Attaching hoses to the regulator, 1st stage and spg

[theriel]

Hello,
I'm assembling for the first time my kit. I have Apeks XTX200 and I'm trying to connect Miflex hoses to all the kit.

Could you tell me: is it as simple as it seems? Put in, screw in using fingers + tighten a bit with a wrench? Or is there something more into it?

And, as I understand - o-rings are only between hoses and 1st stage, not between spg and hose or 2nd stage and hose; and the spool (small metal piece with 2 small o-rings) goes between spg and hose?

Some time ago I came across a notification by Apeks regarding attaching Miflex hoses but... I don't really understand it - how does it affect me?

Thank you for clarification!

P.S. Or maybe all the hoses going to 1st stage should be tightened with wrench much more than "just a bit"?

 

[Tortuga68]

Could you tell me: is it as simple as it seems? Put in, screw in using fingers + tighten a bit with a wrench?

Yep

And, as I understand - o-rings are only between hoses and 1st stage, not between... 2nd stage and hose

No - there should be an o-ring on the hose fitting for the second stage as well. Maybe you missed it, it's a little hard to see since the nut shadows it - take a closer look

You're correct about the SPG & spool though

Some time ago I came across a notification by Apeks regarding attaching Miflex hoses but... I don't really understand it - how does it affect me?

No idea what you're talking about... might have been about the older ATX first stages having a 1/2" fitting on the LP ports? If so it doesn't apply to you

edit: Was this it? http://www.divepursuits.com/news/2009/04/apeks-warranty-update-miflex-hoses. If so don't worry about it. However you should use two spanners when tightening the hose onto the second stage, one to hold the reg and one to tighten the hose fitting


P.S. No. Someone will probably make a post about using a troque wrench now, but honestly you don't need to. Finger tight plus 1/16 - 1/8 of a turn is fine

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Also, I don't know if they would ever be packaged separately, but I think the SPG spool should have two small O-rings on it (one on each end). I assembled all of my regulator/hoses without any lubrication (including the SPG), but I later read here on the board that one should use a small bit of lube on the SPG spool (one suggested was Trilolube).

 

[theriel]

Thank you a lot!

If I'm just doing "plug and play" - should I be bothered to remove the pre-installed o-rings, lubricate them and put back, or can I just rely that they are all ready just to plug in?

//edit to the post above:
OK, so out of everything I understand I only need to re-lubricate these small o-rings on spg...

 

[knowone]

http://www.aqualung.com/technical_library/TB25_FCD.pdf

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I can't open knowone's .pdf on this machine, so pardon me if this is unnecessary now, but on the SPG O-rings, I would have thought one would just put thin film of lube on them as they stand, without taking them off the spool.

But then I didn't even know they needed lubing until a couple of weeks ago

 

[BoltSnap]

If everything is brand new, I don't see the point of lubricating the o'rings. Please note that o'rings need very small amount of lubricant, just enough to make them shiny. Excess lubricant will be sand/dirt magnet.

 

[knowone]

It is very good to leave O rings on spools and half fill grooves with grease.

If you take them off, new ones on.


I have come across many many new hoses with O rings hiding a million cracks.


The pdf contains don't use Apeks shut offs, with miflex, info.

 

[herman]

The spool orings need to be lubed and they are one of the few orings that "a little extra" grease is a good idea. The space between the 2 orings is open to salt water and you do not want that area to corrode. Extra grease there keeps water for gathering and does not let it come in contact with the metal. No need to remove them. I also prefer to lightly grease the hose end orings as well. That one always ends in a big debate but that's my studied opinion. Just run the hoses up by hand, get the proper wrench/spanner- the multi scuba tool are tools of last resort, don't use them- and snug the fitting. I use 2 fingers on the wrench/spanner and gently pull. Over torquing the fitting is what you want to avoid. On second stages use 2 wrenches, one on the second stage and the other on the hose, you do not want to twist the internals of the second stage, same 2 finger tight works here as well.

 

[theriel]

Do you know any good spanner to hold the reg? I've noticed that the bit on the regulator does move a bit forward when I'm tightening the hose (so I quickly removed the hose and corrected the position of the metal bit in the regulator as it was before ;p) - but my wrenches and spanners are too big to fit on this small bit...