Soaking the Regulator

[scubafanatic]

...so it sounds like, in theory, it's OK to soak an 'unpressurized' Sherwood...if you are 100% sure your bleeder is in mint condition...otherwise it's probably not a good idea...so I'd say, on balance, better safe than sorry and not soak an unpressurized Sherwood 1st stage...as the consequences of corrosion/reg failure could be disasterous.

Karl

 

[John C. Ratliff]

...so it sounds like, in theory, it's OK to soak an 'unpressurized' Sherwood...if you are 100% sure your bleeder is in mint condition...otherwise it's probably not a good idea...so I'd say, on balance, better safe than sorry and not soak an unpressurized Sherwood 1st stage...as the consequences of corrosion/reg failure could be disasterous.

Karl

Karl,

This is not quite right. I have owned a Sherwood Blizzard for many years. The "bleeder" is a way Sherwood has to keep water away from the main spring in the piston first stage. Normally, regulators like ScubaPro and others have the spring exposed to ambient water. At cold temperatures, this can lead to freeze-up situations. The bleeder allows a slightly above ambient pressurization of the first stage, and it remains in an "air" environment, rather than a "water" environment.

If the bleeder gets salt crystals under it, as the earlier post discusses, it can allow salt water into the chamber. This is normal for other regulators, but rinsing would clear the salt water out. But if salt water gets into this chamber in the Sherwood regulators, it cannot get out. This is what leads to the corrosion stated above. The way to ensure this does not happen is to periodically remove the first stage cap (the outer portion of the first stage, opposite the yolk) and make sure it is clean in the ambient chamber. Normally, the diver would not do this without training in regulator maintenance, but this would also happen when it goes in for an annual cleaning.

Prevention of this situation actually would be giving the regulator first stage a good "soak" in warm, fresh water (just be sure that the "dust cap" has an O-ring, and is in place). This would ensure that the salt water was removed from the exterior of the regulator, and no crystals could form under the "bleeder" valve. It will not do any harm to the Sherwood first stage, and is a very good preventative maintenance procedure after diving in salt water.

SeaRat

 

[rescuediver009]

Karl,

This is not quite right... It will not do any harm to the Sherwood first stage, and is a very good preventative maintenance procedure after diving in salt water.

SeaRat

thanks for your help john. Thats exactly what I was talking about. ...

 

[scubapro50]

get to you nearest shop and have them take it apart and clean it ..... you may not have trouble with it today or tomarrow but one day in the future it could crater on you durning a dive ..... payment for regulartor service is a lot cheaper than a casket ... and next time be more careful .....

 

[redacted]

get to you nearest shop and have them take it apart and clean it ..... you may not have trouble with it today or tomarrow but one day in the future it could crater on you durning a dive ..... payment for regulartor service is a lot cheaper than a casket ... and next time be more careful .....

What would be the failure mode of a Mk25/S600 caused by letting FW enter the HP chamber while soaking that subsequently could be expected to result in a catastrophic failure and casket shopping?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

What would be the failure mode of a Mk25/S600 caused by letting FW enter the HP chamber while soaking that subsequently could be expected to result in a catastrophic failure and casket shopping?

There are a couple of potential issues that could eventually result in failure.

Christolube 111 is used for dynamic o-rings and is not water soluable but neither is it terribly water tolerant. So exposure to a significant amount of water in the first stage can potentially degrade the HP o-ring lubrication.

The other issue would be the quality of the "fresh" water in which the reg was soaked. If the dunk tank is actually clean and the water in it is actually fresh and salt free, there is not much of an issue. It is far more common however for salt to dry on the sides of the tank so that even when fresh water is added, it is not entirely fresh and if regs have been in and out of it all day, it is potentially far from fresh. That can potentially introduce salt crystals into the reg which can affect both the HP o-ring and the HP seat.

But, that said the failure mode will be more of a slow leak in the HP o-ring that will get worse over time and with proper care and pre-dive checks will (probably) get noticed before it gets huge.

A failure in the HP seat will get noticed as a slight freeflow several seconds to several minutes after the reg is pressurized (but not used) to eventually a slight freeflow during the dive that gets progressively worse over several dives.

Neither is catastropic in itself but both can also increase the cooling of the reg and increase the potential for a catostrophic "freeze" flow in cold water.

Not exactly something that leads to casket buying, but still something that should be avoided. I personally don't believe in skimping on the maintenence of my life support equipment. In fact, being a frequent solo diver, I can get down right obsessive about it.