Question Do we need environment sealed first stages ?

[Eric Sedletzky]

We have the most annoying very fine grain sand by the shoreline. It gets into everything. We don't dive when there are "waves" or "surf" but it gets to be very "sandy" in the water after a storm passes. I never dove in CA waters so I can't compare. My biggest issue here is actually our supposed "fresh" water we use to rinse our equipment, it isn't that "fresh" and is salty enough that we can't drink it and have to use bottled filtered water for drinking water.

It seems based on what you describe about CA diving from shore, you do have more challenges with sand that gets into regulators first stages. My point here is that even if your conditions are worse, you still maintain your regulators and have plenty of access to service centers. We don't have any of this but our regulators, Scubapro Piston first stages, still manage to keep going despite of the neglect and abuse they get without any type of "civilized world" maintenance.

Northern California isn't super fine sand, at least where I dive in the far north. In our area the grains are fairly large so it sinks unless the waves are really quite large, but then we don't dive on those days because it's too hazardous. If the vis is 5 or 6 feet at shore with very mild shore break then I don't consider that to have any appreciable grit suspended in the water worth worrying about.
I suppose it's possible to get a few large grains of sand in the ambient chamber if you somehow got turtled in the surf let's say and dug the first stage into the sand.
But like I said, we don't dive on days like that.
There are also areas where there is very little to no sand, more gravel and rocks, so there is little to no suspended grit.
The further south you go in California the siltier it gets. Socal beaches can be pretty silty and they don't seem to worry about taking MK25's on beach dives down there.

 

[tursiops]

Making assumptions about someone else's intentions when it comes to technical questions is not exactly a good style for someone who calls himself a scientist.

LOL. Nice try. I made no assumption; I formed a hypothesis based on the data. Your response helps me to test that hypothesis.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah just pulled this out from underneath everything of its wooden transport crate, puer a bit whiffy

Why do we say "P.U." when something stinks?

A Backbencher investigation.

timothynoah.substack.com

 

[CG43]

Hello tursiops !

We both reacted unnecessarily violently here.
This argument is not necessary and yet we both do not like it.

Let's end this and both say "Sorry friend" OK ?

 

[BoltSnap]

This is sooo nice. Time for a group hug and kiss

 

[Celt]

Just to give an idea of the hardship a good reg can take, my go to reg was a mk5 or mk25 with a 108 or 109 and still is when working especially with a lance. When using a lance in the hold on non ferrous brass or copper the silt has to be seen to be believed. A large pump on the surface sends salt water down a 3in hose to the lance chamber and out through a 1/2in nozzle. The ingots are all concreted together with bunker coal and have to be separated for lifting by running the lance along their length, photo shows where the lance cleaned off the bunker coal. The force of the lance will drive coal sediment up your sleeves, in under your mask and into your reg till the reg starts to breathe wet. The reg exhaust valve has to be purged to clean it every 15 minutes or so. The vis is zero once the lance starts and the hose is followed out to change divers. On a day when the drift is slow I’ve seen the silt go 50m to the surface. My scubapro regs never failed.

 

[halocline]

You cannot make an unsealed piston last 40 years.

I have several unsealed piston regs that are over 40 years old. At least, I think they are; I’ve had most of them more than 20 years and they were old when I bought them. At some point I will have to retire my MK15s because I’ll run out of seats, but the MK5s and 10s will certainly last longer than I will.

 

[lexvil]

The secret isn’t how long a regulator will last in a box but while attached to a tank and doing what it’s supposed to do.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The biggest thing that kills regs and makes them unusable is unavailability of parts, not because they wear out.

 

[lexvil]

The biggest thing that kills regs and makes them unusable is unavailability of parts, not because they wear out.

An excellent reason to use scubapro, I find their parts availability pretty amazing over the long haul for parts that are likely to need replacement, aqualung first stages are even better for longevity of service kits.