I just make sure that when soaking the dust cap in on securely and only soak 1 stage at a time. I am also careful to make sure that the stage not soaking is higher than the one that is soaking and never soak them both at the same time.
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Craig66 I do understand what you mean, I fully agree that there should be no reason that the average Joe shouldn't be able to do simple maintenance on their gear, I just wanted to make clear that Tobin wasn't trying to drum up extra business by his advice.
IIRC, in another thread, Tobin, the guy at Deep Sea Supply, strongly recommended against taking apart the valves. Or at least not taking apart the valve in their wings (but also probably not taking apart the valve in most wings).
Tobin did suggest that, but his suggestion isn't rooted in anything more than "Durrr, them stupid end-users always be losing parts or put my precious, perfect little BP&W rigs back together all wrong when they dare unscrew an OPV on their own!" It's very difficult to screw up in either manner, whether with the generic OPVs or the DSS beefier but otherwise identical OPVs, and if you do you should notice it.
As a manufacturer, of course, Tobin has to target his suggestions for what some public school teachers like to call the "lowest common denominator."
My only question, that no one has answered is -- How do I know if my first stage has been compromised by water leaking into it. Just so I know what the signs are. Or is it purely a malfunction under water?
Look at the sintered metal filter on the HP inlet. Salt water contamination will show up as a blue-green coating on it.