Leaking Inflator Assemblies: Overhaul or Replace?

[milbournosphere]

I got my first BP/W setup yesterday, a used Halcyon Eclipse. It still had the original (recalled) SS inflator assembly on it, so the seller threw in a "used only a couple of times" newer-style plastic housed inflator assembly. I needed to fill up a tank anyways, so I went down to the shop. The tech offered to throw the new inflator on while I was waiting for the tank fill. It was a slow afternoon so out of curiosity, I asked him to take apart the "lightly" used plastic inflator apart and we found quite a bit of salt corrosion on the interior metal parts.

I replaced it with a new inflator assembly, and he gave me an o-ring kit so I could overhaul the one I already had and throw it in my save-a-dive kit. He claimed that overhauled inflator assemblies are not fit for anything other than emergency-fix duty, which I hadn't heard before. I took it home, soaked the parts in a vinegar solution to clean the corrosion off and the parts look brand new. I still need to put the whole thing back together with the new o-rings but the parts are very clean and move smoothly.

FWIW, Divegearexpress has the same opinion:

A few words of caution: This service kit is a great save-a-dive solution but our recommendation is to replace, not service, your power inflator if it develops any problems. Improper service could cause a failure of buoyancy control, which has serious and life threatening consequences

The replacement inflator was only a few dollars, so I had no issue in just buying a new one for my new-to-me BC, but I was curious to see how many of you agreed or took issue with this general opinion on overhauled inflator assemblies. I'm curious, have any of you had issues with runaway overhauled inflators?

 

[rhwestfall]

me thinks "legal mumbo jumbo" crafted by loss prevention "experts" with no practical dive knowlege/experience.....

Think you should treat your regs the same way? they might......

 

[dbulmer]

I agree with the advice you were given. If the inflator starts to play up, take it off immediately and replace if at all possible.I have used an overhauled inflator and it works for a wee while and then you're back to square one.

Advice: on a trip take a spare inflator with you. I have just come back from a trip to the Red Sea where my inflator (ie thread bust) leaked and I could not get a spare.

I used the inflator manually but a spare inflator would have been easier. Life's too short !

 

[Dsix36]

This all depends on your abilities to do a proper and thorough rebuild. If upon disassembly and inspection, all parts are good, then there should be no issue with rebuilding it.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Was it the actually recalled one or the post-recall SS one (has a groove as shown here: Halcyon Stainless Steel Power Inflator Recall | Halcyon)? If it's the latter, I'd be happy to buy it off you

As to your question, I think properly serviced inflators are fine -- replacing them every so often may be easy and not too much more expensive, but it's not a safety issue. All mine are Halcyon SS post-recall inflators and none have ever auto-inflated on me. Probably because I keep them clean, lube them regularly, and replace o-rings as necessary.

 

[milbournosphere]

Was it the actually recalled one or the post-recall SS one?

I checked the site before offing it, it was the recalled one. This particular unit had a birthday of 2004, so it was right around the time the recall was initiated. I threw it out, but I should have taken a picture before. You should have seen the rust and corrosion, even on the outside! This thing was toast.

 

[dbulmer]

This all depends on your abilities to do a proper and thorough rebuild. If upon disassembly and inspection, all parts are good, then there should be no issue with rebuilding it.

Absolutely - provided you have the time and inclination to do so.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I checked the site before offing it, it was the recalled one. This particular unit had a birthday of 2004, so it was right around the time the recall was initiated. I threw it out, but I should have taken a picture before. You should have seen the rust and corrosion, even on the outside! This thing was toast.

Too bad. Any rust/corrosion on SS should just be adhered scale from the environment rather than corrosion of/into the parts themselves, and the machining issue that caused the recall (smoothness of the inner walls of the inflator) can be corrected the same way one improves pistol feed ramps: properly shaped hard felt Dremel tip and some polishing compound.

OTOH, the SS inflators are prone to stripping out the plastic threads into which the SS inflator assembly screws, which can be avoided by not overtightening but cannot be fixed once it happens. And I'm told that the assembly can self-eject quite forcefully in such cases.

 

[milbournosphere]

Yeah, it really is. If it were the post-recall model, I probably would have tried to overhaul it. Thanks for the opinions, everybody!

 

[TSandM]

I have no experience with the SS inflators, but I have taken apart and serviced a great many of the standard ones. You can generally clean them up and solve problems once or twice, but eventually, the soft brass of which they are made ends up with enough scratches from pulling the o-rings that you can't stop the leaks. The replacement modules aren't terribly expensive, so if I've serviced a unit once and it starts to leak again soon, I just replace it. If it behaves for six months or a year, I'll try servicing it again.

I've never had one explosively fail. Mine have all been slow leaks, and most of them haven't been INTO the wing, either.