First DIN Regulator Questions

[chrpai]

My Hog D1 with Yoke adater came in yesterday and since this is my first DIN regulator I have a few observations / questions.

1) With a Yoke reg I'm used to inspecting the filter before putting it on the tank. With the DIN I can barely see the filter. This is clearly by design so I wonder what I should do as part of my predive inspection.

2) With Yoke the o-ring is on the tank. Whats the best (gentlest) way to assemble this? Do I put the adapter on the tank first then screw the DIN on? Should I just leave the adapter on the reg? It came with a DIN cover ( with the string attached to the adapter even though it won't fit inside the adapter ). Basically I'm looking for the best procedure to protect the reg ( water intrusion and o-ring ).

 

[halocline]

Install the yoke adapter on the reg; it captures the DIN o-ring on the reg. Then put the reg w/adapter on the tank. When you use these adapters, you're using an extra o-ring; one on the reg, the other on the tank.

After the dive, you could remove the adapter and install the DIN cap for soaking your reg, or you could get a yoke-style dust cap for the adapter. I'd get the dust cap for between dives, etc...and remove the adapter for soaking the reg at the end of the day.

If you're primarily using yoke tanks, you're going to get real tired of using a yoke adapter, then you'll know why some of us keep telling yoke tank-users to get something other than HOG regs. I suspect they'll come out with a yoke converter (you remove the DIN fitting and replace it with a yoke retainer) and then you can buy that. If you're using DIN tanks primarily, I wouldn't worry about it. But, I like the tank pretty close to the back of my neck, so for me ONE dive using one of those adapters is too many.

Inspecting the filter on DIN regs is usually impossible without removing something, at least with the SP DIN retainers. With the old style, you actually need to remove the retainer itself; the newer style has a separately removable filter retainer. Other manufacturers' designs might be different, but I kind of doubt any of them have the filter exposed like yoke regs do.

 

[chrpai]

For now, I'll be doing mostly local lake diving. 1-3 tanks in a day. A friend has loaned me an AL80 but sooner then later I expect to be getting an HP80 or HP100.

Is the filter inspection question simply a non-issue?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I keep my adapter in the reg bag and use the DIN cap. There are times though that I will keep the adapter on the reg. If that is the case I have a few old yoke dust caps and I take on and put that on the adapter/reg assembly. As for inspecting the filter. It is indeed good practice. With DIN regs in general you can do a couple things as far as filter maintenance and inspection.

Number one is never soak the first stage unpressurized. Put it on a tank of some kind. A 6cuft dry suit bottle works great for this. I don't trust any dust cap for soaking. Only gentle rinsing. Two know that the tanks you are using are in current vis and in good shape with good air. Three carry a small light. You can.use it to look in there and see the filter better. But most of all practice prevention. No unpressurized soaking, when not in use keep the cap on, and either perfrom or have someone do the recommended annual.inspection. I do mine more often if I have used them on a trip in saltwater, used someone else's tanks, or been doing a lot of dives.

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[chrpai]

Totally agree on never sumberging a reg if it's not pressurized. I've used the Sherwoods with the positive pressure bleeds in the past and get it.

My adapter didn't come with a dust cover so I'll need to pick one up if I'm going to keep it married to the DIN. The DIN cap has threads to attach it to something ( it was attached to the adapter but that doesn't make sense to me ) but I don't see where to attach it to the fist stage. That said, with a yoke dust cap I can dry it off with a rag or a shot of air. With the DIN it seems harder so I'm not sure it should be attached at all. Maybe it should just be kept in my dry box.

 

[fdog]

If you make a practice of leaving the DIN-to-Yoke adapter constantly assembled to the regulator, you will suddenly find out that it is permantly attached by corrosion. Even if you rinse the assembly religiously.

It's wise to remove the adapter and store the reg with a plastic (not metal) DIN cap in place.



All the best, James

 

[Zung]

... especially if you use the light weight adaptors. It happened to me: it only took 2 weeks, and inspite of rincing with fresh water after each dive. The aluminum was partly welded to the brass.

 

[eelnoraa]

Number one is never soak the first stage unpressurized. Put it on a tank of some kind. A 6cuft dry suit bottle works great for this. I don't trust any dust cap for soaking. Only gentle rinsing.

How about the delrin screw on cap come with HOG. That looks a lot more secured and water tight than normal DIN cap. Do you still recommand not to soak?

 

[halocline]

There's no problem soaking a reg with a decent DIN cap (or yoke dust cap for that matter) correctly in place. You're much more likely to get water in the reg removing it from a wet tank or just from water in the tank. If you use the reg with rental tanks there are no guarantees that the fill is dry....sorry. I usually check my filters after coming back from a caribbean trip; sometimes it's fine, sometimes not. If there's some green goo in there I'll usually rebuild the reg. I do my own maintenance so this is not much of a problem for me.

I think the non-ability to easily inspect the filter is a bit of a bummer but nothing to get too worked up about. In the U.S. DIN set ups are mostly geared towards technical divers, and as a general assumption they're maintaining their gear pretty well. I'm sure there are some spectacular exceptions.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

To each his own. I never soak an unpressurized reg. DIN or yoke. Unless it's in the ultrasonic.

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