Exhalation Bag Purge Valve

[Mark Y]

I've read that some Inspiration divers have installed a low-profile, dry-suit dump valve into the underside of their exhalation bag. This allows for easy purging of the exhalation bag should some water migrate into it.

I know the user manual sez you can use the over-pressure exhaust valve, but it seems awkward at best.

Has anybody on this forum done the modification to their Inspiration (or any other rebreather, for that matter) or have any comments/opinions?

[john j]

I haven't any expreience with the modification you mentioned, although I have practiced purging water out using the existing dump valve. It does work and it's not that bad to do. Starting from a flat position, I just tip slightly head low and do a diluent flush. It doesn't purge the bag bone dry, but it does work well enough to clear a major flood. The unit can take a serious amount of water before you need to do this anyway. In practice, I had 1/2 gallon of water in my unit without problems.

[ghosch]

John

Good call on getting yourself in the horizontal and purging through the exhaust valve. I have always gone more vertical when doing a flush, since it's easier, so my thought process was always how do you get the water out of the bottom of the bag?

I'll have to practice that a couple of times.

[Inspirationdiver]

Yeah, I've also tried it and found it not too difficult. As long as you keep your body horizontal you shouldn't have any trouble.

[Mark Y]

This is what the Inspiration manual recommends to purge the bag, but I guess I didn't find it as easy as you all make it out to be. . . especially this weekend - strong current and the d@amn anchor line had a life of its own!

Practice, practice, practice . . . I'll keep trying!