Northwest Dive Club

I've done a dive without priming an unbalanced valve (borrowed suit) and I will put up with the leak risk.

CaptnJack wrote:

airsix wrote:I converted mine from balanced (over complicated and bulky) to unbalanced (simple & effective) a while back and have no regrets and less laundry.

I've found all the worry about the tube crushing or whatnot to be much ado about nothing. The balancing duckbill is just another place for water (or urine) to leak. Right Koos?

Hhahaha - At least i didnt in your boat!

yeah, the balancing check valve failed and i ended up being flooded.. so removed the balancer and replaced with less rigid tubing and removed the "quick disconnect".. about 8 dives post conversion and have yet to have a problem..

LCF wrote:I've done a dive without priming an unbalanced valve (borrowed suit) and I will put up with the leak risk.

So what happened?

kdupreez wrote:

CaptnJack wrote:

airsix wrote:I converted mine from balanced (over complicated and bulky) to unbalanced (simple & effective) a while back and have no regrets and less laundry.

I've found all the worry about the tube crushing or whatnot to be much ado about nothing. The balancing duckbill is just another place for water (or urine) to leak. Right Koos?

Hhahaha - At least i didnt in your boat!

yeah, the balancing check valve failed and i ended up being flooded.. so removed the balancer and replaced with less rigid tubing and removed the "quick disconnect".. about 8 dives post conversion and have yet to have a problem..

What tubing did you use for the replacement?

Well, imagine delicate tissues being suctioned violently into a tube . . .

I am a somewhat newer user of the unbalanced valve and read a BUNCH of dicsussions on the subject. One of the most prominant was the "priming" topic. Now I dove a couple times and made sure to prime and all was well. Two times now, however; I just wasnt able to do so. It just wasnt happening, so I threw caution to the wind and went for it (lost the exterior valve screw in the first two weeks). When I was finally able to utilize my valve all went well and none of the horror stories happened, and this was at about 60fsw.

So my question is does the issue happen when you have a less than ideal adhesive contact? I mean what atmosphere would be enough to cause too much pressure to not allow fluid to come out of the tube, and even furthermore cause a blow out? As I stated before, the wide bands work spectacular and many can attest to the fact that removing one can be a delicate timely process. It seems to me that the priming step might not be as detrimental as I thought? Maybe 100+ feet would change the outcome?

LCF wrote:Well, imagine delicate tissues being suctioned violently into a tube . . .

I used to have that nightmare almost every night. So, I decided to stop eating my normal bedtime snack, which was a cobra venom omelette, made with 10 turkey eggs. That helped, but it didn't stop them entirely. So, acting on some clues I gleaned from my horoscope, I booby trapped my vacuum cleaner by hooking it up to the electrical feed that powers my stove. When I woke up the next morning, I found an unconscious Spatman with 3rd degree burns on his hands lying sprawled over my extensive collection of stuffed "hello kitty" plushie dolls. Cured my nightmares, but it ruined my vacuum cleaner.

Joshua Smith wrote:

LCF wrote:Well, imagine delicate tissues being suctioned violently into a tube . . .

I used to have that nightmare almost every night. So, I decided to stop eating my normal bedtime snack, which was a cobra venom omelette, made with 10 turkey eggs. That helped, but it didn't stop them entirely. So, acting on some clues I gleaned from my horoscope, I booby trapped my vacuum cleaner by hooking it up to the electrical feed that powers my stove. When I woke up the next morning, I found an unconscious Spatman with 3rd degree burns on his hands lying sprawled over my extensive collection of stuffed "hello kitty" plushie dolls. Cured my nightmares, but it ruined my vacuum cleaner.

Norris wrote:I am a somewhat newer user of the unbalanced valve and read a BUNCH of dicsussions on the subject. One of the most prominant was the "priming" topic. Now I dove a couple times and made sure to prime and all was well. Two times now, however; I just wasnt able to do so. It just wasnt happening, so I threw caution to the wind and went for it (lost the exterior valve screw in the first two weeks). When I was finally able to utilize my valve all went well and none of the horror stories happened, and this was at about 60fsw.

So my question is does the issue happen when you have a less than ideal adhesive contact? I mean what atmosphere would be enough to cause too much pressure to not allow fluid to come out of the tube, and even furthermore cause a blow out? As I stated before, the wide bands work spectacular and many can attest to the fact that removing one can be a delicate timely process. It seems to me that the priming step might not be as detrimental as I thought? Maybe 100+ feet would change the outcome?

The norprene tubing doesn't crush, the problem becomes that since the volume of the tube is constant but now under lower pressure compared to your suit, "you" get sucked into the end of the tube trying to equalize the pressure. (in theory - I just leave my bolt open and incompressible water goes in the tube and stops this from happening)

Joshua Smith wrote:

LCF wrote:Well, imagine delicate tissues being suctioned violently into a tube . . .

I used to have that nightmare almost every night. So, I decided to stop eating my normal bedtime snack, which was a cobra venom omelette, made with 10 turkey eggs. That helped, but it didn't stop them entirely. So, acting on some clues I gleaned from my horoscope, I booby trapped my vacuum cleaner by hooking it up to the electrical feed that powers my stove. When I woke up the next morning, I found an unconscious Spatman with 3rd degree burns on his hands lying sprawled over my extensive collection of stuffed "hello kitty" plushie dolls. Cured my nightmares, but it ruined my vacuum cleaner.

Why you gotta bring up old shit? I replaced that damn vacuum cleaner and had brand new HK plushies imported from Japan for you, yet you still can't let that go. Do I keep bringing up that time you and Calvin stole my Snufalufagus costume to take to that candy rave, only to destroy it by letting those stoned teenagers rub pixie sticks and tangy taffy into its fur? No. So get over it, dude.

CaptnJack wrote:The norprene tubing doesn't crush, the problem becomes that since the volume of the tube is constant but now under lower pressure compared to your suit, "you" get sucked into the end of the tube trying to equalize the pressure. (in theory - I just leave my bolt open and incompressible water goes in the tube and stops this from happening)

I have a vague recollection of Bob saying that he once had the air in the hose get pushed up into his urethra, I believe due to having the bolt closed and crushable tubing. I don't remember the details, though. Maybe he'll chime in on this thread.

spatman wrote:

CaptnJack wrote:The norprene tubing doesn't crush, the problem becomes that since the volume of the tube is constant but now under lower pressure compared to your suit, "you" get sucked into the end of the tube trying to equalize the pressure. (in theory - I just leave my bolt open and incompressible water goes in the tube and stops this from happening)

I have a vague recollection of Bob saying that he once had the air in the hose get pushed up into his urethra, I believe due to having the bolt closed and crushable tubing. I don't remember the details, though. Maybe he'll chime in on this thread.

That may occur too, once the tubing finally crushes. Although you'd think parts of a catheter would ballon out.

I have used an unbalanced valve for years now, no duckbill to leak. Just leave the screw open and tolerate a tiny rush of "cool" water at the beginning lol

Need some assistance here, it can't wait much longer.

I've loaded up the car for a dive tonight and I seem to have misplaced my quick disconnect valve. Any ideas where I can purchase a new one locally (Bellevue, Seattle). I will be trying NAPA and West Marine.

Cheers,

John

WARNING -
If you have your exterior plug closed and your suit has been sitting in a hot car or your p-valve tube has built up pressure due to heat, make sure you release the pressure by loosening your exterior screw PRIOR to clicking your valve onto the hose!

not that I have ever experience anything like this....

johndo88 wrote:Need some assistance here, it can't wait much longer.

I've loaded up the car for a dive tonight and I seem to have misplaced my quick disconnect valve. Any ideas where I can purchase a new one locally (Bellevue, Seattle). I will be trying NAPA and West Marine.

Cheers,

John

Where are you diving? I can swing one by cove 2 or possibly meet in Seattle vicinity.

Graingers has the Qdisconnects but you (men at least) are better off removing it entirely and just using a doubled barbed connector to your catheter.

lj,
Thanks for the offer but I'm going to skip the dive and have an early dinner with my wife tonight.

For those who rinse with vinegar, do you have a checkvalve? I found that the use of vinegar corrodes the checkvalve, so I just rinse with water now.

Vinegar should not be corroding check valves, its a very weak acid. I suspect your corrosion is actually from a mix of salt and urea.

so question, i got my the light monkey tinkle valve, and ive been contemplating location, my first thought is the front it could rub and not a huge fan of the idea which makes me ponder why wouldnt you put it to the back/outside of your leg? your bc protects it mostly from being snagged on anything, conceals it a bit, im new to this.

Slightly forward, inside left leg. High enough that you can reach it comfortably. Men often have longer ape arms so can have it a bit lower, women generally have shorter arms and in some cases breasts to reach around a bit so tend to need it a bit higher so that you don't have to bend into a shrimp to reach it in the case of needing to screw it closed.

left leg reasons:
1) when your buddy comes to you with WIDE EYES asking for gas and scares the piss out of you, you can reach it whilst donating.
2) because there is a chance that someday you'll have a scooter in your right hand.

Here is position on my CF200, it might be slightly higher on my CLX, but its in general vicinity.

You don't want it on the backside of your leg. Sitting down on it would suck and accessing the bolt/knob to open and close it is pretty important. There's no reason to hide it either

Inside of either thigh is fine. I have mine on the left like Laura but the right side works just as well.

Much appreciated on all the advice, just wanted to be sure before making a hole! I have another question regarding setup. I read a lot online that people fidgit around with hooking up and how it can be awkward around others, so my idea is why not get a short piece of tubing and attach a barb connector on it and then the quick connect on other end, this way before you leave in the morning or whenever you put the cath on that way everything is all tucked away and when you suit up its just a piece of hose you have to grab and push together real quick

sava6e wrote:Much appreciated on all the advice, just wanted to be sure before making a hole! I have another question regarding setup. I read a lot online that people fidgit around with hooking up and how it can be awkward around others, so my idea is why not get a short piece of tubing and attach a barb connector on it and then the quick connect on other end, this way before you leave in the morning or whenever you put the cath on that way everything is all tucked away and when you suit up its just a piece of hose you have to grab and push together real quick

One person's experience does not a trend make, but here goes anyway. I started out using a quick disconnect. The issue with a quick disconnect is that at the end of the dive I always had a collection of urine trapped between me and the quick disconnect. A few weeks ago I came down with a kidney infection, first time ever for me. I asked my doctor how I might have contracted this infection and after explaining how I had configured my P-valve, he thinks that was the cause. I made a point to rinse my valve after every dive but that was not enough. I have switched to a double-male barbed connector so now it's a straight shot from me to the ocean.

sava6e wrote:Much appreciated on all the advice, just wanted to be sure before making a hole! I have another question regarding setup. I read a lot online that people fidgit around with hooking up and how it can be awkward around others, so my idea is why not get a short piece of tubing and attach a barb connector on it and then the quick connect on other end, this way before you leave in the morning or whenever you put the cath on that way everything is all tucked away and when you suit up its just a piece of hose you have to grab and push together real quick

You can connect easy enough in the back seat of your car, in a local bathroom, or just turn around on the boat. Part of being outdoors is accepting the fact that bears shit in the woods and divers pee in the sea.

I know you are just trying to be modest, but as mentioned, quick disconnects and such are just additional nooks and crannies for bacteria to grow in. Urine itself is sterile but if a puddle of nice nutrients connects in a spot and mixes with the fetid soup that is seawater you can get an infection. Try to rinse everything after the diving day (vinegar is perfect) and avoid lots of extraneous gizmos in the quest for modesty.