Dump valve getting stuck open

I've never had it happen on a cave dive or technical dive in general but have had it happen on a est. 130ft dive in the ocean w/ AL80. It was nice to have an anchor line. It was a dry-rotted seal that had a moderate leak. Definitely need to service wings along with other gear to prevent headaches. I always have redundancy in the technical environment where it would be difficult to manage.

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I couldn't disagree with this more strongly. When I'm cleaning my gear, here's how the wing gets treated:

1. Drain any water from the wing by inflating it, holding it upside-down so that the elbow is at the lowest point, and holding the deflate button until all water stops coming out. Then shake it for several minutes while draining and re-inflating it until you are convinced all the water is out.

2. Fill the wing about one-third full from a water hose. Slosh the water around for a few minutes and then run water through each dump point (OPV) by letting it be the lowest point of the wing and opening the dump. Make sure all valves are addressed, to rinse any foreign material out of the valve.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

4. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

5. Totally drain all water from the wing. Store it upside-down for several hours and drain the last few drops before putting it away.

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OK..it makes good sense. I do step 1 but will start doing the others as well.

I had an issue just last week where the gasket 'vanished' from my Nomad prior to a dive...

It's good to be reminded every once in a while why I don't like to leave equipment on display at the shop; not to mention why my save a dive kit takes up 4 tool bags and weighs close to 25 lbs :?

Once while working through a restriction my wing's dump valve managed to come completely apart. As i was already more or less on the bottom anyway it wasn't too big of a deal. The hard part was putting it back together with only one hand and zero vis. I just closed my eyes, relaxed and patiently worked at it until everything was back in place. Then continued the dive.