CO2 bypass through the one way water drain?

Tim Cashman

I keep hearing a rumour that the one way water drain valve in the meg head can stick open allowing CO2 to bypass the scrubber, but this has now been corrected by the manufacturer.
Is this rumour correct?
If the rumour is correct, what has been done to prevent the problem occuring?
Tim

JonnyB

Hi Tim, if i remember correctly the waterdrain on the Meg was just a hose, it was always open and CO2 might find a way bypassing the scrubber. This is now fixed and the hope is plugged.

/Jonny

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schford

The original Meg Head had a small one way valve on that allowed any moisure that had condensed into the head to drain out.

Part of the standard checks on the Meg was to clean this valve periodically as if you got any scrubber material stuck in there it might mean there was a chance the valve would not close properly.

Personally I never had any crap in there but then again I cleaned it evry time I stripped down and prepped my machine for diving.

There was one incident in the UK where some one who had never been trained on a Meg obtained one and just kept diving it. They got some crap in there over a period of months and apparantly got some Co2 bypass.

As a result of this and no longer having control of who was diving his units Leon decided to removed the one way valve. This is now just blocked up on all units and is available as a retrofit kit to existing megs.

Personally I think if people can't follow pre dive check lists or get training on their unit then shit happens - it would be like diving your Rebreather with out ever calibrating it...

Stuart

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Tim Cashman

Thanks for straightening this out. Tim

RonMicjan

Stuart is correct, there are 3 versions of the drain, first version had a tube running straight down along the side of the sensor carriage, second has a tube sticking 90deg out from it, current release blocks it off completly for the reasons stated above, owners not properly cleaning it out after dives with dusty scrubber or even checking if the one way valve was functioning correctly. No matter how idiot proof you make something, somehow there is always a better idiot around the corner. You would not believe the condition some customers units show up in. One in the other day has Head O rings that had caked something on them to the point that they had to be replaced, they were not cleanable. Hay Soos people, keep your life support gear clean. If you have to pry parts apart, if it takes lots of muscle to pull your head off the plenum, or if your scrubber sticks when you pull the head, take some time, pull the o rings off, clean the grooves and rings, re lube everything and reassemble. Its the first Item on the checkoff list, if you are ignoring that item, what else are you ignoring.

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