Alternatives to pressurize regs at home without a tank

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Gaijinsan

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Tokyo
I am set to take a reg maintenance course so I can take care of the basics at home but I've got a bit of a problem (I think). What alternatives are there on the market to pressurize the regs if you don't have a tank? Obviously the simple solution is to get a tank like many divers in the North America and Europe, but in Japan that's much easier said than done. Rec divers here owning tanks isn't the norm and getting fills in Tokyo (I've heard) is nigh on impossible, even if I were able to get a fill then it's also illegal to take a tank (any compressed gas) on the train (I don't drive here). So I'm looking for some sort of alternative method like a smallish compressor that's not terribly expensive. What have other people used in similar situations?

Google only turned up compressors for filling tanks, but didn't see any just for maintenance.
 
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To test the regulator after servicing it you need to be able to pressurize the first stage to full working pressure. Most of us who service our own regulators use a scuba tank to do that. Shops have a compressor and banks of storage tanks.

Also the air you use needs to be clean. Even if a standard compressor could achieve the pressure needed you would risk contamination if the air was not 100% clean and dry.

I really see no other alternative besides a scuba tank, but a pony bottle is large enough, it does not need to be a full-sized scuba tank. Just large enough to pressurize the regulator and test it.

Good luck and Best Wishes.
 
Rent a tank from a local dive shop. Take a taxi.
 
Even if your not breathing the air from the regulator you need higher pressure then your standard box's tore compressor can create also you would be wasting your time servicing your reg and then introducing contaminates from the compressor if I were you I would rent a tank and either take a cab or ask a friend and then I would also find out which lds shops would fill and service private tanks and consider possibly purchasing tanks
 
Even if your not breathing the air from the regulator you need higher pressure then your standard box's tore compressor can create also you would be wasting your time servicing your reg and then introducing contaminates from the compressor if I were you I would rent a tank and either take a cab or ask a friend and then I would also find out which lds shops would fill and service private tanks and consider possibly purchasing tanks


Thanks, this is what I was afraid of.

I've heard in the city that no LDS will fill tanks, I'm working on deciphering the actual meaning of the website but it might actually be illegal to have a pressurized tank in a private residence, hence the lack of shops to do it.(Welcome to ultra-regulated Japan). I know down near the seaside there are a select few shops who might help but that's a $200 cab ride (rental car far more reasonable obviously). A couple of years ago a friend tried doing a no-dive Nitrox course and we couldn't find any shop in central Tokyo to do it without a day trip to the ocean because no one has tanks... crazy, I know.

Will have to sus this out with the local foreigners dive clubs more. I know none of them do fills but several are tec divers so should know where to get a fill even if it's only one or two places.
 
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Given all the uses of compressed gas, I find it difficult to imagine that a pressurized cylinder is illegal in a residence. Does that mean no propane, no CO2 for beverages, no medical O2, etc?

There must be a way to get a tank of breathing air in one of the world's largest cities. It's an absolute necessity for self servicing regulators. It's similar to trying to service electronic equipment without a power source. The tank rental idea will be prohibitively expensive if you plan on checking and servicing your own regs regularly, so it would be best to buy something from the start.

You mentioned you're taking a class so that you can 'take care of basics' at home. Would you elaborate on that? Typically the so-called regulator maintenance classes offered by the big training agencies are not much more than "rinse, check IP, and go to your dealer for service" sorts of classes. If you are taking one of those, I would suggest it's probably a waste of money, (the information they offer is freely available) but the upside is that you would not need to find a tank.
 
I think I would get a small tank and a transfill whip. You could fill the tank when you are on a dive off a normal tank..or maybe the dive shop would fill it because it's "safety equipment" . As far as it being illegal, well I think a Bahamian had the right answer when someone ask if running a stop sign was illegal....his response " only if they catch you mon, only if they catch you". Unless they search bags on trains, it should be no problem to transport it unknown.
 
Given all the uses of compressed gas, I find it difficult to imagine that a pressurized cylinder is illegal in a residence. Does that mean no propane, no CO2 for beverages, no medical O2, etc?

There must be a way to get a tank of breathing air in one of the world's largest cities. It's an absolute necessity for self servicing regulators. It's similar to trying to service electronic equipment without a power source. The tank rental idea will be prohibitively expensive if you plan on checking and servicing your own regs regularly, so it would be best to buy something from the start.

You mentioned you're taking a class so that you can 'take care of basics' at home. Would you elaborate on that? Typically the so-called regulator maintenance classes offered by the big training agencies are not much more than "rinse, check IP, and go to your dealer for service" sorts of classes. If you are taking one of those, I would suggest it's probably a waste of money, (the information they offer is freely available) but the upside is that you would not need to find a tank.

You'd be surprised, shocked even at the number of laws and rules we have to put up with here that would be considered absurd in the western world, a lot of it centered around ultra-conservative safety in a densely populated area but also quite a bit of them are also about removing the possibility of inconveniencing or annoying your neighbors (no kidding!). To your examples, propane (in any sizable tank) in the city these days is a definite no-no, CO2 is a commercial application so that's a different story, medical uses like O2 are exempted generally. Any vehicle carrying bottles of compressed gas have to put a giant warning sticker on the front and rear but funnily taxis do not, though Tokyo taxis have been using CNG for years.

Japan is not a DIY culture country, they nearly always call in the so-called "professional" for what we'd consider to be very simple repairs and maintenance, whether that be in the home, on the car, SCUBA gear, etc.. So the government of Tokyo prefecture doesn't care about a few foreign divers who want to service their own gear, the compressed gas laws weren't put into place with that in consideration. Similarly annoying to divers, we also have very strict knife laws, so if you're carrying any knife over 6cm then it needs to be for an obvious purpose (like fishing, diving, etc. and accompanied by appropriate sport gear) or you'll land a quick trip to a detention center.

I did inquire with one of the local tech diver instructors (foreigner), he said around here, there's one dive location about 200km away that will fill private tanks that are Japan certified (so no imported tanks) and there's a SCUBA club at Yokosuka Navy Base (about 60km away) that has a compressor to fill tanks, but you have to have base access to use it.

I knew Japanese divers almost never own tanks, but didn't realize until recently that it's such a royal PITA for those who really want to.

Agree, I think some courses are probably light in content. I want to make sure I'm taking something that teaches me to do my own OHs safely and confidently. I can get OH kits at reasonable prices, but labor cost here is very high, and it takes the shop 2 weeks to get it back to me. The class I'm looking at is done by a Tech diver, he says it's a thorough class but it's not under any certification agency. They teach using Apeks, an OH of 1st & 2nd stage in the class and provide OH kits for Apeks and other brands they can source. (I have one Apeks set and one Atomic set, he says he can't get Atomic parts but I can get them myself).

I think the only solution is going to be to get a Japanese spec deco tank. There's only one shop who even advertises them on the internet, they aren't terribly unreasonable for the tank but opportunities to fill are so limited. Shockingly a decent size deco tank is hardly any more expensive than a 1-2.5L Pony.
 
I think I would get a small tank and a transfill whip. You could fill the tank when you are on a dive off a normal tank..or maybe the dive shop would fill it because it's "safety equipment" . As far as it being illegal, well I think a Bahamian had the right answer when someone ask if running a stop sign was illegal....his response " only if they catch you mon, only if they catch you". Unless they search bags on trains, it should be no problem to transport it unknown.

As a foreigner, in 7 years, I have been "inspected" a couple of times (you can't refuse if you're not a Japanese citizen). It's very uncommon if you look normal and aren't in troubled neighborhoods, but it's one of the lowest crime-rate countries in the world with a fairly closed immigration policy, so sometimes police are bored and randomly pick on foreigners. I get pissed when I see them blatantly doing this but complaining falls on totally deaf ears. I'd be more comfortable carrying a tank in a rental car rather than the small risk on the train because you never know when you're going to run into the next bored cop.
 

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