The Trident Schrader Valve Tool is a necessary tool to service inflator hoses. Do you have a low pressure inflator quick disconnect hose that every time you look at it underwater you see a blip, blip, blip of bubbles coming out of it? This is a common problem which can become more serious if you don't get it fixed. Inside the barrel of the BCD Inflator Quick Disconnect Fitting are an O-ring and a small valve called a Schrader Valve. Everyone has seen a Schrader Valve before, it's that little valve-stem you need to press in on when you are putting air in a car or bicycle tire. Your BCD Hose uses the same type of valve. This simple, yet important valve can leak if loose or damaged.
The Trident Schrader Valve Tool easily removes and installs Schrader Valves on your BCD Quick-Disconnect Hose, or for that matter your car or bicycle tire. The tool works with most manufacturer's Standard Low-Pressure Inflator Quick-Disconnect Hoses and is a handy tool for any diver's Save-a-Dive Kit.
The Trident Schrader Valve Tool features an ergonomic, red plastic handle with a steel shaft and a long, notched tip so you can reach recessed valve cores. Ergonomic handle. Long, straight, notched tip.
Trident Schrader Valve Tool Features:
- Fixes Leaking Low-Pressure Inflator Quick-Disconnect Hose Fittings
- Same Type Valve as "Car or Bicycle Tires"
- Valve Tool Easily Removes and Installs Schrader Valves
- Works with Most-Manufactures Standard Low-Pressure Inflator Quick-Disconnect BC Hoses
- Handy Tool for Any-Divers Save-a-Dive Kit
- Steel Tool Shaft and Durable Plastic Handle
Size: 120 mm long by 33 mm in diameter.
Technical Tip
Quick-Disconnect Compatibility and Lack Thereof
Divers are sometimes surprised to learn there is NO universal standard that defines the precise shape and exact dimensions of the common Schrader valve quick-disconnect (QD) fittings found on power inflators and low-pressure inflation hoses used in SCUBA. This can cause compatibility issues with the connection: the fittings will not securely connect and can self-disconnect without any overt user action; the fittings will securely connect but gas will not flow; the fittings will connect but will exhibit slow leaks. There is the further complication that the common Schrader valve QD fittings are not suitable for high-flow, so QD fittings found on BC integrated second-stages use something else entirely.
The Schrader male posts can be broadly divided in to two categories: a more widely seen post with a shorter barrel and a raised bridge across the top, or a much less common post with a slightly longer barrel and a flat top. In our experience, the flat top post seems more likely to be encountered in the UK and to a lesser extent in Europe; it's almost never seen in Australia, North America or Asia.
Hoses designed to fit one category of post are less likely to be compatible with the other. However, even within the bridge top post design we have encountered occasional incompatibilities, usually when there is many years difference in age between the male and female fittings.
We have seen problems caused by the Schrader valve core becoming partially unseated (or not properly seated during initial assembly) inside the female hose fitting; that's corrected by using a Schrader Valve Tool to tighten the core back in place. We've also seen slow leaks resolved by replacing the worn 011 O-ring located inside the barrel of the female hose fitting, although replacing that O-ring in the QD is challenging to do without a QD O-ring insertion tool and most consumers just replace the entire hose.
The good news is these incompatibilities are very rare; all the low-pressure BC hoses we sell are compatible with the Schrader valve post found on our replacement power inflator as well as the inflators on all the wings we sell. If you are concerned about compatibility, the best strategy might be to replace the power inflator and hose simultaneously from the same source. Keep in mind that if your BC hose is more than five years old, best practice is to replace it anyway.
(01/19 LRB)
