Regulator Soaking Question?????

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MikeSakamoto

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I tried reading through some gear cleaning thread, but I still have some specific questions about regulator care.

1) When soaking the reg, I know it's good to keep it pressurized but that's not practical for me. As long as I don't press the purge on 2nd stage, water shouldn't get into the 1st stage, right?

2) How about the inflator hose attached to 1st stage? If I dunk the hole assembly, can water enter 1st stage from the inflator hose?
 
I keep mine pressurized if I am going to let water flow through the mouth piece and out of the exhaust valve. I keep it hooked up the my tank which sits outside the 40gal trash can, which I customized with a drain and fill port to make it my very own dunk tank, and let the rest of the reg, console, and lp inflator rest in the water. I sometimes do it without the tank hooked up and too me I see no difference like you said as long as you dont purge it. As for the Inflator hose most connectors that are quick disconnect are spriong loaded and are built so that as long as the pressure dosent exceed a minimal amount it should be fine. Hope this helps.
 
If you submerge the first stage and it is not pressurized you will very likely get water into the first stage. There are a couple of model specific exceptions... What about giving the first stage a good rinse while under pressure and then just soak the second stages?
 
Soaking the second stages can also get water in the first, depending on the specific second stage. For instance, Atomic seconds when unpressurized allow flow to the first stage.
 
I have been soaking my regulators: scuba pro,and oceanic and sherwood first, second stage, inflator hose and console completely in a bucket of water over night for around 8 yrs now. On multi-day trip I don't even rinse the regs until the trip is over. I do not get annual service on my regs but watch them carefully and monitor the intermediate pressure every 30-40 dives. I have not had corrosion or other unusual problems with my regulators and get them serviced once every 1.5 to around 3 yrs when they need it. Soaking seems to work well for me.

I'm sure it would be better to soak the regulator while pressurized and attached to a tank, but that is a pain to do and I don't do it. If you are really anal about it, I think it would be good practice to hook the reg up after the soaking and blow out any little bit of freshwater which might have seeped in. I even do that once in a while. Obviously good (rubber) dust caps are needed.
 
My repair guy (SP/ 30 years) told me to blast it with my hose at the dock in the mouth peice. He did not mention keeping it attached to the tank. he did say if I soaked it not to do so in a very deep bucket, to use a shallow one.

Just to confuse the issue.
 
I follow the owners manual, can keep it under pressure and let it air dry out of the sun
 
I have been told to keep pressure in the rig when soaking the second stage. Also, most first stages have "dust caps" not water proof seals and therefore should not be soaked unless they have pressure.

But I do have a question and it applies to regs and other gear...Is there a product or household item that is recommended to add during soaking to help disolve the salt build-up without damaging the gear? Like vinegar??? Does soap actually help break it up?

Jon
 
I don't think vinegar or soap will help with the salt breakup. I would soak it in just water. If you want to speed up the process - use warm water instead of cold water. Also - go purchase a cheap aquarium powerhead to help stir the water.

Minh
 
like i said, I believe that if you dont put it deep and dont move it too much then I feel thats good enough for me if I am not going to hook my tank up to it. Otherwise Just pressurize it and go for it.
 

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