Regs breathing wet

[Couv]

See why we pay you the big bucks!? ....uhhhh... That was a test, and you passed!

(I'm going to sit in the corner now, but I still put my money on the air barrel o-ring)

Couv

 

[redacted]

Are you sure? You inhale which collapses the diaphragm, pushes the lever, pulls the seat off the orifice, and in comes air from a leaky LP hose o-ring. Am I missing something? It's just like drawing air on a 2nd stage that's not attached to any hose.

As long as it is pressurized, even with IP drop below 100 psi, that leak will be gas moving out into the ambient environment; not water coming in.

 

[halocline]

As long as it is pressurized, even with IP drop below 100 psi, that leak will be gas moving out into the ambient environment; not water coming in.

Right, that's why (I think) we're talking about the vacuum check with the reg off a tank. The wet breathing is unrelated. Couv might be right about the barrel o-ring, but since the guy found a vacuum leak at the end of his LP hose, disconnected from the reg, fiddled with it, reconnected, and the leak was gone, I would suspect that the hose o-ring, which takes a lot of abuse being in a swivel, is probably heading for o-ring heaven.

I have found that in my meager experience most of my wet breathers are related to exhaust valves, especially in the D series where the exhaust valve is coaxial on the diaphragm. But it could be anything downstream of the 2nd stage valve.

 

[InTheDrink]

Thanks for all the posts and sorry for not posting back earlier. You know how it is.

I did indeed get the chance to test the regs when diving last month and they're still breathing wet, worse, I'd say than last time. There definitely was an issue, that I addressed with the hose connection to the second stage, but this hasn't stopped the reg breathing wet underwater, particularly when inverted or even slightly inverted. It's quite a pain. I want to say that the problem is more pronounced towards the end of the dive, but I wouldn't be able to say this with complete surety. It could be that I simply noticed it more at the ends of dives.

I don't know whether the phenomenon manifesting only or primarily with some inversion gives you guys any clues as to what it might be?

I'm kinda loathe to take the regs to get serviced as a) problems not that big, b) next proper diving I'm doing is not a place I want to be surprised by newly serviced regs c) the dive shop I'd trust to service them has just shut down and the only remaining one I don't really know and they look pretty green. If there's any way I can diagnose and fix this myself I'd be pleased.

Did someone mention that the cracking pressure might be off? I've got an IP tester so I could (but haven't) check out whether there's any drift there.

I'm a complete ignorant with all this stuff so apologies in advance if I accidentally make you laugh (or cry).

Thanks guys!

John

 

[Couv]

John,

Refer back to the first part of this thread and see the info given by the usual suspects. Check the exhaust valve, mouth piece etc for any anomalies. Inspect the point where the air barrel enters into the second stage housing for cracks or if the o-ring is defective.

Here is a link to a checklist the Usual Suspects put together to help you diagnose the problem.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4320058-post14.html

By the way, most regulators breathe a little wet upside down, so whatever is leaking on yours is just added to the "normal" amount of inverted leakage.

Good luck,

Couv

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks for all the posts and sorry for not posting back earlier. You know how it is.

I did indeed get the chance to test the regs when diving last month and they're still breathing wet, worse, I'd say than last time. There definitely was an issue, that I addressed with the hose connection to the second stage, but this hasn't stopped the reg breathing wet underwater, particularly when inverted or even slightly inverted. It's quite a pain. I want to say that the problem is more pronounced towards the end of the dive, but I wouldn't be able to say this with complete surety. It could be that I simply noticed it more at the ends of dives.

I don't know whether the phenomenon manifesting only or primarily with some inversion gives you guys any clues as to what it might be?

I'm kinda loathe to take the regs to get serviced as a) problems not that big, b) next proper diving I'm doing is not a place I want to be surprised by newly serviced regs c) the dive shop I'd trust to service them has just shut down and the only remaining one I don't really know and they look pretty green. If there's any way I can diagnose and fix this myself I'd be pleased.

Did someone mention that the cracking pressure might be off? I've got an IP tester so I could (but haven't) check out whether there's any drift there.

I'm a complete ignorant with all this stuff so apologies in advance if I accidentally make you laugh (or cry).

Thanks guys!

John

Many regulators will breath slightly wet when inverted, this is normal. You might look about for an exhaust valve that puts a little more tension on the sealing face but other than that, don't swim upside down.

N

 

[InTheDrink]

Many regulators will breath slightly wet when inverted, this is normal. You might look about for an exhaust valve that puts a little more tension on the sealing face but other than that, don't swim upside down.

N

Come on! Are you serious? You give me zero g and then tell me I can't do whatever I want? I can't dive upsidedown? Man, tough crowd.

Seriously though, this is good to know. I wasn't sure if they all breathed wet. Mine is currently breathing more wet than normal though I think. I'll do my revision (the earlier posts) and see where I get.

It's only an annoyance but one I had hoped to avoid by spending more than I could afford on decent regs.

Cheers,
J

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

John,

Do check very carefully for a crack in the 2nd stage body near where the hose connects. I know this has been mentioned before, but is actually not hard to crack the plastic-bodied 2nd stages when installing/removing/tightening hoses; a crack in a 2nd with a black plastic body can sometimes be hard to spot with just a casual inspection, but will cause wet breathing.

Good luck.

 

[InTheDrink]

Cheers L_SD

I'll give that a good look over. I know I have tightened/untightened that connection a good few times so I'll give as good an inspection as I can. Thanks for the input.

Cheers,
J

 

[InTheDrink]

John,

Refer back to the first part of this thread and see the info given by the usual suspects. Check the exhaust valve, mouth piece etc for any anomalies. Inspect the point where the air barrel enters into the second stage housing for cracks or if the o-ring is defective.

Here is a link to a checklist the Usual Suspects put together to help you diagnose the problem.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4320058-post14.html

By the way, most regulators breathe a little wet upside down, so whatever is leaking on yours is just added to the "normal" amount of inverted leakage.

Good luck,

Couv

Out of curiosity, why do (most) regs breathe a little wet upsidedown? Just interested to know why?

Thanks,
John