Why am i wet?

[Instructor_Tom]

i need some help figuring out why I'm getting out wet the last couple of dives when I'm diving dry.

so I'm diving in Ginnie and Peacock springs and was having some problems with too much air in my suit and floaty feet on penetration in a head down orientation. on advise from my instructor i started diving with my purge open and just letting the suite crush in hard. Up until this point i was always dry.

It fixed the floaty feet and now i no longer fear a feet up orientation, but i started ending my dives to find myself moist, not dripping wet like from a seal failure; but moist on anything that touches my drysuit.

for info, I'm diving a Bare Next Gen bi-laminate dry suite with either a 4th element Arctic or Xerotherm undergarment.

Is the purge valve leaking due to back pressure? Could i have a pin hole leak? I did a pressure test filling the suit with air and it seem to hold just fine. Could it condensation?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Tom.

 

[Diver0001]

IIRC the Bare Nex Gen is a bilaminate suit that isn't overly robust. The shop where I used to work had them in the rental stock. They got a lot of wear and a lot of abuse but they were also constantly full of small leaks. The si-tech valves are very good and unlikely to be the source of the leak even with a fair amount of squeeze.

Do you have any impression at all where the the water could be coming from?

One thing that could help to identify where it's leaking (doesn't always work but it's a good trick I learned from a friend) is to put on a grey t-shirt over your undergarment. The grey shirt gets a lot darker where it gets wet and you can easily narrow down where it's coming from.

Of course you can go through the whole filling it up with air and spraying it with soapy water thing but if the leak is very small it may take several attempts to find it.

How warm is the water where yuo're diving, btw? Is it possible that the moisture you're seeing is sweat or is the water too cold for that?

R..

 

[victorzamora]

One thing: If you're diving with too much squeeze, the suit could actually be sucking water in to try to equalize.

 

[TSandM]

I have also found that, as the SiTech valves age, you can't keep them completely open unless you want to get wet. If it seems as though the water is coming in through the dump valve, you may need to close it two clicks or so -- it still allows easy dumping, but seems to foil the leak. I think the spring that holds the exhaust diaphragm closed ages and becomes less flexible with time.

 

[Dive-aholic]

How long have you been diving dry? Has there been a change in water and/or air temperature? Are you just moist throughout the suit or overly wet in any particular area?

 

[Instructor_Tom]

I have also found that, as the SiTech valves age, you can't keep them completely open unless you want to get wet. If it seems as though the water is coming in through the dump valve, you may need to close it two clicks or so -- it still allows easy dumping, but seems to foil the leak. I think the spring that holds the exhaust diaphragm closed ages and becomes less flexible with time.

I'm thinking you might be on to the cause, as I've only been wet since diving with the valve open. I used to close it all the way until i needed to vent on an ascent. Ill give this a shot on my next dive and see it i can stay dry.

I never had a problem until i started diving with the vent open. If i stIll get wet them i must have a pin hole somewhere.



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