Air2's freeflowing

[Recneps]

Yes plural Air2's.

Last year got back into diving after a 7 year surface interval (3 kids). June 2011 got my and my wifes regs serviced at LDS (ScubaPro dealer). Both of us each have SP MK10+/D400/Air2 (bought new way back in 1996). Did several dives last summer in Long Island Sound, off Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. No issues with regs at all. Well rinsed/dried and stored over the winter. On Monday we are leaving for Key Largo. Got the gear out last night and hooked everything up to a tank just to check. Turned on the air and BOTH of the Air2's freeflowed. Not a huge rush of air like the purge was pushed but rather a constant hiss coming out of the mouthpiece. Took a few breaths and it breathed fine but continued to freeflow. Inflator/deflator and D400 all worked fine.

Any thoughts about why this would happen. Am I missing something obvious? Did the tech who serviced them last summer adjust something wrong?

I'm not a tech so I am bringing them to a different ScubaPro dealer LDS later today to see if they can do a quick turnaround service.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[redacted]

It may be that your Air2 were tuned a bit hot and the LP seats have taken a set in storage and just need a small adjustment to make them usable. But you did say you "rinsed" them before storage. My experience is rinsing is not enough to remove salts from the nooks and crannies of many regulators including Air2s. An Air 2 has the orifice and LP seat well protected from "rinse" water inside an air barrel and valve housing. And if you install the inlet protector, then it is even harder to get fresh water down to the seat/orifice. To make matters worse, the Air2 uses a brass orifice rather than the stainless or plastic orifice used in most other 2nds.

So, I recommend a quick trip to your Scubapro tech (or you could make the adjustment yourself) and hope that a complete service is not required.

 

[Zung]

You don't need to be a certified tech to deal with this: all you need is an Allen key (3/16"), remove the hose, insert the key, turn clockwise the equivalent of 1 hour (30°), test again, repeat if required, but no more than 1 hour at a time.

Mechanical devices get out of tune once in a while, and it's good to known how to deal with them yourself.

 

[rhwestfall]

don't you just love the folks around here...

 

[Recneps]

Mechanical devices get out of tune once in a while, and it's good to known how to deal with them yourself.

I absolutely agree..... Seems simple enough. Thank you for your help......now the only question is do I try this on my Air2 first or my wife's Air2???

 

[James R]

Yours, unless you don't want to sleep in your bed tonight

It's a very simple adjustment. Make sure you don't go too far or it'll be really hard to breathe off of. Small adjustment then test to make sure it doesnt freeflow & ensure you can breathe off of it without straining your face off and repeat until you get dialed.

 

[Zung]

The wife's of course! It's very hard to mess this up but you never know.

After you're done, you can deal with most second stages the same way, but use a minus screwdriver instead. Clockwise: harder, anti-clockwise: easier, until it hisses.

If you really want to do it like a highly trained pro, press the purge while you turn the screw: this will avoid engraving the soft seat inside.