Kyle, Gerardo 

We are going to remove IP7 and IP8 this week and send them off to be rebuilt.  We had planned on venting both ion pumps today and removing most of their flange bolts in preparation for removal tomorrow.  After we observed a sizeable leak accross IP7's isolation gate valve (see attached), we decided to leave it evacuated until we are set up to actually remove the pump.  We then can, and in a short period, install a zero-length reducer w/pump port valve in place of the ion pump which will then allow us to pump out to vented volume between the gate and zero-length reduecer and minimize the amount of "wet" air the Diagonal is exposed to.  

Note that the orientation of IP7's isolation gate valve is such that venting the pump side of the valve puts 15psi across the 10" diameter gate trying to force "open" the gate.