keeping stages in a cave for extended time (1 month)

[jdobbertien]

Is it bad for the regs or tanks to keep them in the cave for a month? anyone have experience with that? The hoses and mouth pieces feel a little slimy but that is it right now.

[OFG-1]

We were putting safeties in Indian for 6 months at a time. The regs needed rebuilds, and we lost several Al. bottles to corrosion. Finally started using steel 72's. If you put a baggie over the 2nd stage, it is a little less slimy. You should talk with the WKPP guys, they have left some in caves for years, and were basically destroyed.

[rddvet]

I don't think it's ideal for any of the equipment, but at the same time it's done all the time. My thoughts are be prepared for it to be gone, drained, or your reg to fail. So don't 100% rely on it as part of your gas management. Secondly, I would personally put some sort of slate or note on the tank stating when it's expected to stay in the cave till or something of the like. I know of several people who have pulled others safeties because they saw them on multiple dives over a few weeks and thought maybe they should come out. (whether or not you should touch someone's stuff is a whole other story). There is also one cave diver that many people know that really enjoyed checking people's stages in the cave. They would come across a stage, if nobody was around, they'd turn on the valve and see how much was in the tank. Having a sign for extended tank drops (a month or more) may be a little bit of a deterrent for stupidity.

[floridabob]

Andecdotal data suggests it is very dependent on the water in the cave as to what happens. Pulled some out at nearly 10 years on the dot and they still were full. Ohauled the regs and they were ready to rock. The bottles had pits but I pulled the gas out.

Sealed first stages are better.
Anodes help but they need good contact.
Use tube webbing on the hose clamps.
Plenty of lube on the neck o ring, those seem to fail quite often. And good orings.
Having pressure gauges sucks, buttons are better....I know what everyone will say, but less orings and contact surfaces seems to help. Also keeps you to less hoses to fail.
Steels get freaking nasty after time but fair better. Just heavy.
Count on slimy second stages and use a decent mouthpiece.
Assume the chrome will fall off the first stages.
Bead blasted tanks pit the worst, some sort of good coating: Clear or paint help but interfere w/the anode contact. Trade off.

As an aside, the old painted bottles from the 80s work the best but I dont want any competition in getting those!

Plan an overhaul if they stay too long, like over 3-4 months, or if they get water up the hose...which happens.

Honestly, a month is nothing in most of our caves if nothing weird happens.

[floridabob]

Having no idea what, where or why--another option might be to sneak in some helium to make them travel better and bring them in and out each time. Just make them the first/best drop.

[gschaut]

Back before connection to Twin Dees, KUR accidently left some stages behind in Weeki Wachee. I think they recovered them 4 years later (next time flow rate was down enough) and the tanks and regs were still full and operational.