Best Pee-Valve

[Tegg]

The one that works.


(sorry, had to...)

I like the unbalanced myself...

[kotik]

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.

[LCF]

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.

[Jax]

Okay, lets add to this....

Balanced or Unbalanced... and why?
I dove the Dive Rite balanced for a year or so and loved it.

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.

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!)

[Jax]

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.

Darn it, I wish you had said that a year ago.

[a64pilot]

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.

[RN]

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.

[FW]

Okay, lets add to this....

Balanced or Unbalanced... and why?
I dove the Dive Rite balanced for a year or so and loved it.

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.

[Art Greenberg]

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.

[CaveMD]

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.

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.

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