Silly rinsing mistake. Now what?

[NYCrecdiver]

Best practice is to take off the SPG hose, and then blow air through it through the first stage. Otherwise, you risk pushing water into the SPG.

I disconnected my SPG and there were indeed some small water droplets on the spool. Used scuba tank and air nozzle to blow air inside spg and through hose.
Also removed and opened my swift transmitter. Had to put in new battery anyways. No visible water. Will leave it out of its housing and let it air dry for a week.
Thanks for advising on this! I wouldn't have thought to do what I did just now.

 

[Geo7]

The spool always has some drops around it. Very hard to diagnose if water got into the SPG. I'd take it off, and put ot on a warm surface like a heater, and watch if the front glass collects interior condensation. (edit: scratch that, see below).

If water gets in the 2nd stage, one connects the reg to the tank to blow it out. If water gets into the 1st stage, don't connect it to a tank to blow it further in. Tursiops' advice earlier to blow it out after removing the SPG is spot on.

If freshwater gets in, you are lucky. A few drops you can just let evaporate. Saltwater is a concern though and might need service to prevent corrosion that shortens the regs life. A green sinterfilter could be a sign of salt water.

Good thread, this happens to many divers.

 

[Gone for diving]

I'd take it off, and put ot on a warm surface like a heater, and watch if the front glass collects interior condensation.

Why would there be condensation in side the front glass?

The bourdon tube only sees pressure and is capped off.


In general it's fine blow everything out and dry the spg for a bit, assemble and test, if it doesn't leak or act strange. Go diving

​

 

[Geo7]

Why would there be condensation in side the front glass?

The bourdon tube only sees pressure and is capped off.


In general it's fine blow everything out and dry the spg for a bit, assemble and test, if it doesn't leak or act strange. Go diving

​

You are correct! Too sleepy this morning...

Yup, keep it warm to allow it to dry, and as the post above says.

 

[tursiops]

Why would there be condensation in side the front glass?

The bourdon tube only sees pressure and is capped off.


In general it's fine blow everything out and dry the spg for a bit, assemble and test, if it doesn't leak or act strange. Go diving

​

Not all SPGs are Bourdon tubes.

 

[L13]

Not all SPGs are Bourdon tubes.

But all SPGs have the pressure side isolated from the glass.

 

[Gone for diving]

Haven't cut open very many spg gauges, but I think most are using this style...

Do you know of any that are diagrams? Brands?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Just remember in the future if this happens again, the best thing to do BEFORE hooking your reg up and forcing water into every orifice it’s not supposed to be in, pull all the hoses off and remove all the plugs from any unused ports off the first stage including the HP ports and then hook it up to a tank and SLOWLY open the valve and let it run for as long as you think it takes to blow out any water out of the first stage and dry it out. Chances are pretty nil that by hitting it with the hose water went into the LP or HP hoses all the way through the workings of the first stage. But as soon as you hooked it up and pressurized it you made sure water went into all the hoses. Lesson learned.
Best way to rinse a reg set is to leave it hooked up to a tank pressurized and soak it. Pull the tank out of the soak tub with the reg still on and pressurized and let it fully dry. Then shut the valve off and purge out the remaining air out if both second stages.

 

[Geo7]

Great thread. I think we covered what to do with a little freshwater ingress.

We have to dinstinguish considerable saltwater ingress, like throwing it in the dirty rinse bin with no cap on. The easy answer is get it serviced immediately to avoid interior corrosion. I can't think of an alternative solution, but perhaps others have ideas?

 

[rsingler]

Dunk it in fresh water with all the ports open. Let it sit until you're sure it's flooded. Empty it from the LP side with an air gun applied to a LP port (remember - first stage valves are normally open when unpressurized). I'd do this first with a diaphragm reg, because pressurization of a fully flooded diaphragm can lock up. With a piston, starting from the LP side probably doesn't matter. But you want to empty the Intermediate Pressure chamber of a diaphragm reg before attaching to high pressure.
Then attach to a tank and dry the mechanism fully by wasting 1/4 tank of air.

Maybe repeat if you had any discoloration on a cloth placed in front of a LP port.

Keep an eye on IP in the months to come.

This is off the top of my head, since I'd be more inclined to disassemble the reg. But have I forgotten a key point that makes this a stupid idea?