SiTech drysuit exhaust valve disassembly

[Benthic]

I didn't get a picture of the debris, but it was on the piston and the diaphragm, and it was sand grains.

It's amazing how just a little bit of debris can make a huge difference in the integrity of the valve.

Brian

[College Diver]

these things are falling from the sky. If we put up a proper home for them, it'll be great.

I have one on my photo stuff, I've seen another on cleaning an inflator valve, I've seen several here on packing a truck, Tobin has his great videos with Optimus doing the VO, Dive Xtras has their very cool videos for scoot maintenance, there are pocket kit ones I've done and others have done, etc, etc.

I am so putting this section up.

---
Ken

I have sent your threads on P-valves and drysuit gloves to more than a few of my friends who have asked about such things...

Heck, I still refer to them myself every once in a while (got them bookmarked...)

Those should be included as well - no?

[College Diver]

thanks for the write-up Lynne - I am about to use the info right now...

[hindmost]

Thank you so much for this!

[Ulfhedinn]

Love this kind of post! Thanks

[Jax]

Lynne, Thank you!

Ulfhedinn - thank you for resurrecting this!

[undrwater]

I USED this post two weeks ago after a dive in water that moves.

[Jax]

Question on this . . . was the exhaust valve leaking water?

I have determined mine is.

[LCF]

Yes, it was. I have had some success taking these apart and rejuvenating them -- but there seems to come a point where it just doesn't work any more. I think the springs fatigue.

[Jax]

I'm not sure what the problem with mine is. If I screw it down a little, it stops leaking . . . I can deal with that!!

[undrwater]

I'm not sure what the problem with mine is. If I screw it down a little, it stops leaking . . . I can deal with that!!

Which I think supports what Lynne was saying. Fatigued spring. I wonder if SiTech supplies just the spring?

[edit]
It looks as if they might:
http://www.sitech.se/pages/default_uk.asp?SectionID=3359

Scroll down, there is a kit which I believe includes the spring.
[/edit]

[Gombessa]

My exhaust valve seems to have started leaking water during the second half of this weekends' dive. I remembered this thread and popped by to get a refresher on removing the SiTech valve.

One thing I noticed after I had mine disassembled - the diaphragm in Lynne's original post is only half the story. After a bit of examination, it looks like the central coin-like diaphragm at the bottom of the valve well controls how the suit behaves when you twist the valve: open = vent to ambient, closed = no venting at all.

However, there's also a thin, ring-diaphragm that goes around the entire well:



This seems to be on a hidden spring inside the assembly, and normally stays closed by spring pressure until you you depress the valve - it appears that with the valve twisted completely closed, the gas coming out when you press down on the valve comes out via an entirely different pathway, and the seal for that pathway can be compromised by dirt/hair/grit as well. I haven't found a way to easily disassemble the valve further to get at this new mechanism, but I can kind of clean around it and verify that there's nothing really obvious breaking the integrity of the seal.

Just a note to those who are still dealing with leaks even after they fully clean the central diaphragm.

[LCF]

I suspect they have changed the design since I posted my original photo essay. I noticed, in looking at the newer ones, that they don't have the "slot" I used to open mine. And the larger, inner diaphragm you are pointing out doesn't exist in my valves.

[Gombessa]

Intriguing! Well, if my home-servicing doesn't fix this leak, I might get the new style as the replacement...