Drysuit Leak or Sweat?

[garyh]

Whoever made up the name "Drysuit" lied .
Depends on the person, some are warm by nature some cold. I'm warm by nature, suiting up I get HOT and sweat. Even up here in Ontario by the time I got in the water my feet and legs were drenched. I also do a lot of cave in MX, when there I was soaked from the waist down after every dive.
Have had my suit check multiple times both by myself and by professionals, no leeks.
My solution, used to dive with C400 booties, switched to C200 still had the same problem, eventually just started using regular wool socks, end of problem for the most part.
Worked so well I sent my suit in and had the boots downsized so they wouldn't be to big with the regular socks.
If you are pressure testing your own suit make sure you turn it inside out for the test, you will get much better results.

 

[Dubious]

Well, I think I may have found the problem. I turned the suit inside out to dry the inside and saw this. The seller had told me the neck seal was replaced. Is this just a bad glue job?

 

[davehicks]

Well, I think I may have found the problem. I turned the suit inside out to dry the inside and saw this. The seller had told me the neck seal was replaced. Is this just a bad glue job?

View attachment 596260

View attachment 596261

Really Bad! Do you have a shop who can install a new seal? I'd just start over and have them pressure test it too. I don't think I'd trust that suit at this point.

 

[Dubious]

Really Bad! Do you have a shop who can install a new seal?

I do. I will drop it off when I drop my tanks off for fills.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

Is a rolled neck seal leak slow enough where I wouldn't notice it? It is really hard for me to check my neck seal with the fixed dry gloves. My wife did check my kneck seal but maybe it was still rolled. My bottoms seemed to be wetter than the top unless the garments just wicked it downwards, especially when we were sitting at the surface waiting for the other diver.

It depends on the severity of the roll and how much negative space there is for water to intrude.

However, I'm glad to see that you've found the problem and it should be a simple repair.

 

[Dubious]

So I just heard back from the shop and they identified the dump valve as the problem. I was told the drysuit would need to go back to DUI.

$107 valve and labor
$125 DUI fee
+ shipping

Thoughts? I am curious if I can get through the season slightly wet and send it in over the winter?

 

[divezonescuba]

Many dump valves can be serviced or completely removed and replaced by the user or diveshop. There are a lot of YouTube videos on this subject. Diveshops who are not versed on drysuits find it easier to send out and just have the customer pay for it.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

So I just heard back from the shop and they identified the dump valve as the problem. I was told the drysuit would need to go back to DUI.

$107 valve and labor
$125 DUI fee
+ shipping

Thoughts? I am curious if I can get through the season slightly wet and send it in over the winter?

Make a couple of calls to drysuit servicing specialists to see what they can offer in terms of turnaround and cost. Given that the neck seal looked like it had been repaired poorly before, I'm a little suspicious of the claim that it has to be the dump valve (but this doesn't exclude that both could be an issue).

 

[Dubious]

'm a little suspicious of the claim that it has to be the dump valve

They took care of the neck seal and pressure tested the suit. The shop said it was during the pressure test they determined the valve was bad. They saw no other issues. I asked why they couldn't change out the valve in-store at which they said because of how it is glued in (?). I can't remember the exact shop jargon that was used. This suit is an old DUI cf300 if that means anything.

 

[emoreira]

Whoever made up the name "Drysuit" lied .
Depends on the person, some are warm by nature some cold. I'm warm by nature, suiting up I get HOT and sweat. Even up here in Ontario by the time I got in the water my feet and legs were drenched. I also do a lot of cave in MX, when there I was soaked from the waist down after every dive.
Have had my suit check multiple times both by myself and by professionals, no leeks.
My solution, used to dive with C400 booties, switched to C200 still had the same problem, eventually just started using regular wool socks, end of problem for the most part.
Worked so well I sent my suit in and had the boots downsized so they wouldn't be to big with the regular socks.
If you are pressure testing your own suit make sure you turn it inside out for the test, you will get much better results.

My first drysuit dive was in waters around 8 °C (47 °F) and the outside temperature was around 5 °C (41 °F). It was a rented DS but was in perfect condition and fit. I remember only the damp circles around the exhaust and inflator valves. My last DS dive was a few months ago, with my own DS (Diving Concepts Z neo compressed neoprene). Water temp was 11 °C (52 °F) but outside temperature was near 28 °C (83 °F), so in the inside with my thinsulate undergarments (also Diving Concepts) I was well wet with my own perspiration. I did several pressure testing with soapy water and I found no leak. The DS remained inflated for several hours without any noticeable leak of inflation. I should, however, try the inside-out test, but if there was no leak, why repeat inside out ?
Somewhere I read in a presentation, that in normal conditions (cold water - cold weather) up to a glass of water is the amount of water that we could find after a dive inside the DS with no leaks. The combination of cold water - hot weather is the one that will make you perspire the most and a greater condensation. We must remember that the external water cannot come in, so the internal water cannot go out.