Pressure gauge broken - filled with water

[Agamemnon]

My scubapro pressure guage has filled with water under the glass and no longer functions - obviously has a leak. Has anyone experienced this - is this common? Just curious if i should consider another brand.

 

[redacted]

It happens to the best of them. The metal case gives you some protection against damage but seals are still going to fail. Some older Scubapro SPGs could be disassembled and the o-ring replaced but it sounds like yours is dead.

 

[TSandM]

I had one go on me on a Cozumel trip, but I think it was an OMS gauge. The needle still worked, but the water eventually grew so much algae that I couldn't see it.

I can tell you that it's really FUN to try to find an isolated SPG (not part of a console) on Cozumel.

 

[scubafanatic]

My scubapro pressure guage has filled with water under the glass and no longer functions - obviously has a leak. Has anyone experienced this - is this common? Just curious if i should consider another brand.

well, how old is/was it ? How many dives on it ? No gear is immortal, stuff wears out, be fair to Scubapro here before you consider another brand.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The odds are good that Scubapro may replace it for you for a "simulated repair" charge. I got mine replaced for $25 and it was probably 10 years old and had seen the inside of many caves and wrecks. Not many other companies will even consider doing that for a customer.

As for durability, the older 3500 and 5000 psi Scubapro gauges that show up on e-bay now and then are often 20 years old (white face) to 30 years old (black face), but are bullet proof and if flooded can be reaidly opened dried, the o-ring replaced and returned to service. The faces often look badly scratched but 5 minutes worth of work with a poliching wheel on a dremel and they look great again. (The scratches are still there, but polished so that you don't see them). I use them on most of my deco and stage regs as wel as on my sidmount regs.

I have maybe 10 of them and out of all of them, only 1 reads more than 50 psi off a known pressure.

 

[ringmod65]

It sounds as if you may have blown out one of the 003 O-rings on either end of the spool. I recently flooded an OMS gauge for this reason. I placed the - wet - gauge in a jar with some uncooked white rice, which dried it out pretty well. Even with the O-rings replaced and lubed, though, the gauge still fogged up. It was new enough that I was able to swap it out for a new one.

 

[redacted]

It sounds as if you may have blown out one of the 003 O-rings on either end of the spool. I recently flooded an OMS gauge for this reason. I placed the - wet - gauge in a jar with some uncooked white rice, which dried it out pretty well. Even with the O-rings replaced and lubed, though, the gauge still fogged up. It was new enough that I was able to swap it out for a new one.

Those o-rings seal the HP portion of the SPG. If water/moisture is visible it is in the unpressurized section of the gauge that is not effected by to -003 o-rings. It is a case seal that has failed.

 

[Agamemnon]

Thanks to all for your help. My guage is about 2 years old with ~ 100 dives; I've treated it very well so was quite surprised when it failed. I'll harass scubapro about it and see if they can't give me one of those simulated repair deals but if not, I'll just get another and cross my fingers. Thanks again!
A.

 

[drbill]

I've had a few of different brands fill up with water, some after many years of frequent use. The saddest was my XS Scuba brass and glass SPG. I didn't have it clipped off when I went to fill my tank and placed the tank down on top of it, cracking the glass. Sniff.