USIA suit registration

[Goldmember]

Two questions for the folks at USIA:

1) I have just bought a second-hand USIA Techniflex suit. Should I register to be eligible for the warranty / repair (e.g. seams)?

2) The suit has a SI tech P-valve. The instruction booklet / flyer that came with it is not very clear to me. The SI Tech web site does not have a manual either. When the valve button is 'up', it seems open. However, when I push it I can turn it clockwise as well as anti-clockwise. In both cases it locks in the 'down' position. Can you explain? I did not find any specific info in the p-valve threads about this...

Thanks!

 

[USIA]

Unfortunately, the lifetime warranty is only good for the original owner of the suit. But if you ever have any seam issues, let me know. I always give Scubaboarders a solid.

As far as the Pee Valve, not exactly an item you want to experiment with if you are not sure on the operations.

Send me an email and I will forward a copy of the instruction manual for the Pee Valve.

 

[gedmondson]

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by the SiTech documentation. I am the original owner of my Techniflex suit w/p-valve. (Awesome suit by the way). I ended up hooking a syringe full of water to the other end of the hose and tried both UP and DOWN (locked) settings. Both settings allowed water to freely pass through, leading to the conclusion that the valve is actually ALWAYS open and the settings are just for cosmetics. I'll leave it to Jerry to convince me otherwise.

Gary

 

[Goldmember]

Thanks for your quick reply Jerry. The workings of the P-valve have been explained to me when I bought the suit, but that fact that you might be closing the valve when turning it either way seemed strange. Indeed, it's not something to mess with... PM for the manual sent...

Gary, that sounds like a fun experiment. I might try that one myself!

Leon

 

[gedmondson]

Goldmember - I recieved the two page SiTech "manual" with my suit. The directions for actually using the valve are two sentences long.
If you remove the valve from the base and hold it up to the light while manipulating it through it's settings, you will find that ALL settings transmit light, and therefore fluids. It seems to be designed to apply pressure when depressed to a rubber disk that is seated in the valve base. Again, I did not find that any setting provided a truly "closed" state when challenged with fluids.
Please post a followup to this thread after you read the manual. I really do still want to know how to operate it.
Gary

One thing occurs to me... Perhaps "CLOSED" means no fluid movement from outside the suit through the valve to the inside, rather than the other direction. The only way I can think of to really test this would be to submerge the suit. (which I intend to do as often as possible).

 

[Goldmember]

Perhaps Jerry can post the manual PDF here so we all can check it out. Anyway, since the valve is balanced, back-flow (from outside to inside) shouldn't happen no matter what the setting is. If you're experiment's results is representative of all valves, settings may not matter at all... Let's wait for the manual...

 

[USIA]

I'm actually waiting for a response from Si Tech. I'm sorry I don't know the answers on this subject, but pee valves are not my strong suit. It is about the only thing on a dry suit I never personally tested before incorporating in our suits. I had one of my tech guys test for me, and basically he said he hooks it ups and lets flow. He liked it better than the old Si Tech version, the Halcyon version and the OMS version.

 

[gedmondson]

Thanks Jerry. I want to make it clear that I love my USIA suit. If the answer is to just pee through it and forget about it, I am cool with that!

Gary

 

[Goldmember]

Thanks Jerry! Look forward to more info...

 

[Goldmember]

I have started a separate thread about the SI Tech P-valve, because I think it doesn't belong here. Thanks Jerry for the info in the PM. I have used some of the text of the manual in this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/259529-si-tech-balanced-p-valve-usage.html