What To Do If You Flood Your Regulator First Stage

I went diving with a friend today who is a newly certified as a diver. After three dives, she handed me back the regulator and forgot to cap back on the ScubaPro MK25 first stage which also my mistake for not checking the equipment before soaking the gears which incliding the regs, lights, camera, computers and etc. After a short soak, I took the gears out and hang dry and just before I hanged my reg I discovered the reg of my buddy was using was completely flooded due to being submerged without the cap on.

I was pretty beside myself at first, since every instruction books I have ever read about equipment always specifies that you are not supposed to ever get water in the first stage. I quickly did a web search like now, read through my diving encyclopedia and other PADI manuals to see what I could do about it. Did I need to send it in for service, overhaul, or replacing damaged parts? Should I have just let it dry out? I was not able to find the answers anywhere. All I could find was the same old “Don’t ever get water in the first stage” warning.

Therefore, I called the regulator specialist just now and talked it over with him. The good news was, that there something I could do to reduce the damage to this pricey piece of equipment. I wanted to share this experience with other divers so that people can know what to do if you should accidentally flood the 1st stage of your regulator.

Here are the basics:
•It’s not that bad if you flood it with fresh water. If your regulator is flooded with salt water, rinse with fresh water immediately, to avoid corrosion.

•The main thing that you want to avoid is pressurizing the regulator while there is water inside and a computer or SPG attached. This could potentially damage your instruments downstream. It may be necessary to leave your second stage regulator attached.

What to do:
1.Immediately remove all hoses and high-pressure ports, leaving only the second stage regulators attached to the low-pressure portion of your 1st stage.

2.Rinse with fresh water if necessary (i.e., if you suspect that you have salt water or other contaminants inside the first stage).

3.Attach the first stage to a tank and turn on the air. You will be flushing all water out the high-pressure ports. You can then slowly purge the second stage regulator so that any water in the hoses will pushed out of the system. (Warning: don’t ever pressurize a 1st stage regulator on a tank without a way to depressurize, such as having a second stage attached or a port open. If you do, good luck ever getting that thing off).

4.Take your computer/SPG and hold it with by the terminal end and give it a good twirling to get any residual moisture or liquid out. It is very unlikely that you got any water through the pinprick-sized hole if you didn’t pressurize the system wet, but this is just for good measure.

5.Last, if you are in a reasonably non-humid environment, let the whole thing sit out with ports out for a few hours to let any moisture evaporate before reassembling the regulator.


Well, I hope this page helps you out if you are unfortunate enough to have flooded your first stage regulator. Remember, I got off lucky because I didn’t pressurize the system with the console attached and this is fresh water we’re talking about. What I’ve described here is just the immediate remedy to avoid and/or mitigate the damage done by flooding, most of which is corrosion. I’m not an expert, so please take into consideration that your situation may vary depending on what type of water you got into your regulator and the type of regulator you have (mine is a piston design). You should definitely still bring your regulator into your local dive shop to have them take a look at it, even after following this procedure. Regulators are expensive and sophisticated pieces of gear that our lives depend on, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Songkran...

Songkran

1 more month I will be heading to north Thailand to Chiang Mai for Songkran festival with Mary. Here's the teaser.





The Thai New Year (Thai: สงกรานต์ Songkran, from Sanskrit sankrānti "astrological passage"; Chinese: 潑水節) is celebrated every year from April 13 to April 15. It coincides with the New Year of many Dai calendar (possibly also Thai lunar calendar) in South and Southeast Asia.

The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the weekdays immediately following. If they fall in the middle of the week, many Thai take off from the previous Friday until the following Monday. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.

The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. People roam the streets with containers of water or water guns, or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. This, however, was not always the main activity of this festival. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends and neighbors.

Besides the throwing of water, people celebrating Songkran may also go to a wat (Buddhist monastery) to pray and give food to monks. They may also cleanse Buddha images from household shrines as well as Buddha images at monasteries by gently pouring water mixed with a Thai fragrance (Thai: น้ำอบไทย) over them. It is believed that doing this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. In many cities, such as Chiang Mai, the Buddha images from all of the city's important monasteries are paraded through the streets so that people can toss water at them, ritually 'bathing' the images, as they pass by on ornately decorated floats. In northern Thailand, people may carry handfuls of sand to their neighborhood monastery in order to recompense the dirt that they have carried away on their feet during the rest of the year. The sand is then sculpted into stupa-shaped piles and decorated with colorful flags.

Some people make New Year resolutions - to refrain from bad behavior, or to do good things. Songkran is a time for cleaning and renewal. Besides washing household Buddha images, many Thais also take this opportunity to give their home a thorough cleaning.

The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by gently pouring a small amount of lustral water on other people’s hands or over a shoulder as a sign of respect. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.

The use of chalk (Thai: ดินสอพอง) is also very common having originated in the chalk used by monks to mark blessings. Some children having fun at the Bangkok Zoo during Songkran.

Nowadays, the emphasis is on fun and water-throwing rather than on the festival's spiritual and religious aspects, which sometimes prompts complaints from traditionalists. In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival to lessen the many alcohol-related road accidents as well as injuries attributed to extreme behavior such as water being thrown in the faces of traveling motorcyclists.

The water is meant as a symbol of washing all of the bad away and is sometimes filled with fragrant herbs.

Songkran is also celebrated in many places with a paegant in which young women demonstrate their beauty and unique talents, as judged by the audience. The level of financial support usually determines the winner, since, to show your support you must purchase necklaces which you place on your chosen girl.

Another attack from Coral, Similan Thailand

Dive Briefing!!! Wear your wet suit!!!!

Phuket, Thailand

Dive Briefing! Dive Briefing! Dive Briefing!

That is what I heard every morning from now and then onwards. I took a quick look at my watch and it clearly shown seven in the morning (8am if you are at Malaysia). The boat still waving left and right due to the strong current but that morning was prefect. Wasting no time I quickly grab my toothbrush and heading to the jumping deck. You probably will ask me why? See the picture below and you will understand.





I do not think you can get this scenario where else especially in Kuala Lumpur and it is a very different feeling, which I could not describe to you. Perhaps you only can feel it better is to stand on the jumping deck yourself. Soon then after I brushed my teeth and clean up myself I head to the upper deck of the boat where everyone gathered around, greeting each another good morning. Everyone seem so busy preparing toast with peanuts butter on it and making a cup of good hot coffee. So am I.



I heard another shouting from the local DM (Divemaster) dive briefing!!! Dada (the DM) start giving her brief of the dive site which we going to jump later on. Of course, to add in more fun and being the naughty one, I just cannot stop making jokes of it. So do everyone on the boat. Although diving is a fun sport but we know, there is a possibility of danger of this game. Everyone takes it seriously and after the briefing everyone shouting again but this time they all shout for Manta and Whale shark.











Manta ray and whale shark are the two most astonishing creatures living underwater where most divers tempting to meet them. In Similan, Phuket Thailand you hardly can spot them because of the temperatures of the water and of courses your luck! I remembered that 2 years ago, I was here diving at the ocean of Thailand for more than a month and half, logging 160 dives and I only manage to met them once at different location and time. That is how rare these creatures appear underwater. If you are able to meet them once in your live time diving career you can consider yourself win the jackpot underwater.

You probably have no clue how these two fishes look like. No worries see the pictures below.







Well back to my journal. Everyone start to gear up with his or her wetsuit (very important. I tell you later what is the cause for not wearing one), bcd with tank attached behind, cleaning theirs’ mask, shoe up with the duckling feet and get ready to jump from the deck soon after the horn horned by the boat. One by one jumps to the water. A last minutes check to make sure everyone is ready and set to go. Everyone descents together. 1 meter 2 meter the magical world start popping right in front of you.









See it yourself to believe it.



















Most of the dive sites we dived were deep. Some can reaches as deep as 30m down below. What is down there? Leopard sharks! If you are lucky, you can spot garden of eels as well. Once you are down there you just do not want to go up again.











The DM taps on her palm. Checking how much air we still left inside our tank. It is a safety precaution just in case you run out of air. Few minutes more we ascent to the surface. Sometimes you might caught a rough sea sometimes it is calm. The ocean is just unpredictable sometimes. Why?

Well if you follow the newspaper, you will know why. One of the boat doing LOB (Live on boat/board) was sink the night before we heading back to Patong beach to bring the new divers. 30 peoples on board, 23 were rescued, 5 dead (up to date news) and 2 were still missing out there. My heart and soul will rest together with them. A sad tragedy should not cure.

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/squall-tipped-boat-warning-survivors-tell/





Oh yeah I promised you earlier to tell you what is the damage if you are not wearing a proper wet suit. See pictures below. I was stung by sea rambutan and some stretches by coral.



Anyhow there goes my journal for Similan, Phuket, Thailand. Now would you excuse me I got a work to do here Dive Briefing!!!! Dive Briefing!!!











M°

Horrible night...

What a night..!