Atomic Z2 1st stage whistle...

[KG Diver]

I finally bought my first regulator, an Atomic Z2 (unsealed) + Z2 octo from LeisurePro on Friday.


Yesterday, Saturday, I took it out for its first dive at Lake Phoenix. Everything was wonderful. Taking a breath of air under water was as effortless and smooth as it was breathing on the surface without a reg in your mouth. Unfortunately, things went south as soon as we got below approximately 20 ft.


Once below 20 ft, there was a high-pitched squeal/whistle coming from the 1st stage every time I took a breath. It did not matter if it was a deep, shallow, slow, or fast breathing. Each resulted in the same mind-piercing squeal. First I thought that it may be just parts that need to be seated and that the sound would eventually abate. Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes, neither I nor my dive partner (wife) could stand the sound; we aborted the dive and headed for the surface. As we got to our safety stop depth of 15ft, I noticed that I could no longer hear the piercing squeal, only the rhythmic inhale/exhale cycle of a perfectly functioning regulator. At that point I thought that everything might have seated itself and everything was good to go. As we tried to go down one more time, breaking the 20ft plane was once again accompanied by that same high-pitched squeal with every breath. We went to the surface and I ended up renting a reg to finish out our day.


When I got home, I immediately fired off an email to LP customer service asking for an exchange as I have a diving trip planned in about a month and I would really like to have my kit complete by then; plus I want to hit the Lake Phoenix a couple of more times before the weather sucks. While I wait, I figured I would post here as well to see if there is something else that could be done to possibly correct the issue or something that I'm missing that could help avoid exchange/replacement of the reg.


~cheers

 

[guruboy]

Noise is from something vibrating.
My ST1 (same design) made a whine at 1000psi or less due to a dry o-ring.

 

[fmerkel]

It's a piston. The edge of the piston can set up a harmonic vibration as air rushes by it under certain conditions. Generally a bit of lube can fix it.
I JUST got done overhauling my wife's Scubapro MK20, a similar piston reg. For the first time in 15 years this one whistled badly and did so for a whole dive. It did not when I bench tested it. Puzzling.
I took it apart and lubed it > whistled. Again > still whistled. Flipped the spring > whistled. Finally replaced the piston bushings > Ah, gone. Whew!
Then, on our dive yesterday it whistled when tested. Damn! But this time it went away on the dive. I guess we'll see as she's diving again today.

 

[KG Diver]

Is this a common occurrence on a BRAND NEW reg? Does it happen to all new regs and goes away with time? Will getting an environmentally sealed version of the reg decrease the chance of this issue creeping up? This seems to occur all the way down to ~500 PSI...at which point it lessens and seems to go away around 300 PSI.

If this is something I have to "live with" I'm going to return the Atomic and go with another brand, simply because after 5 minutes underwater the sound is unbearable.

 

[fmerkel]

No, not common at all, but possible. It should be completely fixable, but since you bought mail order it increases your hassle factor. A shop could probably fix it in less than 30 minutes. You do not have to live with it, but right now you have to deal with it.

Atomic is an excellent brand. Environmental seal 'may' or may not change the inherent vibration and probability of a whistle.

 

[KG Diver]

Hood deal. Yeah ordering online and having to ship back is a but of a hassle, but the price was hard to beat.

I guess I'll send this back to LP and exchange for another in hopes of getting a non-squealer.

Another option is to take it to my LDS and have them crack it open... But that's $100.

 

[fmerkel]

And, it'll kind of piss them off.

 

[Wookie]

It is a common problem with Atomics and ScubaPro regulators, especially new out of the box, especially if they aren't environmentally sealed. Trading it in for another reg may but probably won't solve the problem. Sending it back for them to environmentally seal it probably will solve the problem. In no case is it a warranty issue, but it is pretty easy to fix.

Or, go with a diaphragm reg. They don't squeal.

 

[KG Diver]

In no case is it a warranty issue, but it is pretty easy to fix.

Pardon my ignorance as I am new to diving and no means am I versed in scuba regulators, but how is a nausea-inducing squeal that doesn't happened on ALL regulators of same brand and model NOT a warranty/QC issue?

 

[fmerkel]

Really, common you think?
Can't say I go around and poll new atomic and scubapro piston purchasers but I don't hear about this often. I'm part of a large active club and there are a lot of those regs around.

I think by "not a warranty" will mean fixing, not swapping. They would probably not prefer to end up with a used reg. and take that price hit. It is LeisurePro after all. You can try pressing the issue if you feel like it, but that will further increase the hassle factor.