underwater reg servicing

[wedivebc]

I used to think anyone who believed it was important to choose a reg that was easy to disassemble underwater was nuts... Until yesterday.
I was doing a mild deco dive with a student and upon ascent went to switch to my 50% mix. Signal switch, first breath, signal OK. Second breath kinda slurpee. Third breath pure salt water DOH! So I switch to back gas and my student who is controlling the deco for this dive goes to bailout plan. It is going to be an extra 20min of deco double DOH!. I pull the box top off my aqualung XLC deco reg and find a leaf stuck in the exhaust valve. My big fat gloved finger is too big to reach in so I find an appropriately sized/shaped shell on the bottom to act as a reg repair tool. Pull the leaf out, replace the cover and guess what, nice dry breathing nitrox, never tasted so good. Repair took 5 min since both our computers showed higher ceiling than deco plan reverted to original plan and finished the dive unscathed.
Lesson learned? Use a reg that you can disassemble underwater for deco. I think I will go loosen off my reg hose nuts as well

 

[jonnythan]

I've had to do this twice already.

One time I used a reg to inflate a bottle and got some silt in it. I popped the front off to clean it out.

Second time I had some gunk stuck in the exhaust valve as I was just about to go under during a class. Popped the front off, cleaned out the debris from the inside, and off we went.

Very, very handy if you ask me

 

[Rick Inman]

I've never practiced this in the water. Maybe on my next safety stop...

 

[Diver0001]

I used to think anyone who believed it was important to choose a reg that was easy to disassemble underwater was nuts... Until yesterday.
I was doing a mild deco dive with a student and upon ascent went to switch to my 50% mix. Signal switch, first breath, signal OK. Second breath kinda slurpee. Third breath pure salt water DOH! So I switch to back gas and my student who is controlling the deco for this dive goes to bailout plan. It is going to be an extra 20min of deco double DOH!. I pull the box top off my aqualung XLC deco reg and find a leaf stuck in the exhaust valve. My big fat gloved finger is too big to reach in so I find an appropriately sized/shaped shell on the bottom to act as a reg repair tool. Pull the leaf out, replace the cover and guess what, nice dry breathing nitrox, never tasted so good. Repair took 5 min since both our computers showed higher ceiling than deco plan reverted to original plan and finished the dive unscathed.
Lesson learned? Use a reg that you can disassemble underwater for deco. I think I will go loosen off my reg hose nuts as well

Just out of curiosity, did you try plugging the mouthpiece with your thumb and purging the reg to blow the debris out of the exhaust valve? It probably won't always work but it's worth a try.

R..

 

[wedivebc]

Just out of curiosity, did you try plugging the mouthpiece with your thumb and purging the reg to blow the debris out of the exhaust valve? It probably won't always work but it's worth a try.

R..

Didn't try that but I could see it working. In this case though the leaf had to go out the way it went in.