Buying First Reg: Concerns with care / rinsing / servicing

[John Trecker]

Experienced diver buying a new regulator for first time.
Looking at likely Scubapro (possibly MK25), Atomic (possibly B2), or maybe an Apek / Aqualung. After much research and reading, I am beginning to weigh more how much forgiveness the equipment may have for care and service including rinsing.
Going to use for rec diving only, primarily to warm water destinations perhaps at dive resorts, liveaboards, hotel based diving, etc. but also potentially in California.
I am very careful with my equipment and with what I have now do extensive rinsing.
But sounds like the care strategy of certain regs can vary quite a bit with there being risks around post dive day and post dive trip rinsing / care.
This seems especially true for some reason with Atomic which I still do not quite understand. I am cognizant of being in situations / places where I might not have ideal situations, resource access, other people assisting with equipment etc.
Wanted to get input on how to weight that?
Not doing any sort of technical diving. Won't be serving my own equipment unfortunately. May in some situations be pressured to rely on others to assist with equipment management and movement (coming back onto the boat and the team wants to grab your equipment and immediately remove your reg and start filling as timing is tight).
Very interested in input / strategy / experiences and how that influences purchase decision? Probably willing to give up some of the performance of a Jaguar for the reliability of a Subaru given primarily doing rec / fun dives and safety is top priority with the understanding of potential limits in ability to 100% control all situations.
Or maybe I am thinking about this wrongly...

 

[grantmac]

Scubapro Mk2 and G250 seconds is about as durable as you'll ever see.

 

[Rilelen]

I own Atomic for both my rec and tec regs. I abuse them horriby and they are fine. The only thing that's different with Atomic is that (because of the seat saver) you can't submerge the first and second stage unpressurized at the same time.

If they are pressurized/on a tank it doesn't matter. But if they are off the tank, submerging the whole reg will cause water to backflow and flood the first stage. It's really not an issue, in practice, at all - when I rinse them, I just submerge the first stage for a bit, then flip them around and submerge the second stage; just don't submerge the whole thing at the same time.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Atomic is a piston reg similar to Scubapro MK25 in design but they pack the innards of the first stage in the ambient chamber with goop, expensive goop.
The idea is that it keeps water out and if it’s done correctly it works, but if it’s not done right water can intrude but then it sits there. The MK25 has an open system where salt water will go into the ambient chamber but then it can be soaked and rinsed out. I am personally a piston fan just because of how simple they are and I love the ingenious way they make them balanced by design only, no extra parts or balancing chambers or extra springs. Pistons are also very high performing just based on the unlimited movement of the piston whereas a diaphragm design is limited by the flex and movement if the rubber diaphragm disc.
The high pressure seat on pistons is captured on three sides and can’t really have a melt down. Most diaphragm models have a cone seat that looks like a little plastic donut glued onto a shaft and in some brands have been known to crack and blow out.
The advantage of diaphragms is they are sealed or partially sealed if there is no cap over the ambient pressure area which is basically the backside of the diaphragm. That part is nice.
But scubapro pistons can take a lot of abuse and still clean up just great when they get serviced. It’s the quality of the alloy they use that just makes them tougher than hell.
Scubapro also has a real simple unbalanced piston, the MK2, which you could put a high performing balanced second stage on it and for a recreational set it would be great.
With pistons they just need to be soaked well, preferably hooked to a tank or pony and pressurized and soaked overnight. I take a spray bottle or hose and hold it up the ambient holes and spray some fresh water through it.

 

[halocline]

Here’s a little story about my MK2. I bought it about 20 years ago, had it serviced once about a year later, and then started diving other, older regulators as I became interested in servicing regulators. So it sat. And sat. And sat. I used it for filling tires, transfilling tanks from time to time, that’s about it.

A few months ago I decided to rebuild my MK2 for use as a 100% O2 deco reg. First I put it on a tank, it worked perfectly. Then I took it apart to see if there was silicone residue (a major no-no for oxygen service), there wasn’t so I put it back together, same 19 year old o-rings, same 19 year old seat. It still worked fine. I ordered an O2 compatible service kit, took it apart again, stripped every soft part off, and thoroughly cleaned (I mean really thoroughly, to get every bit of any foreign substance out), put it back together with the O2 kit, and, of course, it worked perfectly. You can’t kill these things. For warm water recreational diving, if you want bulletproof, that’s your reg.

For a 2nd stage the older G250 is fine, I like the 109 a little better. There are several simple well designed SP 2nd stages.

 

[Nemrod]

My current favorite regulator set of the bunch I own is not my new G260 carbon with Mark 17 Evo but instead one of my G250 sets and a new Mark 2 Evo. Well, it was new about 300 dives ago. Dive, rinse, repeat.

 

[doctormike]

I think that people should adopt standard rinsing practices and not worry too much about the variation between regulators. This way, when these techniques are shared, they work best for everyone.

It's pretty simple, there are two main things to remember for routine care (not annual service).

1) Pressurize your reg when cleaning it after a dive - if you just soak it unpressurized, water can get into the hose, which you don't want.

2) Rinse the second stage with fresh water as soon as possible, within reason. What you don't want to do is let salt water dry in the reg. A reg wet with salt water can be very easily flushed clean without the need for prolonged soaking. But once it has dried, and crystals will have formed inside the reg, and it will be much harder to clear them. Since there is no exposed opening on the first stage, a quick splash with fresh water should be enough for that, your SPG and your hoses..

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Here’s a little story about my MK2. I bought it about 20 years ago, had it serviced once about a year later, and then started diving other, older regulators as I became interested in servicing regulators. So it sat. And sat. And sat. I used it for filling tires, transfilling tanks from time to time, that’s about it.

A few months ago I decided to rebuild my MK2 for use as a 100% O2 deco reg. First I put it on a tank, it worked perfectly. Then I took it apart to see if there was silicone residue (a major no-no for oxygen service), there wasn’t so I put it back together, same 19 year old o-rings, same 19 year old seat. It still worked fine. I ordered an O2 compatible service kit, took it apart again, stripped every soft part off, and thoroughly cleaned (I mean really thoroughly, to get every bit of any foreign substance out), put it back together with the O2 kit, and, of course, it worked perfectly. You can’t kill these things. For warm water recreational diving, if you want bulletproof, that’s your reg.

For a 2nd stage the older G250 is fine, I like the 109 a little better. There are several simple well designed SP 2nd stages.

I have a story about a MK3/108.
I got the above set up from a friend of mine, long time diver.
He got it in 1972 (ish) when he needed to be certified (requirement by the governing body) to go to an international freedive spearfishing meet. He really didn’t care about scuba since he was a competitive freedive spearo. It was a used reg of unknown origins when his instructor gave him, that was for his one day class and his certification after one dive.
He had it serviced once the entire time he owned it. I don’t think he ever rinsed it or took care of it because he didn’t care. Scuba wasn’t “real” diving in his view.
Anyway, he was diving offshore in Florida one day back in the 80’s. He went to 200 feet solo on air using that reg looking for grouper. All he had was a single second stage on it, not even an SPG.
He ran out if air on his way up at 60 feet or so and had to do a blow and go. Anyway, he got skin/fat bends in his shoulder, it started to inflate as he was on the boat, he got all screwed up. That CF of a dive deserves another thread if it’s own but not here. He never used that reg again after that, he never even rinsed it after that last dive. He hung it on a wall in his garage until I saw it in 2007 and I just had to have it. It was so green and corroded that all the chrome was almost completely gone, I tore it down, soaked it, cleaned it up, sourced the two O-rings inside. Flipped the HP seat, put it back together and took it diving. It held perfect IP. The 108 same thing. Just flipped the biscuit and go. About the most stupid basic thing I’ve ever seen, one moving part.
What other reg could you do that with?.. Besides a MK2?

 

[Still Kicking]

What other reg could you do that with?.. Besides a MK2?

A Conshelf. I have seen Conshelfs from boat cleaners and commercial bailout bottles that made me want to puke when i opened up the second stage. Dove for years in horrible water, thrown in a milk crate at the end of the day, never rinsed. Perfect IP, no leaks, no freeflows. Cleaned up fine .... not much chrome but working great.

Regs are basic. It takes a lot to make them go bad.