First solenoid stuck shut, yesterday stuck open......

RonMicjan

at that rate you are gonna be really old before you find something to buy. Keep in mind you hear only the vocal 5% of people. the vast majority have very few problems. I have had 2 rebreather failures in over 250 hours of diving, my car has broke down more that that. My meg is the most reliable piece of dive gear I have ever owned, I take very good care of it too.

__________________
Ron
"Life is pain princess, anyone who tells you different, is selling something", The Dread Pirate Wesley.


www.tmishop.com Diving bits etc.

DonalWalsh

Hi Dennis- thanks for that. To be honest I'm not certain I'want to fix something that isn't broke at the minute so am going to have a mull about it (Note to Jiseson..I've not actually had a problem either). In any event Steve has them over in Perth and it 'll probably cost you as much to post ém over but thanks anyway.

Otherwise I'm good....how WILL I survive another harsh Australian winter

Genesis

What it means is that you shouldn't contaminate it. I mean, how hard is this? You've got a device that has moving parts and dissimilar metals - and pretty much has to in order to work (brass is non-magnetic, you see, yet its preferred for O2 since it won't burn, etc), and if you put something corrosive in that, its going to be a problem. You can add more seals to it, but then that creates more failure elements, and also increases friction, which means more power to drive it, and people are interested in very low power drive currents too.

There's no free lunch on this deal - but the idea that disconnecting the input to a solenoid valve underwater, and allowing a corrosive liquid in there, is a good idea in anything other than an actual emergency is more than a bit nutty.

__________________
"A venturesome minority will always be eager to get off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks for Godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American."
http://www.denninger.net
http://www.diversunion.org/liability.htm - Fix the Diving Cert racket

Joe

I have to agree. I had that one problem and once it was fixed I've had no issues.

Also, once you are properly trained, you will see that a failed solenoid is no big deal. When mine failed I did not lose one minutes worth of dive time. Admittedly, when I was untrained I really thought a solenoid failure was a big, life threatening event. It isn't if you manage it correctly.

IMO, the more I dive my unit the more I believe that the most problematic, failure prone piece of gear in the system is operator error by the diver.

Yann A.

Hi,
Could this potential water intrusion be solved by swapping the Male and female QC position? Meaning respecting the manufacturer specs on gas flow instead of reverse.
BTW using a Meg and never had issues with solenoid stuck open or closed so far.
Rgds,

Yann.

DonalWalsh

[quote=DonalWalsh;71022]Hi Dennis- thanks for that. To be honest I'm not certain I'want to fix something that isn't broke at the minute so am going to have a mull about it (Note to Jiseson..I've not actually had a problem either).


Goddammit!- is there such a thing as a Rebreatherworld curse?? I jumped off the bloody boat today with the solenoid disconnected...aaaargh! Teach me to open my mouth!

SteveL

Ok so my solenoid is leaking just a smigine ( a little bit ) seems this corrosion or salt thing has caught up with me - now I dont have a meg and the solenoid is dipped from the top down to the the top of the brass bit bit with some plastic coating. See the pic - the solenoid is like this as it is exposed to the water all the time - ie it is not enclosed in the scrubber or lid assy.

So the question is how to I get it apart and secondly if I have to cut the coating of what is it - looks like the stuff that some people dip spanner handles in

Any help appreciated.

Steve L

Attached Images

solenoid.JPG (199.9 KB, 115 views)

heyydude

Steve,

You need a NEW one. Don't mess with trying to "repair" an old one.

We have plenty in stock. Let me know what kind of connector you have on the end of it, and we can either ship you one that you can put on yourself, send you one already "coated" with your connector on it, or you can ship us yours and we can replace it for you.

I sent Joe Radomski a report on some scary Solenoids we've received in the shop, along with pictures - maybe he can dig it up and post it for me.

Bottom line, folks - ANY solenoid can get corroded, and ALL of them do, if you allow salt water to intrude upon your O2 gas path (very likely with just about every rig).

Steve - contact Doug on Monday (814) 395-9509, or e-mail him at doug@rebreather.us. I'm out of town for another few days.

Take care,

Kevin Juergensen
Juergensen Marine, Inc.

maischan

Yann, are you saying that this is not correctly done on the product today? the O2 connection is not following the spec of the connector manufacturer?

Is anybody know why this option was taken on the meg? And is this can be a potential cause of the same solenoid problem?

Steve

I think you have missunderstood. He was asking a question not claiming anything. The Swagelok fitting works well and is following Swagelok design parameters.

The QD setup is a great safety feature but it can be misused. If people are getting jammed solenoids through either salt intrusion or other debris then they put it there either through innapropriate practices or a lack of care.

If Meg users follow 2 simple rules then they will have years and years of trouble free services

1. Purge the O2 Male fitting and check the female QD fitting as a part of assembly and pre dive checks.
2. If the fitting is disconnected underwater, don't reconnect it until the fittings hsve been rinsed with fresh water and dried fully.

__________________
WARNING: I contain occasional coarse language, extreme sexual references, nudity, and adult themes, which may offend some people - Usually churchy types.