Water in First Stage

[mahjong]

Today I accidentally soaked my MK10 piston first-stage in warm fresh water after a dive "without" installing the rubber yoke inlet plug. In other words, I flooded the entire first stage. What are the implications of this? Is there anything in particular I should do in response?

 

[supergaijin]

Connect asap to a tank and blow the water out.
If you can get hold of a low pressure air gun (less than 30 psi), take off all hoses and blow clean tank air through the first stage.

Before diving with it again, check the filter on the first stage and look for discolouration.

 

[Fishpie]

Not a problem.....attach to tank and purge both 2nd stages vigorously.

 

[herman]

I agree EXCEPT remove the HP hose and gauge, plug the HP port and start slowly. You don't want to get water in the SPG, if you do, it's hard to get it out. Fresh water will not hurt the rest of the reg and you can flush it out by holding the purge valves open and SLOWLY opening the tank valve. What you don't want to do is to quickly open the tank valve. Open it slowly while holding a purge valves open. You want to go gently at first, throttling the tank valve until you as sure that most of the water is out. This keeps you from sending a high speed slug of water down a hose and possibly doing damage to the second stage. Once you have the initial water out of the reg and hoses, then open the tank valve and purge hard for several seconds. When you have all the water out, reattach the hp hose, slowly purge it and finally reinstall the SPG. It's more work but IMO worth it to keep from introducing water into the SPG. I would also suggest you get an IP gauge and keep an eye on the IP....which you really should do as part of a pretrip check anyway. All the above is for clean, fresh water. If you introduce salt water or communal rinse tank water, I would suggest a rebuild as soon as possible. Fresh water is not a problem, residual salt is.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Make sure you take the spg off. Or.figure on replacing it. Water in spg not good.

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[herbdb]

Jim, here is a question you might be able to answer for me. Most of my regs are "enviormentally sealed". This is supposed to keep water out of the first stage. Does this protect them from damage if they are accidentally immersed without the cap installed?

Can water get in the hoses and downstream second stages/guages?

Thanks. Herb

 

[Jim Lapenta]

No it does not. It only keeps water, silt, mud, etc out of the first stage when it is on a tank and pressurized. The inlet is the route for air to get in. If air will get in water will get in. Oceanic and Aqualung have their own versions of technology that is supposed to keep water out in the event of an accidental dunk or splash. The key is accidental. Hit either with a hose directly and you will get water in there. Drop them in more than say 18-24 inches of water and the pressure will overcome the little spring. Leave em soak for any length of time and I would not count on no water being in there. I personally try to soak regs only if on a tank. I have 6 & 19 cu ft bottles at home for this. If traveling I make sure the dust cap is on if not on a tank and do not use the rinse tank. I take to the room and they get rinsed in the shower with me. I also do not like using a tank to dry the dust cap. It is the way I was taught but if you get lazy you can end up blowing water in the first stage. At least with yoke regs that have the cap fastened to them. Plus it's really annoying. With DIN regs no big deal.since the caps never get wet. I use a towel or my shirt to dry the dust cap.before installing in.
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[fdog]

One of those gems that was passed on to me in the 70's, and still applicable today:

Only put you regulator in water if it's pressurized from a tank.


...It's amazing how much this extends the lifespan of your regulator. It's also amazing how many people don't do this.


All the best, James

 

[supergaijin]

Drop them in more than say 18-24 inches of water and the pressure will overcome the little spring.

Is a couple of feet really enough to overcome the spring force? Most rinse tanks are less than one meter deep and that's only 0.1 ata difference.

 

[tfsails]

The DVT plugs on Oceanic and Aeris regs and whatever Aqualung calls their plugs are designed to keep the wayward splash of water from entering the reg. They are not designed to be a substitute for the dust cap. A properly installed dust cap on a yoke reg is sufficient for soaking in the rinse tank. My reg is a DIN and I have an aftermarket screw-on cover for it. That cover is not sufficient for a soak in a rinse tank, so I install the DIN-yoke adapter and use the dust cover on it to keep the reg dry.

Accidental immersion in fresh water can be mitigated by running tank air through it as quickly as possible, removing the SPG first. If you immerse your first stage in salt water, you need to get it serviced immediately to prevent serious internal corrosion.