PT-015 & condensation

[fins]

Hi Fins,
We used to run into problems here in the Great Lakes when we would take our video housing from 95' F w/80% humidity on the boat, load it and close it. Then drop down to 37'F water at the bottom. The inside of the housing would fog terribly. I have tried the dessicant w/little to no luck under the same conditions. What I did find that works well was to purge the housing w/the very dry gas from our cylinders. Right before locking down the housing, place a second stage next to the back hatch of the housing and purge for about 30 seconds. Make sure that you have NO water in the second stage as that would be sprayed into the housing and make this pointless. Use a nice dry second stage and purge it for about 20 to 30 seconds before purging the housing. Then purge the housing and lock it down. This cured our condensation problem and costs nothing.

brandon

Thanks Brandon,

Gotta love those free solutions. Now at the rate I suck air down I'll just have to find someone else's tank to do this from

Mark

 

[Lat. Adjustment]

The dessicant packs can be dried out, here at work (US Navy) we use a lot of them, we have a large steel box with a 100 watt bulb in it always on where we store the new and recycled ones along with moisture meters, a small card that changes color, hopefully that will warn me before I have a flood. An oven with a pilot light should work too.

 

[Divemonkey]

I haven't tried rejuvenating the Oly ones, but I plan to at some point. I bought some smaller dessicant packs from The Preservation Station. They have a small window so you can see the gel turn from pink to blue as they absorb moisture. I found out that I was changing the Oly ones more often than I needed to but better safe than sorry. Even though the humidity is high in Roatan, I'll only change them once a day and that's really sooner than needed.

Thanks for the info, I was worried about this since it only came with two of them. Ordered a 50 pac of them. Should be here by the time I have my next dive trip!

Matt :05:

 

[Divemonkey]

Hi Fins,
We used to run into problems here in the Great Lakes when we would take our video housing from 95' F w/80% humidity on the boat, load it and close it. Then drop down to 37'F water at the bottom. The inside of the housing would fog terribly. I have tried the dessicant w/little to no luck under the same conditions. What I did find that works well was to purge the housing w/the very dry gas from our cylinders. Right before locking down the housing, place a second stage next to the back hatch of the housing and purge for about 30 seconds. Make sure that you have NO water in the second stage as that would be sprayed into the housing and make this pointless. Use a nice dry second stage and purge it for about 20 to 30 seconds before purging the housing. Then purge the housing and lock it down. This cured our condensation problem and costs nothing.
brandon

With regards to the fogging issue would another gas maybe work better and not require the heavy amount of air from a second stage? Just a thought?
Matt

 

[BCS]

With regards to the fogging issue would another gas maybe work better and not require the heavy amount of air from a second stage? Just a thought?
Matt

Hi Matt,
Not sure if it would or wouldn't. Air, EANx, Trimix, ...they've all worked fine when I've used 'em and it is barely any gas at all. I think it's probably not worth the hassle of dedicating an entire new bottle of a different gas just for a few seconds squirt into the housing, especially when the other gas works fine, is hooked up and ready to go, and it only takes a few seconds purging to dry out the housing before the dive.
Never hurts to consdier new ideas, but by the same token, I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it......
take care and dive safe!!---brandon

 

[Scubadude]

Hi Matt,
Not sure if it would or wouldn't. Air, EANx, Trimix, ...they've all worked fine when I've used 'em and it is barely any gas at all. I think it's probably not worth the hassle of dedicating an entire new bottle of a different gas just for a few seconds squirt into the housing, especially when the other gas works fine, is hooked up and ready to go, and it only takes a few seconds purging to dry out the housing before the dive.
Never hurts to consdier new ideas, but by the same token, I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it......
take care and dive safe!!---brandon

Boy am I learning some good stuff . Keep up the dialogue y'all. Good Viz to all, George

 

[Kim]

Thanks, Leesa...

Medic, I keep a couple of Always Mini Pads™ sanitary napkins in my care kit. I cut them into strips and pieces that will fit inside my housing. Be sure to tape the edges so the cotton fibers don't get everywhere.

What a great tip! Thanks! Being a bloke it would never have occured to me either. However what would you think about using these modern baby nappies? They have some kind of dry gel inside that seems to absorb tons of moisture! I know that my daughters morning nappies can be very heavy! while she is still basically dry. Hummmmmm.........I sense an experiment coming on!!!!!