Is Whites Treating Me Right... Or Not???

[lorien]

The VP, Paul-Andre called me today and they are going to pay for the new zipper. The white rubber inlay of a bear in the knee pads has been coming off also, and he said that they would replace the knee pads as well. I told him, I don't care about the knee pads and not to bother, but he pretty much insisted. So they're covering everything, including shipping.
Another thing that concerned me is what he said about the condition of the zipper. He said it was dry and brittle and looked as if it had not been maintained/lubed properly. He proceeded to give me a polite lecture on the care and maintenance of the dry suit zipper. My issue is that I have waxed this zipper (with the wax they recommend) before every dive with utmost care - just like I have my old DUI and OS Systems, which are fine.
This is the only thing I can think of: I built a gear storage/cleaning room (insulated) in my garage, and I keep it heated at 52F with an electric space heater. I know that these heaters are very dry and suck the moisture out of the air. Could this have effected the zipper condition?? Could this be effecting the rest of my gear??

I am really gald to hear that they took care of this problem for you. Paul measured me for my new suit at the Expo on Sat and on the advice of my LDS I went ahead & had him order it for me. I agree, your LDS should have really gone to bat for you here. Maybe check into some other shops for future transaction?
On another note and perhaps those with more experieince can help my memory. When I took my dry suit class like a year ago, I clearly recall my instructor telling us that one of the worst places you can store your dry suit is in the garage due to.......fumes??? Ozone??? can't recall what it is that is the problem but I do remember he said that it would cause things to break down faster. Not sure if this has anything to do with your zipper and/or the knee pads but the fact that you store it in an area of the garage did catch my interest. Anyone have any feelings on that?

 

[wedivebc]

I clearly recall my instructor telling us that one of the worst places you can store your dry suit is in the garage due to.......fumes??? Ozone??? can't recall what it is that is the problem but I do remember he said that it would cause things to break down faster. Not sure if this has anything to do with your zipper and/or the knee pads but the fact that you store it in an area of the garage did catch my interest. Anyone have any feelings on that?

I was told that as well by an employee of Whites. He said the ozone can break down the latex seals.
Ozone is released when an electrical arc is formed in an electric motor but I am sceptical that many homes would be producing any appreciable amount of ozone to cause damage.
I feel that many manufacturers have standard cop-out excuses as to why their product fails and that seems to be Whites. If there is some science behind this I would like to hear about it.
It seems more likely that oil vapor and exhaust fumes will cause damage but so will sunlight and exposure to salt water.

 

[Hyper-limits]

I feel that many manufacturers have standard cop-out excuses as to why their product fails and that seems to be Whites. If there is some science behind this I would like to hear about it.
It seems more likely that oil vapor and exhaust fumes will cause damage but so will sunlight and exposure to salt water.

Hi Dave

I don't know if this is a Whites excuses but this is from Viking diving suits technical manual:
1) Avoid all unecessary exposure to sunlight, fluorescent lights, electric motors and heaters.
2) Latex parts which have been exposed to perspiration and skin oils should be washed with soap and water. When dry , apply pure talcum powder or corn starch to the latex parts.

Cheers

Al

 

[Rick Inman]

I was told that as well by an employee of Whites. He said the ozone can break down the latex seals.
Ozone is released when an electrical arc is formed in an electric motor but I am sceptical that many homes would be producing any appreciable amount of ozone to cause damage.
I feel that many manufacturers have standard cop-out excuses as to why their product fails and that seems to be Whites. If there is some science behind this I would like to hear about it.
It seems more likely that oil vapor and exhaust fumes will cause damage but so will sunlight and exposure to salt water.

My gear is in a completely enclosed and insulated room I built within the garage. I can't believe ozone would be a factor.

 

[ZAquaman]

I let a girlfriend use my dry top that I use for white water kayaking. It has neck and wrist seals just like a dry suit. Anyway, her sunscreen or lotion or whatever she had on her skin totally melted the gaskets! I rinsed and powdered the gaskets as usual, but I didn't wash with soapy water... two weeks later the gaskets were a sticky mess and totally toasted dude!

 

[redacted]

But he still blamed me, said they normally wouldn't cover the zipper, but that he was being a "nice guy".

So, in the end he managed to "seize the high ground" just so he could crap in his slittrench! There ought to be a place high up in government for him. I'm afraid I have seen managers at the Dollar Store do a better job of standing behind their products.

 

[Shasta_man]

You tell'em, DI!

So, in the end he managed to "seize the high ground" just so he could crap in his slittrench! There ought to be a place high up in government for him. I'm afraid I have seen managers at the Dollar Store do a better job of standing behind their products.

 

[Rick Inman]

UPDATE:

The whites rep just called my LDS and reported that (after replacing the zipper) they did a leak check and said that most of the seams were bad. Huh? :11: They said it should have never left the factory and wondered why I wasn't soaked.
Bottom line, they are sending out a brand new suit.

Also, my LDS read this thread at my suggestion, and have been treating me like gold ever since. For example, went to pick up my two nitrox fills, and they were free.
Thanks, ScubaBoard!!!

 

[Wijbrandus]

Sounds like White's came through in the end. Glad it worked out well for you, with only a little pain on the way.

 

[Hyper-limits]

UPDATE:

The whites rep just called my LDS and reported that (after replacing the zipper) they did a leak check and said that most of the seams were bad. Huh? :11: They said it should have never left the factory and wondered why I wasn't soaked.
Bottom line, they are sending out a brand new suit.

Also, my LDS read this thread at my suggestion, and have been treating me like gold ever since. For example, went to pick up my two nitrox fills, and they were free.
Thanks, ScubaBoard!!!

It funny how a little bit of negative publicity get the ball rolling. I'm glad White's is replacing your suit for you.