Conshelf fans welcomed

[BeaverDiver1]

$100 is allot, until you remember that it is for life support equipment.

I just picked up 2 Conshelf XIV's. 2 2nd stages on each, and 1 still had a working pressure gauge from 1978, hardly used and still very shiny for $50. All it took was a Titan service kit to get it up to code.

 

[SCUBAholicEd]

I go years with out servicing mine also. I do check for rot, tears or wear yearly or more often. Get the manual and learn the ins and outs and simply keep up with it. yes your life depends on it but your eyes can see rot, wear and tear just as easy as some one elses. $100 bucks???? rip off!!! You just need to learn what to look for and how to fix it. simple and strait forward. The shop is just trying to do the scare and up-sale on you. If that is the game they play, go to a different shop. What else are they lying to you about???

 

[james croft]

Yeah, If I was paying even 25 bucks for service since 1987 I could have bought a bunch more Conshelfs if something went really wrong with mine. It is life support equipment but if taken care of and inspected it will continue to work. Once something goes bad it will free flow or get some IP creep which I can detect with my 10 dollar guage I made. Then I will fix what is wrong for a few bucks myself.

 

[johnmennell]

How much of a difference is there between the XIV and the 20 or the earlier models. Is it something that e retrofited?

 

[keyshunter]

Yeah, If I was paying even 25 bucks for service since 1987 I could have bought a bunch more Conshelfs if something went really wrong with mine. It is life support equipment but if taken care of and inspected it will continue to work. Once something goes bad it will free flow or get some IP creep which I can detect with my 10 dollar guage I made. Then I will fix what is wrong for a few bucks myself.

I agree James,
I normally get about 300-400 dives on my Titan LX's between major services. I do, however, give them a careful check between dive trips. I thought that was pretty good until I met an instructor who claims he has about 800 dives on his Legend since new, and it had not been serviced.

 

[james croft]

How much of a difference is there between the XIV and the 20 or the earlier models. Is it something that e retrofited?

Basically it is the same reg internally. The first stage is the same. Biggest difference is the second stage. The 20 has a plastic box while the 14 has a chrome plated brass box. The 14 is more durable and the metal box acts as a heat sink to help minimize freezing up in colder water. To retrofit a 20 to a 14 allyou need is to swap the second stages. I suggest putting an environmental kit on the first sstage as well if diving in cold water. It will seal your first stage and give better protection against freezing and helps maintainance of the reg. Regs sold with this kit were called the Conshelf 14 Supreme.

 

[Luis H]

Basically it is the same reg internally. The first stage is the same. Biggest difference is the second stage. The 20 has a plastic box while the 14 has a chrome plated brass box. The 14 is more durable and the metal box acts as a heat sink to help minimize freezing up in colder water. To retrofit a 20 to a 14 allyou need is to swap the second stages. I suggest putting an environmental kit on the first sstage as well if diving in cold water. It will seal your first stage and give better protection against freezing and helps maintainance of the reg. Regs sold with this kit were called the Conshelf 14 Supreme.

The new environmental kit available for any of the Conshelf (and several other first stages) is the same as in the Titan. It is a dry kit with a push rod rather than a grease/ fluid fill chamber. It works well and is a lot easier to deal with during service or just to adjust the IP.

I am using it on every one of my Conshelf and Titan first stages (except for the one I use to fill tires and blow gun).

 

[coldsmoke]

I didn't read all of the posts but Luis a couple of posts ago gave you some great info. I love conshelf's. They are great simple and well constructed regs. I have difficulty seeing any difference between a properly tuned conshelf to an apeks tx50 that I have above 100 feet.

If you are reasonably handy you can do your own reg maintenance especially with conshelfs. I get parts kits for about $30 and it takes me about an hour. All you really need is an inexpensive IP gauge (you can make it yourself for about $20) and a bucket of water.

I think reg rebuilds are one of the worsts deal in the industry.

Hunter

 

[sharky60]

I am looking at buying a Conshelf XIVs with what I believe is a SEA 1st stage( 2HP 4LP ports) for $125. The set comes with a gauge cluster and a Sherwood Maximus Octo. I talked to a dive shop about the service cost on this set. They told me that it would cost me at least $100 per year to keep this set in working condition and that I would save money in the long run by buying a New ScubaPro reg set with the free service parts. Are they blowing smoke up my backside? Anyone see a problem with this set? I am a simple recreational diver who is getting back into diving after a three year break. I am in Virginia right now but will end up back in the Oregon Washington area after a few years.

How old is it? USD stopped making it for a while and just recently started making it again because of it's popularity, it's a great reg.


I have a Conshelf XIV, I purchased in 1981, I was in the Navy and the majority of Navy diver's at Pearl Harbor had the 14...that was good enough for me, and I still dive with it today. I've been through several other depth/pressure guages and finally to a computer, but still rely on the reg I've always used.

I don't dive very much at home, just on vacation once or if I'm lucky twice a year. I usually get it serviced every other year. Good personal maintenance is the key to long life of all your equipment. I just had to replace my ScubaPro BC & intergrated inflator/octo, also after 26 years of use, the bc developed "unfixable leaks" at the seams and they no longer make the replacement parts for my infator/octo, so now I'm diving for the first time ever with a "real" octo.

The price to maintain the entire rig, both stages of the CXIV and the octo, doesn't seem out of bounds, just remember if you buy the new ScubaPro the shop wants you to buy, you HAVE TO to the yearly maintenance or you will lose your warrenty...that's the catch.

On the other hip, it's ScubaPro and you most likely won't need the warrenty.

 

[sharky60]

How much of a difference is there between the XIV and the 20 or the earlier models. Is it something that e retrofited?

We used to sell all 3 regs at the Koral Kings dive shop on Midway Island, the 14 has an all metal housing, the 20 and 21 were the first USD regs to have plastic housings, they orginally came out in the early 80's.

the 20 and 21 are also physically smaller than the 14 from what I remember.