Next vintage project valve.

[Ghost95]

Morning all, hope you're doing well and having some good dives. Seems like I primarily work on dive gear but rarely use it.

Anyway, I've started cleaning up an old Sportsways 1/2" NPS "J" valve and have a couple questions. Photos are attached for reference.

The valve is in pretty good condition with typical light verdigris and scuffing. The main HP seat is deeply grooved and needs to be replaced. The reserve mechanism is immaculate. There is barely any groove in that seat. Overall it shouldn't be too much of a project. I'll be swapping out this valve for a Sportsways "K" valve on one of my steel tanks at the next visual.

Questions:

1. Are the HP seats (G in photo) from these tanks standard and still in use or do I need to be looking for something special?

2. In the other 2 photos, the stems "F" HP stem and "K" reserve stem, each have a teflon washer that's white and in good shape and then they also have what looks to be a black washer. I have my suspicions that is not a washer but rather a very old, dry, flattened O-ring. Can anyone confirm that and maybe lead me to the size and durometer for that part?

Thanks for the help.

Also in the works for future posts are a MK 7-109, and a MK 1-108.

Safe diving.

 

[Tanks A Lot]

It's been a while since I had one of these in the workshop, so I'm not 100% sure on the seat. If memory serves well, it is the same seat that MDE used in their now obsolete valves. Something like this should work. As I said, I'm a bit unsure about that, so take it with a grain of salt.

These are indeed O-Rings and not washers. You may find the attached PDF useful for this project.

 

[Ghost95]

It's been a while since I had one of these in the workshop, so I'm not 100% sure on the seat. If memory serves well, it is the same seat that MDE used in their now obsolete valves. Something like this should work. As I said, I'm a bit unsure about that, so take it with a grain of salt.

These are indeed O-Rings and not washers. You may find the attached PDF useful for this project.

Awesome! Thanks for the diagrams. Those will make thing so much easier.

Any chance there's a size guide that goes with those part numbers for the o-ring?

Have a good day!

 

[Tanks A Lot]

I do not have the original sizing, but a BS010 O-Ring in 90 Shore should do well: 6.07 x 1.78 - 90S NBR (Metric).

 

[Ghost95]

Thanks for the info. Sometimes it's hard to make things work right with just manufacturer part numbers. Like scubapro o-ring numbers...

Trying to get an accurate size of the old o-rings would be next to impossible. They looked like flat, thin, rubber washers not o-rings. Guess the valve has been rebuilt.

 

[Tanks A Lot]

They looked like flat, thin, rubber washers not o-rings

It is of course possible that someone has rebuild it wrongly, but time and pressure will do what you describe above. It is not unusual for O-Ring to be completely deformed after a few years.

 

[Ghost95]

Finished cleaning the valve. It came out very nice and should go back together without a problem. I'll add a current burst disc, some new o-rings, and a new seat and it will be good to go. These are much more comfortable to carry than the tiny "K" valves.

Now, on to the next cleaning project. I'll do another thread on that one soon.

Safe diving all.