Does USDivers still service mid-eighties J valves?

[captain]

USD now Aqua Lung still supports the J valve, service kits are available but through an LDS not directly from Aqua Lung. They are in their military equipment line.

http://www.aqualung.com/militaryandprofessional/product_information/Cylinder_Valves_02_r1_10.pdf

https://personal.filesanywhere.com/..., all years covered\&MP=&FI=&VT=F&RT=N&Type=F

 

[georgestgr1965@aol.co]

Try Bryan at Vintage Scuba, he has all the parts for USD vavles.

Home | Vintage Double Hose

 

[Rred]

Thanks, George. USD finally got back to me today and suggested Vintage as being the folks who are most likely to still have any parts inventory. USD themselves are out of that business.

 

[georgestgr1965@aol.co]

Thanks, George. USD finally got back to me today and suggested Vintage as being the folks who are most likely to still have any parts inventory. USD themselves are out of that business.

I use vintage for all my double hose rebuilds as well as the Conshelf 14s I dive all vintage. Would you know of a good Poseidon rebuilder?

 

[Rred]

No idea, I'd suggest starting a thread post for that.

The curmudgeon and the cynic in me have had multiple long debates about "Oh, just buy it and sell it after one year, that way you avoid all the service issues." Yeahbut. (sigh)

 

[captmike]

I had 3 older USD rigs and a Seaquest rig serviced with Ocala Aquatics Center in January, and had no problems getting all the parts and needed.

 

[rhwestfall]

Would you know of a good Poseidon rebuilder?

Did you check with AirTech in Raleigh? AirTech Scuba Services

They do my Poseidons (modern). From what I understand, Poseidon still supports practically everything they ave made from day 1....

 

[Rred]

I spoke to someone at XS Scuba about 2-3 months ago. XS are the folks making pricey new J valves mainly for the military market, although anyone can buy one. At quite a price.

He confirmed that USD was now totally out of the J-valve business. You may be able to find shops that have parts squirreled away, especially if you contact one that was in the USD "Military" dealer program, since they were the last ones authorized to carry J-valves and repair them.

About 3 years ago I had sent my two J-valves (Sherwood not USD) into a very well regarded LDS for routine overhaul (I figured it was long enough) and they came back worse than they went in. Every breath you took pulled the tank pressure gauge down, big time. I found someone else who said that was almost certainly the result of the not-quite-right [wrong] block being used in the rebuild, and they had exactly three of the original pieces left. I shipped my valves in and once properly repaired, they were fine again. By now I expect that one last block is gone, but I don't plan to overhaul them again anytime soon.

So just to say...if you are having ANY J-valves worked on, insist that you get the old parts back (just in case they've screwed up) and insist that only the proper replacement parts are used--not just "this looks good enough".

Meanwhile I'm just coveting those XS Scuba valves.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: The SCUBA industry is stark out of their deluded minds for universally condemning J-valves. J-valves would probably save a good half of the many divers who die in mysterious out-of-air incidents every year.

 

[tridacna]

Why are the military still using j-valves?

 

[JackD342]

I looked into this in the past year. At that time, Aqualung had the necessary parts for the USD J valve I was looking at, in the military inventory, but ala carte and not in kits. Several parts were only in packs of ten, so I didn’t even try to get an order in for my recreational account - cost prohibitive to keep one customer from replacing one valve. And I will NOT use generic parts that appear “close enough” even though I know several competitors have no compunction doing so. So maybe Vintage or someone else is stocking actual current OEM parts from the military channel, but is it really worth the cost/effort. And I don’t know if there is an older version that is a complete lost cause or not.

I’ll service an old Dacor valve that was OEM by Sherwood, but have replaced all those other Dacors made in Taiwan that I haven’t been able to track back to an OEM.
I also tried to track down parts for Sherwood J valves, and Dacor J made by Sherwood, with no luck. Sherwood says they don’t support that valve anymore, so no OEM parts available for the reserve mechanism side.
Break down and buy an XS Scuba valve if you really need/want a J. Overhauling a valve can be half the cost of a new one anyway.