent milk when emptied.

The only other method to avoid water in the ambient chamber of a first stage, that comes to mind, is the use of an antifreeze cap on some older regulators, which may contain straight vodka or even an ethyl alcohol / glycerin mixture and physically isolates the first stage from the outside . . .

 

[apedai]

When I was diving in a hot climate with my regular seat on the boat at the stern port side, my gear
would cop a spray being wet and dry numerous times with a thick white crust of salt for protection

A good pressurised hot water soak that day or the next would restore the lustre ready for next time

Thanks, I will bring a foldable fish tank to soak my regulator, is the water temperature 30 degrees enough?

 

[apedai]

The only liveaboards I’ve done are the Southern California Channel Islands boats. You bring your own tank and they refill the same one over and over.
The rig will live on the boat deck in your slot assembled for the duration of the trip. We don’t disassemble and rinse at the end of each dive day.
To get a fill after a dive I towel off the reg/tank valve area and take the reg off being careful to always point the inlet of the 1st stage down so no drops of water drip into the inlet. Then I towel off the valve and then hold the towel over the valve and crack the valve open for a second to make sure any water that might have dripped into the valve hole gets blown out. Holding a towel over the valve silences the loud “sssssssttt” sound that annoys all the snowflakes on the boat.
Now you’re ready for a fill.
I have no idea how they do it on boats in the tropics, but I would probably choose to do my own disassembly/assembly because I doubt a DM needing to fill of a couple dozen rigs will put that much care into it.
The new self closing 1st stage inlet holes are probably a good idea for those that expect to be waited on hand and foot and have no interest in being fanatics about their own gear.

Great tricks, I can use this to clean the bottle valve before installing the regulator,thx

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Spill the beans please?

Aqualung ACD, and DGX Xtra piston reg has a self closing air inlet on their DIN reg.

 

[apedai]

There are multiple areas inside the 1st stage. The air part should never see water. Then there is the part that has to sense the ambient pressure. Generally that gets wet, unless it is environmentally sealed. There are oddities, Sherwood has a dry bleed feature on some models that vents a tiny stream of air to keep the pressure sense side dry.

If there is moisture in the air part of the 1st stage, you have a wet fill or were sloppy installing the 1st stage on a wet tank.

Yes, my reg is environmentally sealed model, I see many corrosion appear at HP LP port conneting hose or plugs, maybe this part is a
weak point？

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yes, my reg is environmentally sealed model, I see many corrosion appear at HP LP port conneting hose or plugs, maybe this part is a
weak point？

View attachment 767425

Water got inside the 1st stage, simple as that. I would say completely flooded.
There is no way water will bypass the O-ring on those plugs and come from the outside in. It would hiss air something horrible if the O-rings were bad.