Apeks V Si-Tech

[Garf]

MY Apeks autodump was leaking water in the suit, so after some good advice, I called up Divers Warehouse and purchased one.

Two days later an Apeks autodump arrived through the post. Not to be deterred, I phoned DW and stated the problem, and they asked me to post it back so that they could send me the correct one.

Five days later what looks suspiciously like an Apeks valve with "Otter" written on it has arrived through the post.

Maybe I'm missing something. Can someone identify what differences in appearance there are between an apeks valve and a si-tech valve, as I'm sitting here looking at my old apeks one and the new otter one and cannot see any bloody difference at all

cheers all

[Garf]

Never mind, I found a picture, the planks have sent me another apeks valve.

[Mike Phillipson]

I've heard of the Apeks Vs Si-Tech issue before too...

If Apeks regs are so great (which i think they are.. i have 2 sets ) how come they make leaky Autodumps????

[KeyLimePie]

My apeks on my former suit used to leak too, but I have an apeks on another suit now (slightly older suit) which is fine. I'm probably talking bollocks here, but I think it may have been something like a bad batch/version (?) as I know someone with a new apeks autodump and that works fine.

[EdHornby]

I think you could be right KeyLime - I think the early batches of the new low profile autodumps were prone to leakiness.

not wishing to put you off, but I have SiTech dump on my ND membrane and I'm not that impressed, it doesn't seem to dump very well in the shallows.... could be a previous model

[chas49]

My Sitech autodump works fine (hope that helps )

Regardless of the badge on the cover though, I guess the quickest way of seeing what you've got is to see which hose fits it.

EDIT - just realised you're talking about the autodump not the inflator. The word "autodump" occurring several times in your post should have been a clue.

Anyway, my Sitech inflator works fine too.

[Mark Chase]

Sitec is a muck better auto dump than the low profile Apex. The high profile Apex is fine.

I have a low profile Apex on my newish suit and it has two settings, dump noting or dump everything . I tried flying the suit with it when i took the YBOD mod 1 course and it was a disaster. I switched to Sitec and it worked just fine.

I don't fly the suit now so I stick with the dump everything Apex and just shut it on the 6m stop.

ATB

Mark Chase

[diverdman]

Hi I agree with Mark the sitec is a way better valve. when I got my new Otter Brittanic the first thing I did was swap out the Apeks dump for a high profile Sitec dump.
The original low profile Apeks dump valves would stick open if the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the suit got to great.
The new good ones have 4 U shaped lugs to give the check valve more support. Just unscrew it and look at the back or the serial numbers need to be 402 101790 or higher, you will find this on the inner outer of the body in very small print.
Cheerio Damien

[Muzzer]

I had a Sitech autodump on my old ND trilam suit which was brilliant, but my new neoprene suit has an APEKS autodump which, as Mark and others have said, seems to be an ON/OFF switch.
I'd like to get hold of a Sitech one to replace it, but where? I noticed in an earlier thread several months ago that someone had stated that they are no longer available in the UK - can anyone confirm this or otherwise?

Cheers
Steve

[Fiona]

When Otter replaced my suit zip they also replaced the shoulder dump as they said it wasn't working properly, they replaced it with another Apex one and I am sure they said the problems had been sorted out.