Free Flowing Reg

[Bubbletrubble]

@tddfleming: Kudos to you for checking the i.p. Jim Lapenta and awap are giving you good advice. As awap mentioned, soft seats settle over time. This requires tweaking the tuning a little. No big deal.

If my reg did this, I would probably fiddle with the cracking pressure (increase it a tad) on the second stage. This is a minor tuning adjustment that would only take a couple of minutes.

FWIW, you can choose to tune the second stage any way you like -- even if it's slightly different from what the official reg tech manual says. After all, it's your reg. The adjustment knob simply gives you a range of selectable cracking pressures while using the reg on a dive.

If this were to happen again in the future, in addition to turning the breathing adjustment knob in, you might want to try switching the Venturi lever to the "-"/pre-dive setting. When the Venturi vane is in the "+"/dive setting and you take a breath, the Venturi effect creates a suction that pulls in the diaphragm and helps to sustain airflow.

 

[tddfleming]

Thanks to everyone! I am a little confused, should I take it to the shop and have a service person look at it or should I just not crank that puppy wide open???

Kind of like have a car with a posi rear end and not spinning the tires???

 

[redacted]

Thanks to everyone! I am a little confused, should I take it to the shop and have a service person look at it or should I just not crank that puppy wide open???

Kind of like have a car with a posi rear end and not spinning the tires???

I would not have it serviced. It seems to be performing the way many divers wish their regs would perform. Use the user control knob to reduce cracking pressure while you are on the surface. Then adjust it as you descend for easy breathing. Don't forget to dial it back again before you surface at the end of the dive.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Thanks to everyone! I am a little confused, should I take it to the shop and have a service person look at it or should I just not crank that puppy wide open???

It's up to you. We don't know how forceful the free-flow actually was at depth.
Clearly the reg is behaving a little differently now as compared to when you purchased it last year. That's to be expected due to settling of the soft seats. As the owner of the reg, you do have the right to tweak the tuning as much as you want so that you're comfortable with it. I could easily see you taking the reg setup back to the Aeris dealer and having a reg tech make a small adjustment. FWIW, my LDS would do this for no charge.

That being said, I'd be willing to bet that if you had adjusted the settings on your second stage underwater, you probably would have been able to stop the free-flow.

Did the owner's manual for your reg discuss operation of the breathing adjustment knob and Venturi lever?

 

[tddfleming]

It's up to you. We don't know how forceful the free-flow actually was at depth.
Clearly the reg is behaving a little differently now as compared to when you purchased it last year. That's to be expected due to settling of the soft seats. As the owner of the reg, you do have the right to tweak the tuning as much as you want so that you're comfortable with it. I could easily see you taking the reg setup back to the Aeris dealer and having a reg tech make a small adjustment. FWIW, my LDS would do this for no charge.

That being said, I'd be willing to bet that if you had adjusted the settings on your second stage underwater, you probably would have been able to stop the free-flow.

Did the owner's manual for your reg discuss operation of the breathing adjustment knob and Venturi lever?

Yes,

 ?K?':G7H<
Pre-Dive / Dive switch located on top of the body.
 Placing the switch in the left ( - ) position (Pre-Dive) reduces, or eliminates, the possibility
of high volume free-flow when the mouthpiece is not in your mouth.
 Placing the switch in the right ( + ) position (Dive) provides optimum performance during
a dive.
The Delta 3 provides a breathing effort adjustment (knob on the side of the body) that enables
you to adapt breathing performance to different diving conditions.
 By turning the adjustment knob 'clockwise' breathing resistance (effort) is increased.
This is done to prevent undesirable loss of breathing gas (free flowing) that often occurs
when a high performance regulator second stage is connected as an octopus second
stage, or when the primary second stage is not in the diver&#146;s mouth, such as
when surface snorkeling.
 Turning the adjustment knob 'counter clockwise' decreases breathing resistance and
reduces work of breathing. Adjustment should be used to improve performance, it
should not be used as a method to use less breathing gas. During periods of heavy
exertion underwater, and to compensate for the effects of depth, it is advantageous to
have a regulator that can provide minimal inhalation resistance and optimal performance
when desired.

 

[tddfleming]

Forgot, found this in the manual: I guess, now I need to find out if mine has this on it already or not.

All Oceanic Regulator First Stages are classified as being suitable for use in waters having
Temperatures of 50°F (10 °C) and higher.
Due to operational limits, use in waters having colder Temperatures requires Oceanic Diaphragm
style First Stages to be properly fitted with an Environmental Protection Kit to prevent
the possible buildup of ice crystals in the Spring Cavity.
Due to the inherent design of Oceanic Piston style First Stages, they cannot be specially
prepared to accomodate the operational limits imposed by waters having Temperatures
below of 50°F (10 °C). Oceanic therefore recommends the use of Diaphragm style First
Stages fitted with Environmental Protection Kits when diving in lower Temperature water.

 

[joe8mofo]

I have an adjustable 2nd stage that is not Oceanic or Aeris and if I crank the adjustable knob all the way up it will free-flow sometimes depending on the water temperature. Jim and awap are spot on; adjust the knob as wide open as you can before it starts to free-flow if you want it to be as easy as possible to breathe. Having a user adjustable 2nd-stage is great, but its only great if you use it as designed, and they are not designed to not free-flow in all water conditions when all the way open.