Guys:
I understand that if you ask 10 people for an answer, you'll get 11 different opinions. But, I'm going to ask anyway.
What's the best balanced p-valve on the market and why?
Printable View
Guys:
I understand that if you ask 10 people for an answer, you'll get 11 different opinions. But, I'm going to ask anyway.
What's the best balanced p-valve on the market and why?
I have used two the Dive Rite low profile and the older OMS unbalanced.
Neither has failed and my DR has about 350 dives on it and it has been used often in caves and wrecks.
It shows wear battle scars and the like.
I like the low profile of pee valves not the larger variety.
JCG
I've been using a couple of Light Monkey unbalanced for years with no issues, cheap and reliable.... ;) Take the bolt out and keep it in your wet notes, makes it about as low profile as it gets...
Oops, sorry, didn't realize this was a balanced thread!
Safe diving,
Rich
The original Werner valve,everything else is a copy :-)
Okay, lets add to this....
Balanced or Unbalanced... and why?
I dove the Dive Rite balanced for a year or so and loved it.
Well I have just started with the unbalanced and one with I noticed right away is the ease or lack of back pressure that I normally experience with the balanced.
This being said it is a very small bit of back pressure and not a problem.
The unbalanced is very easy and painless as long as you loosen the bolt if not you will know it immediately!
JCG
I started out with the Dive Rite balanced one since it was so low profile and "hands free" operation. I had several years of good luck with it but since I went to a new drysuit and thus a new pee valve I decided to get the same thing. I have been having a lot of problems with the duckbill (balancing part0 leaking and just tonight ordered a Light Monkey unbalanced one to replace it. I have decided that the simpler it is the less chance of failures and it was a damn site cheaper too.
Good discussion. I've got a balance Halcyon and have had a recurring issue of too much backpressure which leads to catheter leakage. For the longest time I thougt that the hose was too long and once I am suited up and gear up I was kinking the catheter, but now I'm wondering if maybe it isn't the valve itself. I've heard several people now say the balanced have more resistance. I'm at about a 50/50 rate with leaks/no leaks
That is one issue I had with the diverite was the duckbill valve sticking in the open position. I spent a 2 hour dive peeing all over myself and didn't know it. Hmmm. I don't know what to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dsix36
Smaller catheter and more duct tape? LMAO....
Safe diving,
Rich
P.S. Sorry Pete, it was on the T and I had to swing... ;)
The one that works.
(sorry, had to...)
I like the unbalanced myself...
I had three balance valves fail in a relatively short time frame and swore them off forever. My opinion is the balanced design is much more prone to leaking and is quite a bit more expensive without adding a whole lot of benefit.
The one marginal advantage that a balanced valve has over unbalanced is taken care of easily enough by peeing before starting the descent to flush all the air out of the plumbing.
Anyway, why is an unbalanced valve even called a valve? As far as I know there's no moving parts in them to control any flow...to me the thing's a bulkhead fitting.
I had a minor leak through one of my duckbills on a Halcyon valve once, that was easily fixed by not screwing the thing in quite so far.
On the other hand, my current LM valve has developed a leak through the balance valve that does not seem amenable to fixing, and when I took it apart, I was really surprised by how flimsy the duckbill was -- much thinner than the Halcyon one.
At this point, through great aggravation, I wouldn't recommend the LM balanced valve. I don't like the way the urine routes out of it, and this balance thing is beyond aggravating.
Don't dive with an unbalanced valve unless you prime it though . . . BTDT, not fun at all.
You know I am no expert - but my underwear was always stinking after a dive. I had several people tell me the balanced version would fail, and maybe it was leaking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superlyte27
I found that to be the truth, and sealed the "balance" valve with aquaseal. No more stinky undies!
(unless you manage to pull the tube out, and you can't fix stupid!)
Darn it, I wish you had said that a year ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by LCF
I Plugged my balance port with hot glue because of the threat of leaks, there by making it an expensive unbalanced pee valve. I started with a LM un-balanced valve, should have stayed with it when I bought the new dry suit, but didn't. Nothing to go wrong with or break, leak etc. with an unbalanced valve.
Hadn't thought of a bulkhead fitting, but seeing as how the bolt doesn't really do anything, why not use a bulkhead fitting, just cut it down to the nut flush with a Dremel? Cutting a bulkhead fitting down would make it even lower profile and less of a line trap than a Dive Rite valve.
Unbalanced. It's simple and almost fail proof. I tried balanced and had nothing but problems. The check valve kept leaking. I replaced it and it would work for a couple of dives then I'd start feeling warmth in my suit again. No issues at all with my unbalanced. No need for a screw unless you have a blow out. And no leaks. I don't even necessarily equalize it at the beginning of the dive.
There is less chance of a UTI, with a balanced valve. On the other hand, if you keep them clean, there is a very low chance of a UTI with either one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superlyte27
I have a very old Halcyon balanced. The one with two separate, off-the-shelf spring operated check valves with barbed fittings. Originally, the check valves were enclosed in heat-shrink tubing. That's gone now. I use vinyl electrical tape instead, and I can easily disassemble the valves to clean them when necessary. Never any issues with the system.
There is no increased chance of a uti with an unbalanced IF properly used. The limited data regarding peevalve uti's showed that almost every case of uti was in a situation where someone opened the valve at depth without priming it first, or some similar scenario.Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
I use the LM Balanced Pee valve, but I am thinking about turning it into an unbalanced one. The damn thing only works 50% of the time, I will get a little bit of pee outside of the suit, the rest goes down my right leg. Plus it always feels difficult to urinate out of the valve, which I know isn't supposed to happen. I saw some posts on Deco Stop about the LM ones having a bunch of delrin shavings left over in them and once cleaned out they worked perfectly. I may check mine out and give it one more chance as a balanced, if it still doesn't work, I am just going to plug the hole and make it an unbalanced one.
I agree, but "stuff" happens :-DQuote:
Originally Posted by CaveMD
Tl;dr - Balanced valve = pee on your leg. Unbalanced = no pee on your leg. Unbalanced>balanced.
Quick question for my understanding on the balanced valve. If the check valve or duckbill is bad you get a leak on your leg because it comes out of the balancing port?
My issue is with the balanced valve it is often difficult to start flow. For the longest time I thought it was just me and I was just making a bigger deal of it in my head. So if my valve is tough to start flow with, I guarantee I don't get catheter kinks, and my leg isn't getting wet near the valve, then what part of the balanced valve is creating the pressure. It's been difficult enough that I blew the catheter off trying to start flow. Again I've always assumed it was a kink, but now this thread has me thinking maybe it's not.
Yes, a bad check valve equals pee on your leg.
The pressure is created by the water around the exit port. You have to overcome the pressure to get flow going. The check valve is supposed to help overcome that, but as we have seen in this and many other threads, check valves are the main failure point in balanced pee valves and have a high incidence of failure.
I've had no issues with my halcyon balanced pee valve yet (about 1 year of use)...I almost always use it at the surface before the dive and hope for a dry future! UTI's are no joke; I don't look forward to that ever happening.
I plugged the port on my LM valve and it's still difficult to start "flow", I think I will do the bulkhead thing, or at least investigate it.
That's because you still have the diaphragm in place that prevents backflow from happening. Remove that and you shouldn't have issues starting flow.
Purchased LM balanced, leaking after few dives, removed the inside valve, replaced with a screw, from balanced became an unbalanced pipe and that's it. No issus so far.