Need a new dump valve

bigfeller

Hmmm....

The dump valve on my drysuit seems to be leaking water. It's a bit odd that it happens in shallower water when I am dumping air (either ascending or descending). Seems to be fine when I am down. Cleaned and resealed a few weeks ago. I had it pressure tested the other week, had a few small holes repaired but there seemed to be no problems with the valve itself. Yet on the next dive the arm was soaking again!

Anybody any ideas where I can pick one of these up (and a rough cost??)

Oh, it's a Northern Diver suit - had a look at their site but they seem to only do inflation valves...

Cheers

bf

NordicDiver

Bigfeller

Hmm, what first comes to my mind when you say that your valve leaks in shallow water, is that you empty your suit too much making a vacuum, forcing the seal to leak....another adding factor could be that the spring inside have lost some of its tension...try to not have it fully open or you could just use it like we did in the old days when the automatic valves was not invented (by the Norwegians ), by closing it completely and when you need to dump,, just press it...if it is still leaking then it`s something serious wrong with it.

I could not see any good pictures of a ND dump valve, but i know they are using Swedish SI-Tech for their inlet valve so i think they would use it for their dump valve too, not sure about this..But you could have a look at their home page and see if it’s the same www.sitech.se

Don`t see anything wrong using Apeks dump valve either, maybe easier to get here. The Apeks valve comes in low profile and normal (low and high) I would prefer the low profile one.

Good Luck
Jan

Edit: Wrong spelling, again

bigfeller

Hey Jan,

By the looks of things it could be one of the sitech dumps (but I'll check tonight when I get home). Might take it apart and see what sort of state the spring is in. I had to give my inflator valve a good washing with vinegar because it kept jamming with all the salt.

If the spring looks okay then I'll try a dive with the valve half open or closed and pushing only.

Cheers for the advice and Jeebus bless those clever Norwegians!!

bf

Peace

bigfeller wrote:

Jeebus bless those clever Norwegians!!

bf

Pity we don't have any on boards.ie

bigfeller

Yeah, if they were clever enought they'd stay in Norway!

Scubachick

Bigfella,
Another source of the problem might be your underlay. Clothing can sometimes get sucked into the valve causing leaks. Are you wearing baggy t-shirts or anything different?

bigfeller

Usually wear a tshirt under my wolly bear - but I don't think the bear itself is clogging the valve. Going to have a good look at the spring. €.79 could sort it out - like it did my input valve!!