First Stage flood ?

[VividOceans]

Hi there,

Is there a way of telling if my first stage has flooded? I've only just had it serviced and I have no knowledge of how it could of happened. I have water inside my pressure gauge that's why I ask.

I can't take it to a service technician as I live on a tiny island far from anywhere.

Thank you in advance.

 

[redacted]

Hi there,

Is there a way of telling if my first stage has flooded? I've only just had it serviced and I have no knowledge of how it could of happened. I have water inside my pressure gauge that's why I ask.

I can't take it to a service technician as I live on a tiny island far from anywhere.

Thank you in advance.

the good news is your first stage is probably fine. The bad news is you will be needing to replace that SPG. When you can see water in your SPG, it comes from a failed SPG case, not the 1st stage. There are a few older SPGs where the face screws on and there is an o-ring seal. If you have one of those, it might be repairable. Otherwise, the SPG is toast.

 

[tbone1004]

what he said. Highly unlikely you had water in the first stage, you would have had a lot more issues than water in your SPG. If enough water made it to where the SPG was visible you wouldn't have screwed up a lot of things in the second stages.... Get a new SPG and you should be good to go. Other good thing is that water in the SPG can't reach the first stage while it is pressurized and is highly unlikely it would have gotten enough back to it when depressurized to be of concern

 

[miketsp]

Well as stated above the water is not from your HP source. If the Bourden tube was leaking the glass would probably have blown out of the gauge. So sea water is getting in to the housing. After a while the inside of the housing will start to corrode, including the dial and the rack and pinion arrangement that turns the pointer. If you're on a tiny island and a replacement will take some time to arrange, if it's not the type that can be opened, as a DIY enthusiast personally I'd probably drill a small hole in the casing being careful not to let the drill bit penetrate inside and I'd fill the casing with glycerin or oil using a syringe to slow down the corrosion. After filling, clean around the hole and put a blob of epoxy adhesive or silicone to seal it. Just bear in mind that response time of the needle to pressure changes will be slower so a partially open tank valve may not be as noticeable when you take your test breaths before jumping in.
The glycerin or oil should not alter the accuracy, many commercial/industrial manometers come filled for use when there is vibration or pressure pulsing.

 

[VividOceans]

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to replace my SPG. But I'd still like to know if i've flooded my first stage. Is there a way of telling? What problems would I encounter?

 

[tbone1004]

have to open the first stage to do it and would obviously be in salt water due to location, so you'd see salt buildup on the internals. If the SPG still works but has water in it, you have a leak in the SPG, if the first stage had water in it, the SPG wouldn't work properly anymore

 

[VividOceans]

Thank you