Iruka
Contributor
Off topic, I guess, but my bigger problem with dust caps is when they're blown dry at 8 zillion psi for 10 or 15 seconds, causing nearby eardrums to implode, fish to float to the surface, mountains to crumble into dust, etc.
"Dust Caps" and rinsing rant
- Thread starter Jetwrench
- Start date
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Charlie99
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What's even scarier are those people that blast the 1st inlet instead, and then put the dripping dust cap on it.Iruka:
Marek K
Contributor
Well, I was taught to use a little air from my tank to dry off the plug before putting it on. And I still do that. I like the idea of real dry air drying off the plug before it's put on.Iruka:
I've seen respectable opinions both ways... others, probably feeling there's a risk of forcing water droplets into the first stage inlet, feel that drying the plug off with a towel is enough.
In any case, for just the reasons you implied (plus I don't want anyone to think I've got a ruptured disk or blown o-ring or something), I turn the valve very slowly, keep the air at a low rate, and only do it for a couple of seconds.
--Marek
Marek K:
Marek, Try Technika Podwodna. I bought mine "quality" dust caps there (via Jacek of course). OK I'm totally DIN but they may have INT as well. The thing is that DIN are always better as the dust caps have their own o-ring and do pressurise when properly screwed.
Doing that you really have i high chance to force the water drops inside the 1st stage. With the same precautions you take for drying the first stage you should dry the dust cap before putting it on the 1st stage. At least that's what I was taught to do.Marek K:
How about our lunch or just a coffee?
Mania
peter_dorset
Guest
I was told to soak 2nd stage in luke warm water about 25 degrees so that the salt water desolves more easily. It does get more salt out than cold water.
As for soaking I do have DIN regs with screw on caps which I could dunk if I wished but tend to wash attached to a tank.
As for soaking I do have DIN regs with screw on caps which I could dunk if I wished but tend to wash attached to a tank.
Iruka
Contributor
Marek, I have no problem in using air to dry off the dust cap....do it myself.....just a problem when it's painfully loud for people nearby. By the way, just had a couple from Poland by the name of Tomasz & Anna dive with me last week....I think they preferred the warm waters of Guam more than what they described as the cold, dirty lake diving in Poland! They are also from Warsaw, now that I think of it...
Marek K
Contributor
Iruka:
Well, there's obviously a debate about blowing the cap dry. In fact, while I was going through an OWD refresher here last summer while my son was doing his OWD, I blew my cap dry at the pool after one session as a matter of habit. The instructor immediately came up and advised me not to do that... because of the risk to the inlet.
I mean, that was an excellent point... If you do blow it dry, watch the inlet. And do it with some consideration for your fellow divers.
I'm kind of an expat here... with the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. Both parents came to the U.S. from Poland after WWII, though...
I think local Polish divers would agree with you about cold water, though not the dirty part. Low-viz, certainly. I only dive on vacations at the Red Sea. But this country has arguably some of the best wreck divers in the world up in the Baltic. (Right, Mania?)
--Marek
I'm from Warsaw and I tend to disagree. Well, yes it's cold (although during the summer if you dive above the thermocline then it's not bad at all - up to 19 Centigrades). The vis - well - depends but up to 8 meters sometimes or just half a meter. And so many things going on uw.....Iruka:
And as Marek said - the best wreck diving in the world and probably in fact the biggest collection of wrecks - Baltic Sea.
But certainly diving here more difficult than easy warm water dives....
Mania
miketsp
Contributor
Marek K:
I seem to be missing something here. Watch the inlet? Are you talking about the risk of blowing water from the cap to the inlet?
The only thing I used to do sometimes was blow the o-ring out of the cap onto the deck. Now I hold the cap flush with the post, blow slowly (and quietly
) and then slide sideways and off to make sure the o-ring hasn't dislodged and is going to fall out.
Marek K
Contributor
miketsp:
Well, yes, that's the issue, isn't it? The first stage inlet. With the cap normally hanging from the yoke by a short cord, it's going to be close to the inlet and there's a risk of blowing water droplets from the cap into the inlet... unless you're aware and careful.
Unless I misunderstood the concern...
--Marek
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