Replacing power inflator hose o-ring

[buddhasummer]

+1 Scubatools. 1 minute's work.
Why make yourself crazy?
When you get this one in, finally, with the other methods, order the Scubatools toy for the next time.
LP Hose Kit

Just tried to buy that tool, they want $35 for shipping. I cancelled the order, daylight robbery.

 

[rsingler]

Just tried to buy that tool, they want $35 for shipping. I cancelled the order, daylight robbery.

That's outrageous, Buddha. Just go with @Namreg 58 's method. Easy enough, and free if you can find the right diameter tubing.

 

[Umuntu]

@buddhasummer, the hollow plastic handles from Japanese dental flossing brushes are exactly the right diameter

 

[buddhasummer]

@buddhasummer, the hollow plastic handles from Japanese dental flossing brushes are exactly the right diameter

View attachment 452429

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Great, thanks. I'll try to find some today at lunch, cheers.

 

[Zef]

I just played around with replacing the o-ring on a spare inflator hose. I used a machine screw with a narrow head and I took apart a Bic pen and used the short plastic tapered piece between the roller ball and the long tube of the pen. Bic pens pull apart easily and then you just push the whole ink tube and roller ball head out.

Here are the steps I used:
1. Put the machine screw in the inflator with the screw head down against the schreader valve.
2. Put a size 011 o-ring over the end of the machine screw and push it into the opening of the of the inflator hose.
3. Use the non-tapered side of the short collar tube from the Bic pen and slidd it over the machine screw to gently push the o-ring down into place. Use short up and down movements to slowly work the o-ring down into position. The o-ring will sort of snap/pop into place.
4. Remove the pen piece and the machine screw and take a quick look into the end of the inflator to double check that the o-ring is properly seated.

It took me longer to insert the o-ring into the end of the hose than it did to use my homemade tool to properly seat the o-ring in its groove. All in all it took less than a minute to install the o-ring.

The nice thing about using the pen piece is that I was able to reassemble the pen for continued use. I have now added a Bic pen and machine screw to my save-a-dive kit and swapped out the clicker type ball point pen in my dive log for a Bic pen.

I just realized that Bic makes a bunch of different stye pens. Here is a photo of the type I used. The piece I refered to above is the tapered colored collar between the end of the white section and the tan/brown writing tip. the white tube is just a tad too big to fit into the inflator hose end.

-Z

 

[diverintheflesh]

Ha! In all the years I've been servicing regs I never new there was an oring in there! Either I've never had a leak or the cleaning I do when I clean the Schrader valve has been doing the job... I always dunk my regs underwater (under pressure connected to a pony bottle) so that oring gets cleaned after diving, too.

 

[happy-diver]

instead of building a car to drive to your own mailbox
hows about don't lube the Oring and just poke it in there

 

[Zef]

instead of building a car to drive to your own mailbox
hows about don't lube the Oring and just poke it in there

Sure if that works for you...great.

Because this o-ring is recessed deeply in the narrow opening of the QD mechanism some of us find it a pain the arse to fit the new o-ring, lubed or not. I would rather buy or create a tool to help replace the o-ring than stand there for 5-10 minutes trucking around with it...especially since I do my preventive maintenance in the winter and my garage is unheated.

To each their own. Do what works for you, but don't begrudge the rest of us the hacks that make our lives simpler.

-Z

 

[JamesBon92007]

And the next thread will be "Replacing the Oral Inflator O-ring"

 

[JackD342]

Replacing those o-rings is one of my least favorite things to do. I got that Scuba Tools tool, and now it is a breeze 50% of the time, relatively easy maybe 40% of the time, but there is still that 10% or so that don’t cooperate. And on those, I am usually cursing over having the tool now stuck in the QD and working even harder to get it out.
Haven’t yet figured out what the commonality to those is, so I can see ‘em coming.