wet breathe reasons?

[halocline]

The thing is, if the reg holds vacuum, it can't be a leaky diaphragm or mouthpiece or o-ring. It can only be an exhaust valve that lets water in while air is exiting. He said his reg was holding vacuum, so.....

The other thing that might be happening is that maybe the reg does not totally hold vacuum; it can be a little hard to tell sucking on the mouthpiece with the 1st stage plugged whether ANY air is leaking or not. Side exhaust regs are notorious for being slightly wet breathing; that's the trade-off for the case geometry advantage of side exhaust.

 

[Couv]

All true about the vacuum test but think of it this way. When you do a vacuum test, you are usually holding the regulator in one hand and removing the stress off the mouth to mouthpiece seal. In the water things are a bit different. If there is just a little tension from the hose or the weight of the second stage, the seal between the mouthpiece and lips could be less than perfect. This is probably a moot point because the OP said the regulator is a showerhead style, and as Matt and others have pointed out, second stages of that design are known to be wet breathers.

I used to sell a regulator (Italian made GSD) that breathed wet all the time until you went upside down. The exhaust valve was located above the diaphragm just under your nose pocket.

Couv

 

[Solly]

Guys, I just came back from a diving trip, I passed by the Poseidon authorized service center and had a good chat with the guy, he gave my reg a visual inspection, he even checked the inside of the second stage and it was all ok. His only remark was that the parts are loose and should not be that easy to disconnect the reg set (connection of the hoses to the first stage and the second stage)
He said true one shouldn't be harsh on screwing them together but a tool has to be used to make sure they are properly firm together and he showed me how to do it (of course I assembled my reg by myself without a tool... my first reg, my first mistake !!!) .... this was before my first dive.. then after 2 days of diving I was all ok and none of the salt water taste appeared while breathing and I didn't get any fever or bone aches....
I tried upside down and in every position and it was all ok... just 2 little comments, I noticed that sometimes water can sip over my upper lip when the reg is not resting well in my mouth, I can avoid that by a new more comfortable mouthpiece or just taking care which is what I decided to do... the other point is that getting from deep to shallow (25m up to 12-15m) with the tank tending to be about 60-70 bars I can feel minor trace of salt... this can be due to the first point I mentioned about the orientation of mouthpiece or something else but anyway it was for a moment and it was all ok afterward....
One final note, I had wet mouth all over the dives, not salt water just normal water which I think due to condensation of water vapor from the air in the tank due to the reg design (please correct me if I am wrong) but anyway this was a very good feeling not to have a dry mouth.

sorry for the long post but I thought to share with you the good news... once I have some photos from my trip I will post the link...