Atomic sealed and unsealed

[rc.chris]

What is meant when it says sealed and one says unsealed?

 

[Scared Silly]

The ambient chamber which equalizes the first stage to the pressure of the water column is typically exposed to water. However, one can fill it so that it is not exposed to water directly and instead the water pressure is transfer through another liquid or jell. In some regs liquid silicon is used in conjunction with a rubber cap. In the case of Atomic the chamber is filled with Christolube or equivalent and then a rubber cap.

The idea behind sealing is two fold - at low temps regs can freeze up and when diving in dirty water (silty) it keeps the chamber clean.

The only regs that I have sealed are my deco regs which see 100% O2. My other regs which I dive in silty lake water and cold water (40F) are not sealed. For both I rinse them very well to removed silt and sand. The vast majority of regs do not need to be sealed.

 

[tfsails]

And the sealed reg is a royal pain in the ass to service because ChristoLube gets everywhere! We charge $30 extra for the ChristoLube, too.

 

[Scared Silly]

Yes, very good point about sealed regs. A mess to service and adds additional costs that is rarely needed.

 

[fnfalman]

Unless you're diving in water that runs into the low 40Fs or less, there's no reason to have the first stage "sealed" (aka environmentally sealed/kitted).

 

[Downing]

So my Atomic T2 came from the factory sealed.

I plan to never dive in cold water again. Been there, done that, no further interest.

Since that's the case, next time I have it serviced, in the interest of saving a few bucks would there be any issue with asking the tech guy to just clean out the old ChristoLube and skip the resealing altogether?

 

[Scared Silly]

Yes you can skip the lube, but you will also need to have them change out the solid rubber ring that goes around the first stage with one that has holes in it. It covers the ports to the ambient chamber which is filled with the lube and keeps the it from making a mess. That way once the ambient chamber is cleaned out water can get in to it but more importantly can drain out. It will cost ya all of a couple of bucks.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

What is meant when it says sealed and one says unsealed?

In addition to the answers above, modern diaphragm first stages are these days most commonly "dry" sealed (when they are environmentally sealed). No silicone oil or grease is used. A second diaphragm and a piston-like "transmitter" are used to create the environmental seal on the first stage.

As already mentioned, the main purpose of environmental sealing is to prevent 1st stage freeze-up in very cold water.

Best wishes.

Edit: Whooops! Noticed after the fact that the question was regarding Atomic regs (balanced piston regs). My bad.

 

[knowone]

And skip any alternate rubber ring corrosion and grit collector altogether.

 

[SangP]

Sealed regs have the added benefit of being able to handle silty environments.

If it doesn't cost much more to have a sealed reg vs a non sealed reg I rather get a sealed reg.

As the others have mentioned sealed pistons are a pain to work with and ChristoLube adds quite a bit more to servicing costs.

Sealed diaphragm regs on the other hand are much easier to handle.

SangP