transferring scuba regulator from tank to tank underwater?

[tarstarskus]

Hi there,

I am a Divemaster and a friend of mine who is an Instructor asked me how would you transfer a scuba regulator from one tank to another underwater, if one tank was out of air(but has a good reg) and the other tanks regulator had malfunctioned (second stage and octo but tank is full) without flooding the reg?,

I cant think of an answer for him and dont know of any tricks to do this or even if it is possible to do it without flooding the good reg, I have the feeling he knows something and is trying to trick/test my knowledge

any answers/solutions would be appreciated,.....he is a real smartass

 

[tregrrr]

one could conceivably make the switch in the dry if you could find or make an air pocket such as inside a wreck or cavern ceiling large enough to maneuver tanks in. even a tethered open bottom lift bag could conceivably work

But seriously, with the number of dives you list, you ought to have seen the inner workings of a reg by now: think about whats in there-- plastic seat, chromed brass and springs. If you are in a dire situation such that you are contemplating such a switch, do you really care if water gets into the first stage?? a decent purge button hit will clear most of the water out of the working bits, while the water that gets into the SPG can be dealt with later. I might think to crack the 'full' cylinder a tiny hair to ensure that the water being forced into the good reg is somewhat displaced by air before a seal is made and the cracking pressure of the 1st stage is surpassed thus pushing whatever water is left inside the o-ring (quite a small volume when you think of it ) into and through the regs.

Keep in mind when you have grief involving gas supply under water, you have your entire life to figure out a solution.

 

[tstormdiver]

Agreed. A small amount of water will enter the first stage & most of it can be blown out as described. If in a life or death emergency (a gas supply issue can be life or death), the regulator, if in good shape should be fine for the duration of the dive, even with getting a little water in it The diver then had I would just get BOTH regulators serviced ASAP afterward.

 

[halocline]

What a question for an instructor to ask....the real answer would be:
"it's a BS scenario because A) I would not have an empty tank under any circumstances other than reg/valve failure, and B) please tell me exactly what kind of reg failure would make it impossible for me to get air out of a tank."

But, if you wanted to choose a regulator specifically for it's ability to tolerate flooding, use an unbalanced piston like the scubapro MK2 with an unbalanced 2nd stage.

 

[fppf]

And why do you think an unbalanced piston is any better then any other design???
I just don't get where some of these opinions come from.

Had a buddy run into this exact problem. Had an oring blow out on his O2 cylinder. He had a lot of deco on back gas, so he took the regs off his 50% cylinder and put them on the O2 cylinder, issues solved.

Like said before, turn on the gas as slow as possible.

 

[BabyDuck]

it's possible, but it can take a long time - ask doc intrepid - and might not be the best solution even though it's one answer to the problem, whatever the problem is.

 

[Rick Inman]

During my tech class, reg transfer was given as an optional solution for a failed reg on a stage bottle. I've seen it done once in a real (non-training) situation. It took my buddy about 30 secs to switch the reg from his 70' bottle to his O2 bottle (another good reason to have all your regs O2 clean if you dive O2 at all).

It's easy to do, and just a couple of purges will remove any water in the system.

Our dive was in fresh water, so after the dive he just blew out the reg and hoses and continued to dive it just fine until the next service. Had it been salt water, that would have been another kettle 'o fish.

 

[SDAnderson]

Hi there,

I am a Divemaster and a friend of mine who is an Instructor asked me how would you transfer a scuba regulator from one tank to another underwater, if one tank was out of air(but has a good reg) and the other tanks regulator had malfunctioned (second stage and octo but tank is full) without flooding the reg?,

I cant think of an answer for him and dont know of any tricks to do this or even if it is possible to do it without flooding the good reg, I have the feeling he knows something and is trying to trick/test my knowledge

any answers/solutions would be appreciated,.....he is a real smartass

Do you suppose he was more interested in finding out if you knew the solution or if you are capable of figuring out how to solve a problem? You might be able to come up with an answer by polling the internet but still fail the test.

 

[redacted]

If you keep the inlet pointed downward and don't descend, The 1st stage will trap gas and minimize water intrusion. Then, with the valve pointed upwards, open the valve on the good tank just a bit to displace water from the valve as the good 1st stage is installed.

Then, after the fun is over, disassemble and clean (rinse and dry should do) the regulator if it was salt water.

 

[TSandM]

It's likely to kill the SPG, though, if any water goes down the HP hose. Don't ask me how I know . . .