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LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

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Slappysan
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LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby Slappysan » Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:53 am

I've run in to this problem 3 times now, where I screw up and tomahawk my kite in to the water then a few minutes later my kite starts jellyfishing and I need to come in and pump up.
This has happened to me on 3 different LF Solo kites, a V1 and 2 V2's.

At first I figured it was because I never really screwed on the outer cap that tight because it's hard to unscrew (almost impossible with cold hands). Since then I've started screwing the cap quite tight but I still had it happen again yesterday.

What I'm assuming happens is the impact of the tomahawk forces the rubber flap of the MaxFlow to swing away from the seal. Now if the outer cap wasn't on at all this would immediately re-seal as air started rushing out but because the cap only allows a trickle of air out it isn't enough to re-seal the rubber flap.

All 3 times I've simply pumped the kites back up and they hold air all day.

In the past I've had similar problems to this with 1-pump systems that only leak when the tube is at a certain angle but I've checked the 1-pump tube and it's not that.

Anyone else having this issue?

One thing to note is I pump my Solo's up to 9 or 9.5 PSI.

On one hand I'm happy the bladder doesn't pop but on the other hand I could be facing an hour swim or 2 hour walk in certain situations.

You can see the tamahawk that cause it and the result in my video here, it wasn't even a hard tomahawk:
https://youtu.be/qKzN8m-RM08?t=257

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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby Werito » Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:18 am

Yeah, had the same problem with 2015 envy. Happened especially if the kite wasn’t pumped up hard enough.
I think that they’ve fixed the issue though since this hasn’t been happening with newer iterations.

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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby jyka » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:00 am

I had the same with 2012 NRG. It was less than a year old kite and I got new bladder from LF for free because the valve broke up after "tomahawking" and didn't keep the air any more. But I was too lazy to replace it and I glued maxlow and used the small valve to inflate and deflate. Yes.. it's slower to pump, but very slow to deflate
Last edited by jyka on Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby matth » Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:37 pm

Might actually be a good thing by not bursting your Leading edge ,by relieving some pressure on impact...

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FLandOBX
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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby FLandOBX » Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:03 pm

Slappysan wrote:
Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:53 am
......What I'm assuming happens is the impact of the tomahawk forces the rubber flap of the MaxFlow to swing away from the seal. Now if the outer cap wasn't on at all this would immediately re-seal as air started rushing out but because the cap only allows a trickle of air out it isn't enough to re-seal the rubber flap.......
I agree with your assumption, Slappysan. I've had the same issue with my 2014 LF NRG 14 m. Like yours, my kite is fine once it's re-pumped on the beach. I've thought about putting a thin layer of vaseline around the lip of the max-flo valve to fortify the seal, but it doesn't happen often enough to be a huge problem. My alternative approach, which works well, is to avoid tomahawking my kite. :wink:

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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby dylan* » Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:53 am

It's happened to me very occasionally, sometimes strangely when not even crashing the kite but just flying and it seems to randomly lose air and start jellyfishing. I have some rituals I always do after pumping the maxflow like running my finger along the tongue to make sure it has a nice tight seal, and also making sure the cap isn't screwed on too tightly. I'm not sure they actually do anything but I haven't had any issues since I started doing it so who knows :lol: It's really quite random, because I've had my kite tumble through huge waves for 5+ minutes until I get in to shore with virtually no air loss, so I have no idea what causes it.

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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby Greenturtle » Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:59 pm

I have noticed this when removing outer cap to deflate, little burst of pressure is released before maxflap reseating. but outer cap has always held the air for me and kite did not get soft at all.

If the outer cap was not sealed, you would think the maxflap would reseat itself, but there must be a fine line here where it does not work out.

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Gigi;)
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Re: LF MaxFlow Valve Leaks After Tomahawk

Postby Gigi;) » Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:09 am

:idea: Check valve cap O-ring.


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