Question about rinsing the reg

[Geezer]

On the BC drainage issue - hang it upside down.

Fully inflate the BC, and any water in there will run to the lowest point, which is the corrugated hose. After giving the water time to drain there, hit the exhaust valve on the hose. The air pressure in the BC will force all the water out of the hose, and relax the pressure on the bladder. At that point, the bladder will effectively be dry as well.

 

[Charlie99]

On the BC drainage issue - hang it upside down.

Fully inflate the BC, and any water in there will run to the lowest point, which is the corrugated hose. After giving the water time to drain there, hit the exhaust valve on the hose.

There is a potential downside to doing this.

I used to store my BCD upside down, but that repeatedly immersed the pulldump wire in saltwater, eventually corroding the wire even though it was stainless steel. That weakened the wire enough that another diver or someone on the boat crew snagged the corrugated hose and snapped the dump wire while on our run out to the divesite. About halfway down to an intended 130' depth on the backwall of Molokini I discovered that my BCD was no longer holding air. I looked like a newbie (or a 1960's diver sans BCD) finning along at a 45 degree angle to maintain depth. At 50' or shallower, a really full, full lung would get me neutral in my 5mm full wetsuit, but below that I needed to fin to maintain depth.

 

[redacted]

You didn't say what brand of regulator you have.

Atomic doesn't recommend soaking the first stage on their regulators. A good rinse does the trick.

Rinsing may make it look pretty, but if your regulator is vulnerable to corrosion from salt deposits, it will not "do the trick". Salt water dives soak unprotected threads with salt water which can not be rinsed away. It must be soaked to remove the salt. Port plug threads are protected by o-rings. But most ambient chamber threads and HP seat retainer threads (balanced piston designs) are not protected. The o-ring is usually below the threads rather than above them. Yoke nuts and din retainers may go either way as far as the location of the sealing o-ring.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree...I can usually predict how salted and corroded a reg will be when removing the swivel cap or whatever housing surrounds the ambient chamber. If I have to get out the rubber mallet to whack things loose due to salt and corrosion its going to take a along time. If I have to ultrasound it before I can even get it apart, it is often almost not worth fixing.

A quick rinse really does not do the job.

 

[mruseless]

There is a potential downside to doing this.

I used to store my BCD upside down, but that repeatedly immersed the pulldump wire in saltwater, eventually corroding the wire even though it was stainless steel. That weakened the wire enough that another diver or someone on the boat crew snagged the corrugated hose and snapped the dump wire while on our run out to the divesite. About halfway down to an intended 130' depth on the backwall of Molokini I discovered that my BCD was no longer holding air. I looked like a newbie (or a 1960's diver sans BCD) finning along at a 45 degree angle to maintain depth. At 50' or shallower, a really full, full lung would get me neutral in my 5mm full wetsuit, but below that I needed to fin to maintain depth.

I rinse my BCD well, then hang it upside down for about a day. Then I blow out any water that has collected in the hose, turn it back upright, inflate the bladder, and store it. Is this what you were referring to?

I don't quite understand how a break in the pull dump wire would cause the BCD to no longer hold air. Can you elaborate a little on this? I thought a broken wire would only disable the pull dump.

I agree...I can usually predict how salted and corroded a reg will be when removing the swivel cap or whatever housing surrounds the ambient chamber. If I have to get out the rubber mallet to whack things loose due to salt and corrosion its going to take a along time. If I have to ultrasound it before I can even get it apart, it is often almost not worth fixing.

A quick rinse really does not do the job.

Good advice, I'll soak my regs from now on.
BTW, does getting fresh water inside the second stage really hurt anything as long as it can dry out?

 

[scubadiver888]

I used the plastic dust cap and found that it was like a tiny juice glass that put a bit of salt water back into the first stage. It was noticed on the filter. We used to have a caps that were like a rubber ball. Where can I get one?

Stu,

I use a little of the air left in my tank to blow the dust cap dry. Just open the air valve on the tank a little and put the dust cap in the stream of air. It will be dry in a few seconds.

Darrell

 

[tfsails]

Fresh water inside the second stage won't hurt it. Fresh water inside the hose leading to the second stage can migrate to the first stage and do some harm if it isn't dried out promptly. How to dry it out? Simple--just pressurize the reg and purge the hell out of it.

Same applies if you get water inside the high-pressure side of the first stage. In that case, shake it out and pressurize the reg and purge it a lot.

Getting water inside the reg isn't recommended, but it won't kill a reg unless you let it evaporate inside. This goes especially in the case of salt water.

 

[redacted]

Same applies if you get water inside the high-pressure side of the first stage. In that case, shake it out and pressurize the reg and purge it a lot.

If you do that, what prevents any water that is in the 1st stage from being driven into the SPG?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

How well a reg can be dried by purging depends on on the design of the regulator.

Some designs, such as most "flow by" unbalanced piston designs have areas inside the reg that have little or no gas flow and if water migrates there, purging the reg does nothing to remove it.

An example would be the compression chamber above the piston in an unbalanced piston design water can migrate there through the small hole through the piston where water would be carried as the reg pressurizes, but once there, there is very little flow velocity past the piston stem that will remove it and corrosion results.

Some diaphragm designs also have areas that are not well swept in terms of air flow where water could remain.

Balanced "flow through" piston regs in general are pretty easy to dry by purging as they are optimized for flow and the flow through design has very few dead spots where water could be trapped.

If you get your first stage wet inside, my advice is to have it serviced soon. A few years ago I had a customer get his reg serviced, go on one dive trip and then come back in a couple months after the trip complaining it was not working right. It was incredibly corroded inside and required big bucks for replacement of several metal parts. It was obvious it had been flooded, and when asked he confirmed it had went in a rinse tank sans cap, but he had been given advice by a DM to purge it dry and not worry about it. It got him through the trip, but bringing it in right after his return from the trip would have been prudent and would have saved him a lot of money.

In his case purging it dry followed by several dives still failed to fully remove the water in the reg.

 

[djanni]

Well, it's listed in my profile - I have two regs: Scubapro MK25 DIN and Scubapro MK2 Int. (yoke) version. So, I take it I'm fine submerging them, soaking them while cleaning?

And yes, of course the dust cap is where it should be during the process.

My comment was not to imply you're fine soaking your Scubapro. Probably the opposite. I don't know anything about Scubapro regs. I submerged my B2's for about 3 years before learning what Atomic recommended. Soaking them never seemed to do any harm. I don't soak mine anymore. But really, it could fine with the Scubapro's.

Also, as others have pointed out, cleaning them is more than just splashing some water on them. I didn't mean for it to sound that easy. It takes a lot of water.

Atomic makes that recommendation because they use a seat saving orifice. When not under pressure water can enter the 2nd stage and find it's way into the 1st. I see that as a negative, although, otherwise the seat saving orifice extends the life and maintains the performance of the reg. It also contributes to core body warmth and makes split fins perform better.

I don't think Scubapro has a seat saving orifice.