First Stage question...

[RonFrank]

I made a mistake a few weeks back, and rinsed my 1st stage without the dust cap on.. Dohhh.... Not sure WHAT I was thinking, obviously I was not.

In any event, can someone tell me how easy it is for water to enter the 1st stage? I noticed almost immediately that the dust cap was not in place, and I'm not 100% I even submerged it, but I'm going to assume I did. It's a Zeagle 50D if that makes any difference.

I mentioned this to a sales rep at my LDS, and he acted as if I better get this in ASAP, or the world as we know it may never be the same :11: The techs were gone, and I really don't trust this guys advice as he seems to be all about sales, and he's flat out made up stories during his sales pitches to me, and others (nice guy, but a salesman, nuff said).

I have dived with it two times since the fatal blunder, and it's breathing fine.

I have no issue with taking it in for service, however it only has fifteen dives on it, and I was not going to have it serviced until after the summer dive season, or at least after I'm done salt water diving in FL.

Advice is appreciated, Thanks,

 

[Hyper-limits]

IMO because it was rince in fresh water your regulator will be OK, if the same thing happen in salt water it would be a different story. I have also rinsed my reg many times and realize that I forgot the dust cap after the reg was submerged for over 10 minutes done over 100 dives with the same reg before I got it service and it work really good.
Of course your LDS would love to service the reg for you. Because it is breathing fine don't worry about it.

cheers

Al

 

[scubafanatic]

...if it were me, I'd get it serviced.......I couldn't sleep at night thinking I could be at 100+ ft. deep and experience a reg failure............the money you saved not servicing it will seem foolish if you suffer a 1st stage failure at depth......you're lfe is worth $ 50 !

Karl

 

[RonFrank]

...if it were me, I'd get it serviced.......I couldn't sleep at night thinking I could be at 100+ ft. deep and experience a reg failure............the money you saved not servicing it will seem foolish if you suffer a 1st stage failure at depth......you're lfe is worth $ 50 !

Karl

Hi Karl,

I'm not questioning if my life is worth a reg service. What I am asking, from someone who has in depth knowledge of how 1st stages work, is if leaving the dust cap off and briefly exposing the regulator to fresh water can result in damage that could result in failure.

At this point I'm not sure 1) if water can enter the first stage, 2) if so can it damage the 1st stage to the point it would fail.

If the answer is yes on item 2, then certainly I will take it in for service, but it would be nice to hear from techs who can give me an experienced based answer from a technical perspective rather then just a *is you life worth the cost of service* response.

 

[pdoege]

The water hits the filter where it is slowed down quite a bit. It then enters the HP chamber. The HP seat will be shut, because there isn't enough pressure to open it. So some water may pool there.

Unless you forced water into the reg, or breathed on the 2nd stage while doing the rinse that is all that happened.

I would shake the water out, take the reg inside, into air conditioning, where the air is less humid and let it sit without a cap until it dries. I'd take the hoses off too, just in case some water got past the HP seat.

After a few days hook it up to a tank and purge the 2nd stage. That will blow anything left out of the 2nd stage.

If you take it to a shop they will remove the hoses and blow air through the reg to dry it out and then reassemble. You can probably do that yourself.

In any event, the reg will not fail. However, you may, if you try hard enough, get water into the SPG. If the SPG internals corrode then you will need to buy a new one.

Peter

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

I work part time in a LDS and I to came across a first stage that was sitting in the rinse tub with the dust cap off. I took it right up to the service tech who said not a problem. The regulators are rinsed in water during servicing. He had me just take the regulator, hook it to a tank and purge it, and keep purging for a few minutes after moisture stops coming out.

 

[Poseidon8118]

I work part time in a LDS and I to came across a first stage that was sitting in the rinse tub with the dust cap off. I took it right up to the service tech who said not a problem. The regulators are rinsed in water during servicing. He had me just take the regulator, hook it to a tank and purge it, and keep purging for a few minutes after moisture stops coming out.

Yep...over 20 years of diving and around 15-20 times I had to deal with water in my first stage. Like SCUBAMEDICBILL says "purge it"...the only other thing I can recommend is to take off your SPG or console and install a HP port plug before you purge it. You don't want any water blown into you SPG. Other than that you should be perfectly fine for the rest of the year.

 

[Hyper-limits]

Yep...over 20 years of diving and around 15-20 times I had to deal with water in my first stage. Like SCUBAMEDICBILL says "purge it"...the only other thing I can recommend is to take off your SPG or console and install a HP port plug before you purge it. You don't want any water blown into you SPG. Other than that you should be perfectly fine for the rest of the year.

Very good advise, but because he already used his regulator twice since ringing it without the dust cap. the reg already being purge with the SPG on.

 

[Marek K]

"purge it"...the only other thing I can recommend is to take off your SPG or console and install a HP port plug before you purge it.

This is the first good reason I've ever heard for carrying an HP plug in your save-a-dive kit.

Any reason for carrying an LP plug too?

--Marek

 

[TeddyDiver]

save-a-dive kit.
Any reason for carrying an LP plug too?

--Marek

2nd stage breakdown on holiday on a farawayisland. Continue diving with one 2nd stage and staying in shallow enought to make the surface if....