| Re: Keeping sand out over pressure relief valves
Great subject. I have been lucky enough not to have a problem with my counterlung OPV so far though I can't say why. On the other hand, I have had problems with my drysuit OPV from the silt getting into it. (You don't even need to be digging through the stuff on your belly for it to work its way into the valves.)
It seems almost to be a luck-of-the-draw type of situation. One time, I will be in the fine stuff for hours without a problem. Another time, it seems like a pretty routine day after which I discover that I have killed the valve.
The only thing I have changed in my habits since having this happen is to make sure that I do not rotate the valve (adjust resistance) until I have done a very thorough rinsing after a dive. I killed the last valve by trying to rinse it while working it in the hope that it would work the sand out of it. Instead, it served to work its way in even more so. |