Ozone Strut Valves breaking after 1 year in tropical climate

[iriejohn]

Clear defect in my opinion. The goods need to meet the intended use under the sale of goods act, and this clearly fails. Contact Ozone and give them a chance to rectify this.

The Sale of Goods Act was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015.

[Pemba]

Mine also ended up breaking off. Quite weird, really sudden, one day I was still kiting, a month or so later I unpack the kite and 3 or so valves are broken off, dangling.. This didn't happen after one year but more like after three or four years though. Just about none of my other kites make it that long though, they all start having valve delamination before that. I tried to get the broken (Ozone) valves off with hot water to replace them and ended up giving up. I've taken off and re glued many valves but none were even close to as well attached as these. So overall still very happy with the Ozone this but it does appear that breaking valves should be avoidable. I've also noted a difference between struts and leading edge. ALL valves on leading edge delaminate, and none on the struts. Or the other way round. Doesn't make any sense it seems, maybe just a coincidence, but I appear to always only have issues with the leading edge.

[pablomontanero]

I had the same problem with two of my edges. I contacted Ozone and they reacted very generously. They replaced the broken valves free of cost even if the kites were older than one year. I received very good service from Ozone for this valve issue.

[rainerd]

They always say "known issue" - That is just the trick for making you feel comfortable by believing the brand identified the issue and solved it.

I had the same with several brands like North and Airush, and now I just got frustrated with my Ozone V3 Reo (2015). Exact same issue as on your photos. Local dealer says "known issue - bad batch of valves from China...". Heard the same with North, Airush... The truth is, or at least my opinion: It is just random bad luck. Valves are produced somewhere in Asia, often from different manufactures which switch their ingredients from time to time. Quality checks are almost impossible as those valves will always look good when they are new but it is about the chemicals etc. The valves lose their softener through time. Heat can be a factor as well.

But switching the brand is not helping at all, as it might happen with your next brand again. My strategy is having replacement valves in my quiver, and as soon I needed to repair one valve I try to get rid of the kite asap and switch to a newer one. Once one valve gave up you can be sure another one will give up soon. I am very tired of this topic, you wont believe how many sessions got ruined by this issue. Was really asking myself so many times what the trigger can be... storage, temperature, bad air in the car park, compression bags... well,I think simply bad production plus bad luck.

[elnica]

Ozone edge 7m v8 with 5 valves broken all in the same place. Stored inside in a closet for most of its life since we don't get 7m weather very often in Florida. Took it down to Cabarete and 5 valves broke likely in the golf bag while the 11m ozone edge v1 (2010?) packed next to it arrived just fine and none of its one-pump valves have died yet in 10 years! Brand new ozone Enduro v2 also made it without issue but I imagine those valves will get brittle in a couple of years as well. One of the struts on the 7m was already leaking before the trip and now I know why.

If you travel with an ozone kite with this type of valve, expect them to break. Labor is cheap in Cabarete but valves aren't, fortunately they see this often with ozone and already know to replace the valve with a different kind that fits perfectly and won't break.

[Pemba]

Well that's interesting, the V1 model is fine, but the V8 has all valves broken. I hope Ozone and maybe other makes as well, take note.

[Peter_Frank]

On this topic, not only Ozone but all brands: How do you change a valve like that?

Have used the type where you remove the old one from the bladder (hard job, boiling water is the trick but still not easy), and put a special combo of the desired new valve with a quite big round self sticking patch underneath.

But does not always work, as sometimes the sticking part do not last, adhesive wear off and it will leak eventually.

Peter

[rolfjoosten]

I don't agree that it happens to all brands. We run a kite school in Barbados which has exactly the conditions as described.
Its common here that soles come off shoes and so on.
We are using Duotone / formerly North kites. Years ago the valves came off after about a season. Since they changed materials there is no more problem like that. We have some kites in the 3rd season which are still good in this respect. The only part which has to be replaced is the hose after about 1 or 1/2 years of heavy use. Of course the fabric gets bad when left in the sun for many hours which is industry standard..

[nothing2seehere]

On this topic, not only Ozone but all brands: How do you change a valve like that?

Have used the type where you remove the old one from the bladder (hard job, boiling water is the trick but still not easy), and put a special combo of the desired new valve with a quite big round self sticking patch underneath.

But does not always work, as sometimes the sticking part do not last, adhesive wear off and it will leak eventually.

Peter

I had to do four of the new type valves. They are seam welded so boiling water doesn't work to weaken the glue (you'll just end up making things worse). The way to tackle them is to cut off the nozzle. Then trim the outer part of the nozzle back to a flat surface.

Then its back to the tear-aid on the inside, valve on the outside as per normal.

*Not an Ozone kite. Another brand 1 year old kite.

[kjorn]

Same issue with f-one kites. One-pump breaks. Won't buy f-one again.

With all these companies making canopy material better and better, the bladders are still shit from the dawn of kiting. When are they going to improve?!