SiTech dump valve not dumping effectively (White's Fusion)

[undrwater]

Been diving this suit for a while, so know what to expect.

Last night I noticed immediately upon decent that the suit was not squeezing me as usual. When ascending, I had to hit the dump valve to get sufficient exhaust not to balloon out of control.

Today I plugged up the seals and pumped it up michellan man style, and yes, it does dump, but rather slowly. I removed the cap, screwed out the innards, cleaned it all up, then replace all, but still the same problem.

I discovered that if i unscrew the innards then screw them back in before replacing the cap the valve will dump correctly. If I replace the cap without screwing it down closed, it will dump correctly. However, if I replace the cap, screw it down, then screw it back open, it is dumping slowly again.

I'm hoping someone understands what I'm talking about. My theory is that the distance between the valve flaps and the piston has become shortened somehow. Does this warrant a full removal of the valve do you think?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!



Intended to add that before the problem occurred I spent some quality time with beach sand.

---------- Post added May 4th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ----------

Any ideas?

 

[undrwater]

An update: Removing the whole assembly and clearing everything out seemed to fix it. Not sure why, but it did.

 

[Randy43068]

Maybe don't fart in your suit anymore.