Black Diamond question

[whitepointer]

Got a question for you all. I have a Black Diamond BCD and i love it, however the last couple of dives i have been having trouble dumping air. I have tried all four dumps and if any air comes out it is very little. On the surface it works just fine, but underwater they do not work so well.

Any suggestions. Thought i would ask here before i take in and have the scuba shop look at it.

Thanks

[miketsp]

Sorry for the silly question, but are you sure you're not just underweighted and while you may think there's still air in the BCD, there actually isn't?

I'd say it's just about impossible for all 4 dump valves to fail simultaneously.

Of course I'm assuming that you're always trying to dump the valve that's at the highest point.
Otherwise nothing will come out anyway.

[whitepointer]

quite possible for the overweighted part. i recently added weight because i was doing headstands while doing my safety stops, so i added two pounds to my eight that i normally dive with. This makes sense because i just started having these issues when i added the weight. i know last night though that i did have air in my BCD because to was cruising along the floor and added some air to keep from hitting the bottom... Next time i go i will take out the weight that i added and see if this stems the problem.
Thanks for the response.

[divesergeant]

Hi Todd,

I think the concern is that you are under-weighted. This would lead you to feeling too light, especially at the end of the dive, thus making it seem that you have air in your BCD. But, you indicate that you just added some weight which makes this seem unlikely.

Try checking your orientation when you pull the dump valves. Perhaps have a buddy watch to be sure you're opening the dump at the highest point.

DS

[scubamarketing]

I dive a black diamond as well and have never had this problem. Aside from the weighting issue, it may be a maintenance issue, although all four at once would be odd. The valves all unscrew and are simple devices, so I'd pop them off and see if maybe there's something obvious there.

[Steve Egner]

The next time you need to dump that last pocket of air, try this:

From a horizontal position, initiate a barrel roll. While you are facing the surface, pull your shoulder dump.

I'm not sure why this works, but it always purges all air remaining in my vest. And yes, it's a Black Diamond... my second one.

Steve

[whitepointer]

Awesome, thanks guys, i really appreciate the advice, i will not be able to try again for about a week now since there is a typhoon bearing down on Okinawa, but as soon as i can get back in the water i will try these things! Thanks again.

[Lee Taylor]

I agree with you Todd. I own one also. Owned, disassembled, and maintenanced other BC's, so the Seaquest is not my first. I have a long history in product design and it immediately struck me as weakness in the "design" area. Your mention of it somewhat confirms my suspicion

The "too little action" and "poor operation" of the dump valves is the very FIRST thing I notice when diving the Black Diamond. My feeling is that it is a not as good from a "design" aspect as it could (or should) be.

The inflator discharge works well so I have chosen to ignore the weak acting dump valves. If it is a design problem their engineering dept will address it.

[whitepointer]

Hey guys thanks for all the input, i really appreciate it! I went diving this weekend and while i was down i did some test on my BCD and it was good and not so good. First the bad. I was down at about thirty feet and put a little air into the BCD and did a headstand and tried as hard as i could pulling on both rear dump valves, but too no avail, nothing, not one single bubble!!! So Steve i tried your barrel role technique and it worked like champ. After i got back to the beach i took both dump valves apart and they seem to be in good working order, not really sure why they will not work for me underwater-strange........

[TipsAndHowTos]

if while diving, you stand vertically, it is much easier for the valves to dump air, if it doesn't, try washing the inside of the BCD's blade with of course, fresh water; if you have questions about this BCD internal washing, I know that topic has threads in this forum already; there may be salt residues blocking the valves.