Housing leak?

Hi,

I've recently got a Gates HVX200.

I've been test diving it, and it seems to get about a teaspoon of water in it post dive. I've set it up in the warm, and then it has been in cold water.

So is this condensation?

I put a small cylinder (with about 10 bar in it) in the housing open and let the pressure climb. When submerged, bubbles were coming through the main o ring only. I've changed it and it still seems to be the case.

Any ideas about how to track this leak down?

Adam

Hello mate,

Where did you get the housing and how old ??? Hopefully not a structural fault ... Sorry I'm not a Gates owner

Dive safe

DeanB

Hi,

 

I've recently got a Gates HVX200.

 

I've been test diving it, and it seems to get about a teaspoon of water in it post dive. I've set it up in the warm, and then it has been in cold water.

 

So is this condensation?

 

I put a small cylinder (with about 10 bar in it) in the housing open and let the pressure climb. When submerged, bubbles were coming through the main o ring only. I've changed it and it still seems to be the case.

 

Any ideas about how to track this leak down?

 

Adam

Hey Dean,

Not much structural to leak on a Gates that's the joy of them! Just pining down the leak is a pain in the axxe!

Massive congratulations Dad!

Adam

Hey Dean,

 

Not much structural to leak on a Gates that's the joy of them! Just pining down the leak is a pain in the axxe!

 

Massive congratulations Dad!

 

Adam

Cheers Mate its been a very emotional few days

The reason I suggested that was because you said you replaced the o-ring and it still leaked from the same spot... maybe there was a body prob caused by miss use? Gates are meant to be good however if its second hand anything could have happened ... Fingers crossed not though

Dive safe

DeanB

Cheers Mate its been a very emotional few days

Not to hijack Adam's thread, but much congrats Dean.

Adam, does this happen when you do not touch anything? I had one camera housing that was leaking only when the shutter release (still camera rig) was pressed. Took a bit to track down. My Gates has been solid (other than one incident when someone messed with it on the boat, wasn't the housings fault ) You may want to shoot John, Pam or Karen at Gates an email, they may be able to tell you what to look for...

Hey Drew,

Yes it seems to happen without any controls being activated. Saying that, when I did my "internal over pressure check", I did activate all the controls, and no bubbles came out. I think I need to look at the main o ring again unless anyone else has any ideas?

I've never used a housing with so much air space inside-how much condensation is possible? The weather here is warm and humid (amazingly!) but the water is still cool!

I assume that my test with over pressure inside the housing will find leaks the other way too?

Adam

Adam,

i think that your test don't work accurate as housings are made to get more tight when external pressure applies and not when internal pressure "expand" the housing. You also may blow some o-rings out of their seats, so i would be very carefull doing that...

Fill the housing tight with houshold paper and bring it to a dive, when it's condensation, all the paper would be humid/wet but when you have only a wet spot the you found the place where the leak is.

I doubth that a tea spoon of water comes from condesation as i think it's too much, but you can do also the tongue-test, if the water is salty, well you have a leak, if not, it must be condesation (when you dive in the sea).

Chris

Adam:

First off, there should be no condensation inside the Gates housing.

Here are a few things to check:

1. Carefully inspect your housing and port orings.

2. Check EACH and every control on the housing to see if its loose. Most importantly, check any of the controls that roll (i.e. focus and iris).

3. Check the red filter control and make sure that is not loose.

Again, you should not have ANY water inside a gates housing if it is properly sealed.

Was this a new or used housing you purchased?

Hi Mike,

I'll run through your checklist-thanks.

It is a second hand housing.

I'll let you know what the results are!

Adam

Adam

I emailed Pamela down at Gates for you. She says "Please have him contact Karen at karen.ellerbrock@gateshousings.com ASAP"

Adam I would be very suprised if this amount of water is from condensation. I hope you know the person that you got it off.

Stew

I was getting a teaspoonful of water in my Gates VX2000 housing a few years ago. I serviced some of the controls I suspected most (dismantle, clean, change o-ring, grease) and the problem went away.

I agree that it's highly unlikely to be condensation and also that a reverse pressure test is likely to mislead you and possibly lead to problems with other potential leak points.

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the help.

I've mailed Karen, and will check out the controls today.

Thanks again!

Adam

Keep us informed Adam

Dive safe

DeanB

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

I've mailed Karen, and will check out the controls today.

 

Thanks again!

 

Adam

Hi again all,

Sorry for the delay!

Karen Ellerbrock responded with a very detailed list of steps which was great. I still couldn't pin point the leak though!

So I serviced all the controls-cleaned and replaced o rings and now I have a dry housing! I'm still getting to grips with it underwater-but it doesn't leak!

What was great is how simple the controls were to strip down-it really si something you could do in the field if need be.

Again thanks for all the suggestions.

Adam

What was great is how simple the controls were to strip down-it really si something you could do in the field if need be.

The joys of Gates Housings!

Glad to hear it! Yes they are VERY easy to maintain and repair in the field, yet ANOTHER bonus of Gates housings.