Curious how many people experience some type of failure with this valve during a dive
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Curious how many people experience some type of failure with this valve during a dive
I have had it happen once at 40 mfw. Since them I take heed and take notice of the signs. I have rebuilt mine several times over the years. I dive an old DR Classic wing which is over 15 years old. I may have to replace it someday. It probably has 700 - 800 dives on it.
What I recently changed though was the corrugated hose as it should signs of cracking.
Dale
In the last year I have had it happen twice, but it was caused by sand in the valve both times when doing the type of dives where you have sand everywhere when you get out of the water (inside pockets, down the inside of your wetsuit, stuck in your hair, etc.)
I have had more drysuit dump valves leak, than BCD dump valves. I do keep spares of both, so I don't have to abort dives.
I presume this is in relation to the OPV recalls. In that regards, I have not had any failures.
I have recently had two issues with a wing.
The first was a small slice in the bladder which only caused a leak when the wing was full and in a heads down position. I was on CCR at the time and only noticed it because I could hear bubbles. It took a little while to figure out. I ended up aborting the dive in the cavern zone at JB.
The second failure was similar, but was caused by the "ball" being stuck between my CCR and the bailout. It kept the valve open and dumped the gas. That was easier to figure out once I felt back there and then I resumed the dive.
Cheers,
Jeff
That's impressive! Spare dry suit dump. How do you change that under water?Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
I've had a wing dump failure a couple times from percolation falling into it at the wrong time. I also had 2 students recently with dumps that stuck open on their own. A little lube fixed both.
Not sure of the cause but, my instructor and friends always stressed that when you are rinsing the bladder post dive never drain the water from the dump valve. His reasoning was that small particles could get trapped and cause it to leak. Over 500 dives and never had a problem. I hope this tidbit helps someone out there even if it does not apply to you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben M
I must admit that I was thinking of the dump valve on a wing when I voted. I've never had a problem with any of mine. I have had dump valves in drysuits that weep on me.
Kelly, were you thinking of dump valves in general, or dump valves in a particular application?
Brian
Wait...I thought that drysuits have exhaust valves and BCDs have dump valves?
:roll:Quote:
Originally Posted by RN
If it is leaking, you will know as soon as you get in the water, and you can go back to the vehicle and get the spare.
Speaking of wing dumps...
I've had them leak a little and a lot, causing aborts and sometimes staying managable. Its always been in tight SM caves that grind sand into every possible space. Usually the dump is the least of the worries, free flowing regs and runaway inflators suck more in those instances...
I had my butt dump get stuck open while I was diving in the Ginnie ballroom with my GF. I just stayed vertical the whole dive and it worked out fine. Would have been a pain way back in a cave though (depending on the cave).
Does anyone else think that the term "butt dump" is funny?
Yes, I am 51 years old with the sense of humor of a 12 year old.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Never had one stuck open, had a few stuck closed. The scariest thing I ever saw related to this was a stuck INFLATOR button. It was a student in a rental jacket type BC and fortunately at the surface, but I still get chills when I think about this happening at depth, whether in a cave or not.
This is one of the few things I had my GF practice handling when she first got her OW. Easy to handle if you don't have to think about it. It's one of the few things that is more dangerous in open water than in a cave.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skorpiov
Had this happen after one of the Hart cleanups last year. We had been working in suspended sand and silt for several days. After we had stopped work for a few days, I went back to check the flow from the vent we had been working in - as I dropped down to about 25 ft, I bumped the inflator to trim out just above the bottom and did an instant and unplanned free ascent! Subsequent investigation showed a few coarse grains of sand had caused the inflator button to stick.Quote:
stuck INFLATOR button
I felt lucky to have come out of it with nothing more than a strong resolve to check my gear better in the future. Had it happened later in a deeper dive, I might not have gotten off so easily. Complacency Kills
Mat and I were in Gator Hole on the Millpond, a few years ago, and my pull/shoulder dump stuck open. We had just passed the 4th or 5th restriction if I recall correctly. I fiddled with it but gas just kept blowing out. I thought I pulled it off. When we surfaced at the millpond I pulled again and it worked correctly. I am guessing some trash got in and I couldn't clear it until I got out and was about to get vertical and gas blew it out. It sucked but no catastrophe.
Its been too long since I've been to Gator :)
I did it around Thanksgiving. It was amazing what you can see when you are solo. I hope to be there in the next month with boat in tow.Quote:
Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
Never had a mishap but did see a guy at Ginnie have his lower dump pull apart when the ball on the string got between the boards on the picknic table .
Or you can just lead the dive :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Spd 135
I've had mine start leaking during the dive. I can usually fix it, but that initial intrusion of water is a little bit of a shock.Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
My butt dump failed in the open position. Unfortunately it was about the second time I dived doubles and I didn't know what was happening. Luckily it was open water. It was my Boyfriend's old gear and he felt bad it failed. You can bet it was fixed lickety split and we continued the dive.
That only happens to me if I bump it in a tight area, then I just close it, and go manual the rest of the dive.Quote:
Originally Posted by RN
I had sand get in mine and cock it all up once at cow. I did the dive anyway but i was unable to repair it
I had a wing dump valve start leaking a little in Hart, after swimming upstream from Little Hart and getting sandblasted on the way. Not enough of a leak to be any problem. Afterwards I found sand in the valve, as well as thoughout the rest of my gear.
Mike
I couldn't disagree with this more strongly. When I'm cleaning my gear, here's how the wing gets treated:Quote:
Originally Posted by TONY CHANEY
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.
I have never had a wing dump valve(opv) problem. However i dive a whites dry suit with a dump on the wrist. after every dive my arm is soaked about to my elbow. I am assuming water gets in when I vent my suit of extra gas. I am sure is has some junk in it aswell.
I know this is a stupid question so I am sorry for asking but are you turning the valve back a couple of clicks from the full open position? I have that issue with my dry suit if I don't turn the valve back a couple of clicks. My suit isn't a Whites but I think that issue is pretty common.Quote:
Originally Posted by adam0321
I recently had a dump valve stick wide open. After years of diving I have only had it happen twice. It was on my new harness and only the dump that I modified (lengthened the pull cord). Since I was only doing short dives to work out bugs I just used the redundant badder/inflator.
Used the same system this weekend and it didn't leak.
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.
OK..it makes good sense. I do step 1 but will start doing the others as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slüdge
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.