First stage issues
- Thread starter Couv
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OP
Click the little arrow in the quote box.
Interesting. @lexvil any more details about those failures?
One of my buddies had a similar issue with his XT1. The answer back was that the area around the HP orifice was out of spec which allowed movement that shutdown the airflow.
XT1 1st stage failed CLOSED at depth
One of my buddies had a similar issue with his XT1. The answer back was that the area around the HP orifice was out of spec which allowed movement that shutdown the airflow.
XT1 1st stage failed CLOSED at depth
I have no details beyond it being odd and unexplainable; I don’t log dives so no guess on the number of dives before the issue but probably 75 to 150. I had two reg sets.
The symptoms; put the reg on the tank and turn on the air and would get a HP leak which sounded like a blown o-ring (yoke, second stage, drysuit and octo-inflator hoses, AI transmitter)
The first time I changed tank o-ring and it was ok, dove it no problem.
The next time it happened in my shop as I was testing my gear pre dive, had an IP gauge on it and an SPG, the blow by happened again but I noted no IP and a very slow HP creep up, after a few moments the IP came up.
Since these were new, I sent it back for D6 to assess, received a new first stage in return, had already started using the other reg. Having a lot of regulators I decided I didn’t need two so I sold the new one.
After about the same dive count the second one started doing the same thing, sent it in. It took some time to receive a replacement, never heard what the findings were but having lost confidence in the design I sold that one too.
This design does not have an ACD so it’s not the same issue as AL/APEKS.
I don’t know the dinamic of the propensity of a blow by leak at the base of the yoke nut when it would self cure often by shutting down and re-pressuring.
The third case is when my dive buddy was prepping for the trip to TrukLagoon, he wanted to add an SPG to the first along with the transmitter, same leak, he contacted me about servicing it, I told him the remove the SPG and test it, he did so and it was fine, put SPG back on, leak, off no leak. Lost confidence with 180ft dives and penetration dives coming, he used my MK 17/G250.
The symptoms; put the reg on the tank and turn on the air and would get a HP leak which sounded like a blown o-ring (yoke, second stage, drysuit and octo-inflator hoses, AI transmitter)
The first time I changed tank o-ring and it was ok, dove it no problem.
The next time it happened in my shop as I was testing my gear pre dive, had an IP gauge on it and an SPG, the blow by happened again but I noted no IP and a very slow HP creep up, after a few moments the IP came up.
Since these were new, I sent it back for D6 to assess, received a new first stage in return, had already started using the other reg. Having a lot of regulators I decided I didn’t need two so I sold the new one.
After about the same dive count the second one started doing the same thing, sent it in. It took some time to receive a replacement, never heard what the findings were but having lost confidence in the design I sold that one too.
This design does not have an ACD so it’s not the same issue as AL/APEKS.
I don’t know the dinamic of the propensity of a blow by leak at the base of the yoke nut when it would self cure often by shutting down and re-pressuring.
The third case is when my dive buddy was prepping for the trip to TrukLagoon, he wanted to add an SPG to the first along with the transmitter, same leak, he contacted me about servicing it, I told him the remove the SPG and test it, he did so and it was fine, put SPG back on, leak, off no leak. Lost confidence with 180ft dives and penetration dives coming, he used my MK 17/G250.
OP
I forgot about that thread; thank you for linking back to it. The LDS passed on info from the manufacture (Dive Rite) who found a defect and corrected the problem. Hopefully it was a one-off QC issue that has since been corrected.
The issue in this thread is a bit more concerning as 3 regulators have presented the same problem. Perhaps something in the design is faulty, but more likely an issue exist in the manufacturing process or perhaps the materials chosen.
On the Deep 6 blog is a statement:
"Lets talk about our first stages first... Inside the first stage, a teflon O-ring is used in the first stage balance chamber along with the HP seat poppet being teflon coated versus chromed." PTFE (Teflon is a Dupont trademark name) is a very durable material, handles a variety of chemicals very well, effective in extreme hot and cold application, and works well as a face seal or backup ring. However, because PTFE tends to warp (cold creep) under some dynamic conditions I'm wondering if using a Teflon o-ring in the balance chamber in wise. The "pop" experienced before lockup may be the clue.
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In the regs that have done that it hasn't been a HP seat issue, ever.
What we had were some regs from one batch that did that the first stage body where the flat at the bottom of the hole where the DIN or Yoke retainer went was very slightly off and would make that sound . We had zero that didn't still work but anyone was annoyed by the sound we would switch it out.
Lots of assumptions being made in the thread, has nothing to do with whatever issue DR has/had with their reg, ours are not made in the same place either, nada to do with HOG, nada to do with the teflon coating on the HP seat poppet or teflon oring in the balance chamber and absolutely not a HP seat issue in any manner.
What we had were some regs from one batch that did that the first stage body where the flat at the bottom of the hole where the DIN or Yoke retainer went was very slightly off and would make that sound . We had zero that didn't still work but anyone was annoyed by the sound we would switch it out.
Lots of assumptions being made in the thread, has nothing to do with whatever issue DR has/had with their reg, ours are not made in the same place either, nada to do with HOG, nada to do with the teflon coating on the HP seat poppet or teflon oring in the balance chamber and absolutely not a HP seat issue in any manner.
runsongas
Contributor
Honestly, this whole report regarding the spg/IP gauge behaviour is new to me. If the poster saw that I really don't recall him/her reporting it to me. The only complaints I got were a couple about the noise some from that one batch makes which is literally less than a second. If he spoke with someone else here they didn't tell me.
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