Removing dump valve retaining balls

[lamont]

i've gotten my pull dump stuck even though my pull dumps have no balls...

i've also accidentally unscrewed my pull dump underwater...

 

[BWDscott]

Sorry... new at the board... DIR?

 

[Bryan]

Having balls is not DIR

[Cleaning my beverage off my monitor]

 

[redacted]

I understand the case for cutting your balls off but Im not sure I understand this incident. He was on the surface, overweighted but with about 50lb lift capacity in his BCD. The lower pull dump, even if stuck open, should allow quite a bubble to remain trapped in the BC. Was it the shoulder pull dump that stuck open? Would cutting that ball off allow the string to slip thru the channel or will two knots hold it OK? Is the real problem too many balls or one too many holes? Perhaps we would all be better off with less holes and balls.

 

[hudson]

I put one of those cone thingies hanging off my blinds on the dump valve. So technically I don't have a ball. (I don't know if it'd be any less of an issue with stages but it does have a lower profile) I've tried for a while, rather unsuccessfully, to operate it with a knot only but doesn't work for me in 5mm gloves.

 

[Ana]

I'm not sure if I'm allow in this thread since I'm not naturally equipped with balls, however...

One of the first things I noticed when I got my halcyon wings many years ago, was the lack of the ball and the fixed inflator. After a couple of dives I decided to attach a thing to the little string, contrary to what i was told at the time, I could not "easily" vent using just the string. The knot at the end didn't amount to anything worth holding if you wear gloves. Instead of a ball I attachet a flat round plastic glow in the dark. This thing was a planet of the solar system on a previous life and for the last 8 or so years has been performing with out a fault. Allways there and never tangled up.
As for the fixed inflator... I didn't care for it either, when I see divers lifting their inflators, reminds me of grade school asking permission to go to the bathroom. I like to deflate the wing by pulling the inflator, to me it seems to deflate more efficienty than lifting the hose.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Ana,

Problem with pulling on the inflator is that on occasion, depending on how much anxiety a diver may be experiencing, divers have pulled the plastic elbow right out of the fabric of the wing/BC or caused the corregated hose to fail.

This dumps your wing fine, but then you can't put any gas into the wing at the surface and you create other issues.

Its typically safer to learn how to vent the wing in a manner that doesn't lead to worse issues.

The easiest way is to make the "OK" sign around the plastic cover to the rear pull dump, then close the OK sign by tightening your thumb against your forefinger. The string is in between them. Pull on the knot.

Pretty simple if you always use it - like any developed behavior.

Best,

Doc

 

[ianr33]

I have also known a problem where the mechanism in the hose pull dump did not seal properly and dumped air. Just something else that can go wrong and is not needed.

 

[ClayJar]

I have also known a problem where the mechanism in the hose pull dump did not seal properly and dumped air.

Which is, of course, possible with any of the pull dumps. (There's little quite as fun as dipping down to catch a student by the tank valve when his rental BC's right shoulder dump stops holding air around 50 feet down.) Of course, I'm not sure I'd want to do an underwater field repair that involved even temporarily removing the inflator assembly from the BC. :biggrin:

While I now dive a DSS wing with no inflator pull dump, I never actually used the inflator pull dump on my jacket. I just didn't like the feeling of pulling on something that I *absolutely* didn't want coming off. On the other hand, with the very long corrugated hoses on most BCs I've seen, I've seen many people raising their hand like a Sure deodorant commercial while dumping. The much shorter corrugated hose on a DSS wing pretty much precludes even attempting that (although even in a jacket, you don't need to lift it so high if you just look to see when you're out-gassing).

As for the original topic, I'm *still* trying to get used to the pull dump on my wing. It's on the opposite hand as the one on my old jacket. It's on the "front" of the wing instead of the "back" of the jacket. And to top it all off, I'm not used to grabbing small line with thick gloves. I'm sure I can get used to it, and I'll try out the "OK method" this weekend (thanks Doc).

 

[Randy43068]

Once I had the ball on my wing get stuck on something, can't recall what now, but it dumped my air. I promptly removed the ball and put a knot in the string. If it happened once, it surely would happen again at the most inopportune of times. Give your wing a ball-ectomy.

I did it before I knew there was a GUE or DIR.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.