Possible Fresh Water Penetration In Apeks First Stage, Should I Service?

[StringerBell]

You should just have left the ports open as I suggested earlier. If you purged the 2nd stage and used the BC inflator while you pressurized the regs then your hoses are now wet. If not, don't sweat it. Are you sure your friend did not soak the reg with the port open? Those rinse tanks are as bad as salt water.


Bad sign. Are you sure you did not pressurize it after the "shower". You can blow some air through the HP hose with another reg - if you have one - to clear it. You also have to disconnect and examine the SPG.


The HP port was open so no pressure in your first stage.

If all these overwhelms you, then maybe it's time to seek professional help. Is your reg due or near due for service? Then it might be time to take it in. The problem with water in the first stage is that it might cause corrosion in the critical part the - HP seat. If it is an Apeks FSR (XTX 200) then that critical part is replaceable. For now leave all the ports open to allow it to dry.

I'll remove the SPG and blow the air out. I wouldn't know how to examine the SPG though, but I'm sure it wasn't pressurized after rinsing, so maybe it's been in there a while. if there's water coming out of the HP hose then I'll look at getting it replaced, I wouldn't know how to identify water inside the SPG until it fails.

I didn't purge the 2nd stage or inflator hose because they didn't seem to pressurize anyway, all the air went straight out of the open LP ports, and when I pressed the purge button on my reg no air was released, so it's possible some water got in the hoses, but I'll purge anything out when I get my blanking plug back.

 

[Pao]

You can dry out the HP hose by running tank air into it - so no problem there.
You can remove the SPG and give it a vigorous shake and see if something comes out. You can leave it unattached and put it in a plastic container with some desiccant (silica gel). It's just a blind tube that is coiled inside. The mechanicals are sealed separately inside the gauge.

 

[StringerBell]

You can dry out the HP hose by running tank air into it - so no problem there.
You can remove the SPG and give it a vigorous shake and see if something comes out. You can leave it unattached and put it in a plastic container with some desiccant (silica gel). It's just a blind tube that is coiled inside. The mechanicals are sealed separately inside the gauge.

Ooh okay.

I was under the assumption that the Bourdon (sp)? tube was in contact with the air and prone to failure from corrosion if in contact with any minute amount of water? I'll take a look this evening and see what I find, thanks.

 

[Pao]

Long term exposure to salt water can do significant damage but a bit of freshwater can be dried out. The tube is also usually made of brass or stainless steel.

 

[StringerBell]

Long term exposure to salt water can do significant damage but a bit of freshwater can be dried out. The tube is also usually made of brass or stainless steel.

I'll have to have a look and see what it is. If the penetration (if any) occured by my doing this week then it's fresh water, but if not then it may be salt water.

I wonder if spraying some 70% ethanol or using some canned air would help?

 

[StringerBell]

Actually, just looked at a diagram, the tube woulnd't be accessable to look at through to hole.

 

[halocline]

. The DIN cap is called a "dust" cap and not a "water"cap for a reason. I soak my regs overnigh pressurized.

The DIN caps that screw on seal exactly the same way as a tank does, using the o-ring on the regulator. As long as the cap is in place, there's no risk soaking the reg unpressurized.

 

[halocline]

You should just have left the ports open as I suggested earlier. If you purged the 2nd stage and used the BC inflator while you pressurized the regs then your hoses are now wet. If not, don't sweat it. Are you sure your friend did not soak the reg with the port open? Those rinse tanks are as bad as salt water.

The reason I suggested plugging the LP ports and blowing air out the HP ports first was to keep as much water as possible out of the IP chamber. But it's not that important. The OP can simply blow several blasts of air through the hoses to dry them out.

Rinse tanks are nowhere "as bad as salt water." Not by a long shot. Some are fairly nasty, to be sure. But the salinity in the dirtiest rinse tank is still many times lower than that of salt water, and as such will dilute salt. This is far better than simply leaving salt water to dry on the reg.

 

[axxel57]

Problem with pushing normal fresh water for cleaning the inside of regs through the 1st stage and possibly hoses and 2nds with air is, that when drying, depending where you are, there will be more or less minerals sticking to the inside of the reg,depending where the fresh water comes from.

So if I'm not able or don't want to dismantle the reg and clean the reg, I use battery water for rinsing the inside of a reg which might have been flooded.

 

[StringerBell]

Hey Pao,

Thanks for the tips. Today I removed the SPG and shook it with a bit of paper towel over it and it was bone dry (bar a bit of grease from the spool around the outside).

I also blew some air out the HP hose and there didn't seem to be anything either (same paper towell technique), but I'll need the blanking plug to be sure. Cheers for the tips.

Cheers to everybody else for their contributions, will post back when I've got everything set up and running.