good regulator for newb and nitrox..

[LakeMountD]

i am not gonna be using nitrox from the beginning but later on i plan to.. im very new to all this but i heard using titanium regulators with nitrox is a bad idea.. so what would be a decent regulator to get that would run both nitrox and reg mixes and is dependable... i dont, however, want to know the most expensive lol..

 

[wazza]

Buy any reg u like and use it with air for now and u can use it up to 40% O2, but later on if u want to use it for a mix higher that 40% O2 send to some one and make it O2 clean.
I never heard about titanium with nitrox are bad idea???

 

[O-ring]

LakeMountD once bubbled...
i am not gonna be using nitrox from the beginning but later on i plan to.. im very new to all this but i heard using titanium regulators with nitrox is a bad idea.. so what would be a decent regulator to get that would run both nitrox and reg mixes and is dependable... i dont, however, want to know the most expensive lol..

You can't go wrong with Apeks or Scubapro.

 

[Diver0001]

wazza once bubbled...
Buy any reg u like and use it with air for now and u can use it up to 40% O2, but later on if u want to use it for a mix higher that 40% O2 send to some one and make it O2 clean.
I never heard about titanium with nitrox are bad idea???

Titanium and many other metals can oxidize rapidly (read burn) when exposed to high concentrations of O2 at high pressures.

Obviously you don't want this but I'm not sure that 40%O2 is enough to cause this to happen.

R..

 

[wazza]

Later on if he took a Nitrox course I don’t think he will be diving with 40% maybe 32%, and for how long ….30minutes one hour dive time, do u think it will oxidize from this, or maybe u mean dive after dive it could be ????
Unless he is diving with Nitrox every day 2 or 3 time per day …maybe. I will check my self as well……………….thanks

 

[Diver0001]

wazza once bubbled...
Later on if he took a Nitrox course I don’t think he will be diving with 40% maybe 32%, and for how long ….30minutes one hour dive time, do u think it will oxidize from this, or maybe u mean dive after dive it could be ????
Unless he is diving with Nitrox every day 2 or 3 time per day …maybe. I will check my self as well……………….thanks

We aren't talking about the same thing. What I understand is that Titanium can burn.....as in catch fire.....spontaneously in conditions within the range of what can be found inside a scuba regulator. For spontaneous combustion in lab conditions it requires something like 47%O2 and pressure of at least 350psi. Apparently it can be made to burn in as low as 35%O2 under enough pressure (don't know how much). And it probably needs some sort of fuel source to start combustion, like grease or dust particles.

Just to give you an idea of how reactive it is, when titanium comes in contact with liquid O2 at 1ATA it literally blows up.

Many other metals can be made to burn too (like brass and steel) but not spontaneously under the conditions you find inside a regulator. At least that's the way I understand it with my limited knowledge of such things.

So in any event.....it's theoretically possible for a regulator made of titanium to suffer major damage or even fail or catch fire with high enough levels of O2 in your tank.

As far as I know this has only happened once. A titanium reg attached to a tank of 80/20 caught fire when the tank was turned on. The diver in question was badly burned when his wetsuit caught fire.

R..

 

[Tekkie]

You can't go wrong with eather Scubapro or Apeks regulators. Scubapro regulators are a bit more than Apeks I've herd. I think I got my Mk25/G250HP and R190 backup reg for about $550.00.

Tekkie

 

[Northeastwrecks]

Last time I looked at a regulator catalog (Mares, I think), the titanium regs specifically said that they were not to be used with Nitrox.

Hardly seems worth the risk (however small) since there are so many great regs that don't have this issue.

I agree with the recommendations regarding Apeks and Scubapro. You may also want to consider Beuchat. Its not as well known in the States, but it functions well. I still use my VX10 Iceberg on my singles.

 

[wazza]

how stupid I am , the Mares 2003 catalog is
under my hand and I did not have a look .
Look what I found : Warning
Titanium is Not suitable for use in oxygen rich
environment, and therefore the Ti-Planet regulator
should not be used with Nitrox breathing mixes
so we sure now it is a true story ………….
And thanks for your information Mr. Diver0001

 

[ElectricZombie]

Try ScubaPro...they have lowered their prices a bit to be more competitive. The Mk25 and Mk16 are great 1st stages. As for the primary 2nd stage, the S600, G250 and 550 all seem to breath the same to me. Get an R380 for the backup reg...very nice.