Rust in both my First Stages???

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Dzydvl33

Contributor
Messages
133
Reaction score
82
Location
Fresno, CA.
# of dives
25 - 49
I got a call from my local dive shop today. I had dropped the wife's and my regs off for annual services. He said my regs were full of rust and he was sending them into the factory to see if they were repairable. They only have 7 dives and have only had tanks from 3 places, 2 shops and 1 Boat. Guess we both got bad tanks from somewhere. Wondering if any of you have experienced this before. Tanks have come from Breakwater and Bamboo reef in Monterey and most recently Spectre Dive Boat. I find it weird that they both got F'd up. I could see catching A bad tank somewhere but both of us... kinda weird. Anyway, here are the pics he sent me.. what do you think? Any advice for the future?
Oh yeah they are both Oceanic FDXi first stages. And we always dive steel tanks.
imagejpeg_0_1604683954247.jpg 626373050_1604683876292.jpg imagejpeg_0_1604683858088.jpg
 
I’m surprised the tech at your LDS doesn’t think they are service. With proper cleaning they should be fine . The only exception would be if there was damage to the orifice. (Not sure if it is removable if this particular model).
 
Did you use steel tanks on any of the dives?

I’ve seen rust in the filter and in regs. In each of the cases the people were diving with steel tanks that had rust in them. The regs were taken apart, cleaned, serviced, put back together, tuned and returned to the customer with no issues.
 
I’m surprised the tech at your LDS doesn’t think they are service. With proper cleaning they should be fine . The only exception would be if there was damage to the orifice. (Not sure if it is removable if this particular model).
See. That's what I was thinking. Looks like a good cleaning is all they need. Well at least they are heading to the factory.
Did you use steel tanks on any of the dives?

I’ve seen rust in the filter and in regs. In each of the cases the people were diving with steel tanks that had rust in them. The regs were taken apart, cleaned, serviced, put back together, tuned and returned to the customer with no issues.
Yes. We always rent steel tanks.

May Be time to buy my own tanks.
 
One of places you used tanks from has a problem getting water in their tanks. You might have been able to see that rust on the filter if you took a look at it when you disconnected from the tanks. It had to be steel tanks.

The regs should clean up ok with careful cleaning. You mentioned the first stages but not the seconds. They need to be cleaned as well as the inside of the hoses. I would just replace the hoses but that's just me because the hoses are hard to inspect.
 
That looks to be water intrusion to me -- something far beyond moisture in an air supply or tank, especially after only seven dives. Mine don't look remotely like that after hundreds of them.

I've dealt with both of those shops, over the years, and have yet to experience a bad fill from either.

How were those regulators rinsed, after each use? Were they soaked, unpressurized, with dust-caps? Water may have found entry, by that method. I am very surprised that they farmed it out and didn't attempt to service them. I don't recall the shop where I had worked ever doing anything like that. Please post your further experience with the repair-work.

They should be fully repairable if corrosion hasn't affected sealing surfaces.

Below, is an example of one of my older regulators, that has seen hundreds of dives, since its previous servicing, prior to ultrasonic cleaning . . .
 

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I dive my regs in concrete and sludge untill the tank walls bow in from the negative pressure, never rinse them and after a year of that they don't look as bad.
The filter dosnt look so bad, maybe it was a manufacturing defect.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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