VERY MINOR air leak???

[Vintagediver]

Last year while at Portage I picked up a pair of Voit twin steel 50's with a Voit V-2J twin reserve manifold. When I got the tanks home I took them in to my LDS for their inspections; which they hadn't had in years, and they passed with flying colors. I used them a number of times after getting them back and never had any problems with them until just yesterday. I was getting ready to go for a dive yesterday and thought I would use these tanks; fortunately checking the air pressure at home to see if I had enough air in them for a dive. When I checked the pressure it was ZERO; what a surprise that would have been if I had waited to check the pressure after I got to Crystal Lake. Anyway; after my dive I decided to check these tanks to see what the problem was, and transferred 300 psi from another tank to my Voit twins. I carefully listened to see if I could hear any leaks and detected nothing. At that point I was beginning to wonder if somehow the valve had not been completely closed allowing the remaining air to leak out; but I still wanted to check for any leaks. I then took the tanks over to our pool and completely submerged them looking for air bubbles and at first nothing. I paid close attention to the connections that join both tanks to the center manifold section that has the valve assembly and there were no leaks there. Then as I was turning the tanks to different positions in the water I noticed a single bubble come out of the valve opening where the reg attaches. I kept the tank in the position I had it in the water and a few moments later there was another bubble, and a few more moment later another. I tried closing the valve tighter but it continued to do the same thing. I then took the tanks back to the house and put a pressure gauge on them leaving the valve closed tight, and sure enough when I checked on them about a half hour later the gauge was registering about 200 psi. Now that the leak was found I drained the tanks and took the valve assembly apart and inspected it. Upon inspection with a magnifying glass there didn't appear to be anything that was an apparent problem causing this leak. The volcano orifice appears to be clean and in great shape without any scratches or nicks; but the valve seat did have the indented ring in it where it closes against the volcano orifice; with possibly a minor scratch in it. Thinking that this may be the problem I very carefully turned the valve seat down on some 400, 600 & 800 emery to resurface it; twice in fact and after both attempts I am still having this very same minor leak. Any suggestions; or if needed does anyone have a valve seat for sale that will fit this manifold. The good news is; is that I can at least stop the leak with the pressure gauge on it, and I can dive them. Hopefully I'll see many of you at Portage in a few weeks and I'll be diving these tanks!

[antique diver]

Just from looking at the parts breakdown for that valve, I'd say there is a good chance it is the same as a Sherwood valve seat. You will need to compare the parts to be sure. If you can't get one locally let me know and I can send one your way to try it.

[Vintagediver]

Thanks for your reply Antique Diver; I'll have to check with my LDS in Traverse City to see if they have any Sherwood parts that possibly match. I also checked and printed out the schematic that Brian has in the downloads section of The VDH website. It was quite helpful, and I think the problem part is item #14; part #BS2123; the plug stem assembly. I also did a bit more checking and saw that Time2dive made a post back on 03/16/13 titled Issues With Voit Manifold, and the problem, he describes sounds exactly like mine. I haven't seen any further post from him to see if he got his problem resolved or not. If he did; I'd like to know how he did it. Anyway Thanks again, and one way or another I'll get this problem fixed. Terry

[antique diver]

Terry, I'll just drop one in a padded envelope and send it to save you all that running around. PM or email me where you would like it sent.

Some of these seats seam to last forever, but occasionally one will get a little flaw or piece of debris that causes it to leak. Sometimes they just wear out from lots of use or turning off too tightly.

[SeaHuntJerry]

Hi Terry,
are you going to Portage?
JL Kemps Cow

[Vintagediver]

Hi Jerry:
If all goes as planned I'll be there. I'm not sure yet as to whether I'll head down on Thursday or early on Friday; but I definitely am planning on being there and looking forward to seeing everyone. Terry