Any big advantage to valve brand consistency?

[Jimmer]

As of right now I have 11 tanks total, 3 sets of doubles and 5 single tanks. I have a Thermo manifold and 4 single valves that obviously use Thermo parts, a Dive Rite manifold that uses DR parts, and an OMS manifold and a Blue Steel single valve that use a third set of parts. Is there much advantage to converting all my systems to Thermo for example for ease of rebuild/repair, or is it such a rare occurance to have valve problems, that I might as well just leave them as is and just worry about ordering the right bits when I service them?

Any thought?
Jim

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Jimmer,

I have all Thermo manifolds and valves, and the only advantage is convenience when ordering parts to rebuild the valves.

If you're partial-pressure blending, though, you'll be wanting to O2-clean your valves annually when you do the VIP to update your decal (unless you own your own fill station). So...its really a matter of how much of a PITA are you willing to deal with on an annual basis...

FWIW...

YMMV

 

[Jimmer]

Well that's just it, I've been Nitrox certified for 2 years now, all of it partial pressure blended. This summer I'll be doing Naui Tech 1, so I'll be adding Heliotrox/100% O2 to the equation, so I plan on keeping all my tanks cleaned for O2 service, which is what brought up this thought. I'll be cleaning/VIPing all my tanks over the next 3 months or so, so this is the ideal time to make changes.