All about H-valves and Y-valves

[cybordolphin]

Looking into going with either and "H" valve or a "Y" valve.... but don't know which is more desirable.

Thanks for any input.

 

[DiveTub]

Umm why would you need either
can you elabortae a little for us

Cheers
Chris

 

[cybordolphin]

I am looking at using one for added safety. I want to run my primary reg off one side and my secondary off the other. I want to be able to shut down a single reg at will, should the nasty need arise.

New diver... see's a problem though.... as shutting down one side could/would potentially mean closing down my BC inflator, and/or
drysuit inflator??

Let me know if you need more.
Thanks.

 

[DiveTub]

It is just another faliure point.
You would be better off with a redundent second air supply such as a pony, as oppose to a Y or H valve.

If your First or second stage failed on either side of the Y valve your tank would empty so fast you would not have time to turn off one of the valves anyway, trust me I have seen it happen.

Better to get a nice little pony bottle and tuck it under your arm

Cheers
Chris
PADI MSDT
http://homepage.mac.cam/sydney_diver

 

[The Chairman]

and find having an H valve on my singles eliminates the need to re-configure regs all of the time. There is also the added safety you speak of... many cavern/intro to cave courses require isolated doubles or an H valve to even take the course. While Y valves were more popular a few years back, I have not seen one recently. The H valve is pretty easy to come by.

 

[metridium]

H-valves on both tanks. Being modular, the H bits can be removed and the isolator manifold installed. Voila! I now have doubles, and I don't have to change my reg configurations.

Y-valves are not modular, and seem be becoming obsolescent.

 

[globaldiver]

I use H-valves. It is a habit from Sweden where the risk of having a regulator freeze up on you is greater.
If one of the regs freezes you can turn it off and still safely abort the dive with the other first stage still fully functional.

You run the BDC inflation and dry suit inflation from different first stages to ensure that you have some form of boyancy if one reg packs in.

It takes practice to use an H-valve though since it, in my opinion, is harder to reach the valves compared to a double configuration. This is especially true during cold water diving with drysuit and thick undergarment.

If you dive both double- and single configuration, you can, as previously mentioned, have the benefit of also using the same regs without reconfiguration needs.

Happy diving

Sincerely

Anders

 

[gentlegiant]

My wife and I both dive with HP Steel 120's with H-valves so that we have redundant valves and regualtors in case of either a reg or valve failure. All of our dives thus far have been with NDL limits so we did not need doubles, but most of our dives have been around wrecks (no penetration yet) so we wanted redundancy. This way we are also set up for future tech courses and a migration to doubles. We already have Advanced Nitrox and deco proceedures scheduled and both courses require either doubles or H-vavles.

If you are looking at technical diving in the future H-vavles are a good starting point since it gets you used to dealing with a redundant reg configuration.

 

[Lost Yooper]

I use an H-valve so I can go from doubles to my single without dinking with my regs. The configuration remains the same as well. Forget the pony idea. If you need redundancy, then you don't need a pony... you need a better buddy, a better plan, and/or doubles.

Mike

 

[cybordolphin]

I will likely pick up an H valve in the near future... and begin getting used to it. It may very likely be that the benefits outway the possibility of a failure point?

The "y" valve does seem much easier to reach.... and I kind of thought it would be a good consideration if one is not going with doubles.