What's in a regulator?

[halocline]

Regulators being essential for survival underwater has driven me to not skimp price-wise when buying them.

Me too, I have spent as much twenty five whole dollars for 2nd stages that I use thousands of feet back in caves. Guess I'm lucky to be alive.

"Price of regulator" and "likelihood of survival" have nothing to do with each other, and it's really tiresome to hear this nonsense perpetuated. Want to know what IS essential for survival in diving? Good judgement, training, and dive skills.

 

[halocline]

My friend @halocline wrote a very informative primer that will help you on your quest to understand regulators. I'll attach it below.

There is a problem now with that article. When I wrote it several years ago, it was absolutely true that the Spurs were much better than the Lakers, but no longer. Damn. Oh well....

 

[ScubaFLee]

you may want to specify what regs you are looking to replace. if they just happen to be an old scubapro mk5/109, those are still very much serviceable even if your LDS doesn't want to deal with it.

It's an Aeris Ion. Went out of business several years ago. It's small which works well with my small face, but the service kits are no longer found. I've tried several shops. It's on borrowed time I suppose. Just dove it for a week, it's working, but I'm gonna start shopping around for a replacement.

 

[Bigbella]

Much as with any other pursuit in life, you can spend almost as much as you like, on regulators. If you turn your nose up at we peons of chromed brass, you can always join the rarified air of titanium.

As others have mentioned, it largely depends upon what you wish to do with the regulators -- cold water, warm, etc? Are you in it for the long haul; or are you simply planning the occasional trip to Bonaire and the regulators relegated to the closet with the vacuum cleaner?

When I first began as a kid, everything struck me as colossally expensive (to a teenager with a pissant Summer job, it certainly was); but I really wanted to invest in the best gear, gear I wouldn't have to replace -- equipment that could be readily serviced and whose manufacturer had a decent reputation.

Back then, most regulator purchases were largely seen as "one and done," in stark contrast to the "gear-heads" who came a bit later, who often replaced things on an annual, if not more frequent basis; and, also, as a sad consequence of a marked lack of many manufacturer's support. On the SB classifieds, you can frequently find novice divers, selling almost new gear in some illusory, new-found pursuit of "tec" or GUE or whatever alphabet soup the scuba industry has devised, for the weekend warrior, to part them from their cash.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very pleasurable forty-meter dive, on an unbalanced, piston regulator, which was manufactured in the 1970s -- a dirt-simple workhorse, with few moving parts; easily repairable; and also, one of those very regulators that I had purchased on that Summer long ago, which also saw ice-diving on several occasions, years back, in the Northeast -- fitted with a simple rubber cap, on and off within seconds, filled with vodka.

While I have no shortage of far more contemporary gear, I fortunately bought well and never had to "trade-up" or relegate any of my regulators to the trash heap; and my advice has always been to purchase the very best that you can afford.

Here is a link to a list of manufacturers who have come and gone; and also some others, who can still make the grade.

Choose among the living . . .

Scuba Manufacturers, The List | Vintage Scuba Diving Community Forum

I was browsing through the excellent digital collection over at cg-45.com the other night and it got me thinking about all the various manufacturers over the years and all their various

vintagescuba.proboards.com

 

[Gone for diving]

I know there are warm water regs, that are no good for cold water diving or more technical diving,,

What is the thought of even manufacturing a reg that's not capable of use in cold water?
Just price?
What have they cheapened on a warm water reg?
I don't really run across warm water regs so I don't see the insides to compare,

I did work on a beuchat and it was totally terrible how it was built, and junky parts and overly complicated,,,
I don't think it was a cheap reg in its day, but I would never buy one,

 

[Nemrod]

I know there are warm water regs, that are no good for cold water diving or more technical diving,,

What is the thought of even manufacturing a reg that's not capable of use in cold water?
Just price?
What have they cheapened on a warm water reg?
I don't really run across warm water regs so I don't see the insides to compare,

I did work on a beuchat and it was totally terrible how it was built, and junky parts and overly complicated,,,
I don't think it was a cheap reg in its day, but I would never buy one,

Regulators intended for cold waater use generally have:

1. A sealed first stage
2. They may have a radiator or finned area adjacent to the second stage air barrel
3. They are generally detuned to a lower IP and a higher cracking effort.
4. They may come with a removable lip shield.

That is about it. Where did you get the idea that regulators not intended for freezing cold water (sub 50 degrees, brrrrr) are some how "cheapened" ? Regulators intended for use in cold water work okay in warm water, just they are slightly detuned (usually) from their warm water versions, other than those things there is no cheapening. Well, they may also have different graphics.

Why would anyone want to dive in cold water anyways !

James

 

[Lorenzoid]

I know there are warm water regs, that are no good for cold water diving or more technical diving,,

What is the thought of even manufacturing a reg that's not capable of use in cold water?
Just price?
What have they cheapened on a warm water reg?
I don't really run across warm water regs so I don't see the insides to compare,

I did work on a beuchat and it was totally terrible how it was built, and junky parts and overly complicated,,,
I don't think it was a cheap reg in its day, but I would never buy one,

Is there really such a thing as a "warm water reg"? It's my understanding that there are a number of regs nowhere near the top of the price scale that are capable of working at temperatures just a few degrees above freezing. How many divers in the world dive in near-freezing water? It is true that two divers breathing off the same reg during an out-of-gas event will exacerbate the problem, making freeze-up more likely at "higher" (relatively speaking) temperatures. Still, it's my understanding that most regs will handle even that above the low or mid-40Fs with no problem. Perhaps some reg-savvy cold water divers will chime in, but I suspect there are a number of relatively inexpensive sealed regs that will handle even near-freezing temperatures.

 

[jmcgilroy]

I know there are warm water regs, that are no good for cold water diving or more technical diving,,

What is the thought of even manufacturing a reg that's not capable of use in cold water?
Just price?
What have they cheapened on a warm water reg?
I don't really run across warm water regs so I don't see the insides to compare,

I did work on a beuchat and it was totally terrible how it was built, and junky parts and overly complicated,,,
I don't think it was a cheap reg in its day, but I would never buy one,

Here's my 2 cents worth... "cold water" is not very definitive, most people think Monterey is "cold". How about Silfra Fissure, Lake Tahoe in February or Clear Lake in Central Oregon? Ice diving in Minnesota...that's cold! The reg's built for cold water are usually heavy with heavy metal "vanes" which act as heat sinks to grab every degree of warmth from the water around you even if it's only 34 degrees. The worst threat to freeze a reg is the expanding gas cooling. We've all seen reg's and tanks get "frosty" when allowed to vent, even in my 70f degree garage. My Glacia reg has additional heat-sinks in the middle of the hoses. The second stage inlets have even more heat-sinks. Some 2nd stages have metal vanes in the venturi to hold on to the warmth in your exhaled breath. Sherwood's "Blizzard" reverses the balancing chamber in the 2nd stage to allow more time in contact with your warm breath. Often, the primary will be equipped with a shut-off (maybe just aftermarket...but a good idea) to allow you to quickly shutdown the free-flowing reg after transitioning to your second. Good article here. - Authorized for Cold Water Service: What Divers Should Know About Extreme Cold | John Clarke Online

So, I don't think manufacturers have "cheapened" their mild and warm water rigs but went the other way in building a better cold water reg.

Sorry to the OP...we might have hi-jacked his thread.
Jim

 

[Lorenzoid]

Sorry to the OP...we might have hi-jacked his thread.

Yeah, the OP lists his location as North Carolina and has been using hand-me-down regs. I'm thinking near-freezing water is not in the cards.

 

[Bigbella]

3. They are generally detuned to a lower IP and a higher cracking effort.

I always thought that that was a kick, since my only straight-up ice diving experiences were with regulators, whose IPs were perennially set at 12 bar (174 psi) and within their normal cracking effort . . .