Sand in 2nd Stage

[Brandon]

I just came back from Hawaii, and was rinsing off my dive gear once more before storing it, and I noticed that my 2nd stage dive/pre-dive lever feels like it has sand or something gritty in it when I move it.

How would I go about getting this out, and preventing it in the future? I rinsed my gear after each dive, and let the reg soak in a tub of water... I thought that would be enough. I also soaked the reg for a couple hours in warm water when I came home.

Thanks a bunch,

-Brandon.

 

[Poseidon8118]

I take mine apart and clean it when I do a shore dive which is most of the time. Sand tends to get into the regulator along the shore because of the turbulent water. Some divers are not comfortable with taking apart their regulators but sometimes there’s no way around it. Flushing the regulator with water may get rid of most of the sand but some grains become trapped and the unit needs to be taken apart.

The only way to prevent this is to stay off the bottom and never do shore dives, but what's the fun in that?

 

[Brandon]

Is this something that needs to be addressed immediately, or can it wait until the next annual? Far as I can tell, it's only in the adjustment knob.

-B.

 

[Poseidon8118]

The sand shouldn't give you much of a problem unless it reaches an o-ring or seat, if it does (you'll know) the regulator will hiss a little while pressurized. I would try to shake it in a bucket of water vigorously while pressurized to loosen all I can, and then rinse it again. If you hear no leaking when your system is pressurized you should be okay until annual service. I would think that Hawaii most likely has some fine particulates in the water due to how volcanic the island is, so you may have diminutive debris which finds more places to hide. I wouldn’t worry to much about it unless you have a second stage leak.

 

[Brandon]

Great, thanks for the advice!

-B.

 

[mania]

The only problem you may have is that sand can get under the membrane that stops water getting into the 2nd stage. It means that if drops of sand block this membrane you can - while breathing - also swollow some water that the regulator would be then providing.
So it's better to unscrew the regulator and rinse it inside.
Mania