Scared Silly
Contributor
BTW for sealing the reg you can use CristoLube 129 (static seals) which is usually cheaper than Christolube 111 (dynamic parts).
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Even in Hawaii, unlimited banked 32%/36% can be had for around 27 cents a day or less...though you'd have to be filling tanks every day fully realize that level of savings
If people are that poor that they cannot afford ChristoLube, then they are not paying for Nitrox fills anyway.
Or buying Ti regulators for that matter!
No, I'm saying, as to your point about divers willing to pay for EAN not really caring about an extra $40 at their annual service, even here in the middle of frigging nowhere there's an established dive shop that's been running since the 70s willing fill 2 tanks a day with whatever you like (air, banked 32, or banked 36) for an annual fee that works out to $0.27/day ($0.20 for military). I dearly love Aaron's for making the cost of keeping a whole herd of doubles very low...and they even get my 3500psi tanks to 3500psi cold sometimes
Since the cost of the christolube packing is around half of the cost of diving 2 tanks of EAN a day, everyday, for a whole year in one of the most gas-expensive spots on Earth...I could see someone who dives nothing but EAN still caring a great deal about the additional service costs of an O2 safe lube where it might not be needed.
Not necesarry about poor or not, but about whether there is a need or not.
Not everyone bought new Ti reg at $1500. What if someone just happened to come across a used reg at good price and also happened to be Ti. I think haveing Ti reg and paying extra $40 at each service for sealing is a different topic
2. Christolube is a lot less "lube" like than I expected, nothing like silicon. It is more like paste. I can see the advantage of this texture to be less likely to attract sands and other small debris.
1. There is at least one noticable advantage to sealing the 1st stage. It is the condition of the spring and piston. It is a pretty old reg, the original T1. The condition of the piston and spring are like new, both parts are still shiny. Other non sealed piston 1st stages I have, these parts don't look shiny anymore depiste being much newer reg
Are you just suggesting move to the jet seat style and saving money by buying Monel instead of Titanium? (I don't even know if they still have pre Jet seat stuff anymore for sale. The latest price list does not list the original Titanium Piston anymore, so I guess that answers that.)
That's at least partly a function of Titanium, not the sealing. Titanium is non-reactive, and chrome is reactive to sea-water. I have crapped out basically all my chromed brass regulators, and my Atomic titanium regs look like they are brand new all the time. At least the metal parts do.