140' in warm water, 120' in cold water...again no difference from shallow depths in terms of resistance but it breathes a little wet at depth.
Cheers.
-J.-
Cheers.
-J.-
Has Anyone Dove Deep With a Sherwood Blizzard?
- Thread starter Syd7890
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I'm considering getting a used reg that can be used for cold water diving. From what I understand the Blizzard is very reliable, but I wonder how it is at greater depths (100'-120'). I can't find a whole lot of info on these regs, which makes me wonder if I should be considering something else. Keeping in mind that I would be buying something used, do you guys have any suggestions or input?
I think a used Sherwood Blizzard could serve you well.
Mine was already ten years old when I bought it second-hand 12 years ago. Since that time, I've put about 900 dives on it and never had a free-flow, never gotten a sense of inadequate output, never felt like I was overbreathing the regulator.
Those dives included hard-working scallop dives in 45F water at 80FSW, 32F saltwater, 34F freshwater, 43F freshwater dives to 140FFW, and warm water dives to 180FSW. Probably had it below 100' several dozen times.
Frankly, it breathed well in all those conditions.
I also bought a 12 year-old Blizzard that I've used for a pony regulator for many years. No problems with infrequent use such as a pony reg gets.
Sherwoods are simple and inexpensive to service, too.
You can't go wrong using a Blizzard for recreational diving. JMHO, of course....
Dave C
DennisW
Contributor
Looks like it's a good thing I can't stand cold water. I've had my Mk200/G200 set up for 20 years. Never had a failure in 70 - 90 F.
anzac65
Contributor
If they are the same reg on the inside, except for the little knob on the outside, then why did one perform well enough to be used in the program and the other one had a 100% failure rate (which just so happens to be the one that the OP was asking about)?
I couldn't tell a Maximus from a Blizzard, but based on your data, I would recommend the Maximus, and not the Blizzard
Also, I could add the numbers of most those regs to the Maximus and get something less than 2%.
Never mind the difference between a Maximus and a Blizzard, percent this, percent that, and all that other technical stuff......:no What I want to know is what's a Goofus ? Is it similar to a Doofus ?
Sherwoods are dirt simple and damn near bulletproof, as many have said in here. They are easy to service and almost impossible for a ham-fisted service tech to screw up.
One place where a service tech can screw a Sherwood up is the flow control element which is either in the piston (older models) or the main body (newer models). Cleaning them in used ultrasound solution will clog up the fine pores in the sintered metal that the element is made of, and stop that calibrated leak that keeps the inside of the first stage dry. That calibrated leak also serves as the means by which the first stage knows how deep it is. Stop the leak and your IP will remain the same regardless of depth, which could cause hard breathing at deeper depths. The key is to make sure you don't clean the piston or the main body in the ultrasound unless you've removed the flow control element first. BTW, the element is not removable from the piston, so don't ultrasound clean the piston at all.
I test every Sherwood I see before I rebuild it and the main thing I check for is whether or not that famous leak is there at the black rubber plug between the ports. If it's not, then I know what I have to do. Even though the book on Sherwoods say a lack of leakage indicates the reg may be hard-breathing at depth, and is relatively silent on whether that's a no-go indication, we've decided in our shop that we won't turn out a Sherwood unless the leak is present.
The test is simple--pressurize the reg and put some soapy water on the port--if it bubbles it's working properly.
One place where a service tech can screw a Sherwood up is the flow control element which is either in the piston (older models) or the main body (newer models). Cleaning them in used ultrasound solution will clog up the fine pores in the sintered metal that the element is made of, and stop that calibrated leak that keeps the inside of the first stage dry. That calibrated leak also serves as the means by which the first stage knows how deep it is. Stop the leak and your IP will remain the same regardless of depth, which could cause hard breathing at deeper depths. The key is to make sure you don't clean the piston or the main body in the ultrasound unless you've removed the flow control element first. BTW, the element is not removable from the piston, so don't ultrasound clean the piston at all.
I test every Sherwood I see before I rebuild it and the main thing I check for is whether or not that famous leak is there at the black rubber plug between the ports. If it's not, then I know what I have to do. Even though the book on Sherwoods say a lack of leakage indicates the reg may be hard-breathing at depth, and is relatively silent on whether that's a no-go indication, we've decided in our shop that we won't turn out a Sherwood unless the leak is present.
The test is simple--pressurize the reg and put some soapy water on the port--if it bubbles it's working properly.
I purchased a Blizzard when they just came on the market. I started servicing of regulators myself a few years later and I've never seen such a rotten build apparatus. I consider myself lucky to have survived the dives I made with it.
The bleeding principle is beautiful in it's simplicity but the way they assembled these first first-stages still gives me nightmares.
The bleeding principle is beautiful in it's simplicity but the way they assembled these first first-stages still gives me nightmares.
keyshunter
Contributor
Seraphimx
Contributor
I would recommend with your LDS what brands he can do the maintenance on and go with those brands. But, I would recommend not going for Sherwood for other reasons. Yes the Sherwood regs are workhorses but diveshop overprice them when they sell their rental stuff. I've seend diveshop wanting to sell used rental gear (sherwood mainly) at 200-300$. But why would you buy that when you can have a great breathing system at 400-500$ (Zeagle, Apeks, Oceanic, DiveRite and such). And most of the time its new. I saw in another post that your located in Ontario. I often dive in the St-Lawrence and I must say that I dove with rental stuff (blizzards too) and the Apeks where flawless. While the Sherwood where tought to breath from. Tests show that
you spend less energy going with zeagle, apeks or oceanic.
Its really a bother when your in water < 50F trying to struggle with your rental stuff. Last time I dove with those it was Octobre 24th 2 years ago (dive log) and they were a PITA.
Dive Rite RG3000 ICE are 450$
Oceanic GT3 is around 400$ and its environment sealed.
no use buying those top of the line. If you do mainly recreational you'll enjoy basic environment sealed regs.
my 2 cents.
you spend less energy going with zeagle, apeks or oceanic.
Its really a bother when your in water < 50F trying to struggle with your rental stuff. Last time I dove with those it was Octobre 24th 2 years ago (dive log) and they were a PITA.
Dive Rite RG3000 ICE are 450$
Oceanic GT3 is around 400$ and its environment sealed.
no use buying those top of the line. If you do mainly recreational you'll enjoy basic environment sealed regs.
my 2 cents.
Yes - I send it anywhere just for the postal-fee: first stage, second stage, octopus and console.
Just don't dive with it.
I don't think Sherwood is supported any longer here in the Netherlands anyway. No use sending this in, I suppose;
BTW on-topic from my logbook: I took it down to 37 meters in the Baie de Brande near St Tropez while diving with the French Department for Underwater Archaeology with a bottom time of 48 minutes clearing torpedonets over a former Cousteau "excavation" of a Roman shipwreck.
It had a 2.5 cm H20-column breathing resistance at the surface on our testing equipment and I have never been able to get it any better. On this depth the resistance was quite a bit worse and i remember the fact it isn't balanced was not a nice experience at the time. However I did some maintenance on a later model that actually performed much better - about 1.5 cm H20-column. Flow performance was poor in both cases.
The only reason I used it was because I saw too many regulators that were maintained by the French Navy who was accomodating the project, were given to stop working under water all together. I had one of those sets as a backup BTW - as we all had. In dutch we have a saying "met de franse slag" [with the french attitude] and you probably can figure out for yourself what we mean by that.
Just don't dive with it.
I don't think Sherwood is supported any longer here in the Netherlands anyway. No use sending this in, I suppose;
BTW on-topic from my logbook: I took it down to 37 meters in the Baie de Brande near St Tropez while diving with the French Department for Underwater Archaeology with a bottom time of 48 minutes clearing torpedonets over a former Cousteau "excavation" of a Roman shipwreck.
It had a 2.5 cm H20-column breathing resistance at the surface on our testing equipment and I have never been able to get it any better. On this depth the resistance was quite a bit worse and i remember the fact it isn't balanced was not a nice experience at the time. However I did some maintenance on a later model that actually performed much better - about 1.5 cm H20-column. Flow performance was poor in both cases.
The only reason I used it was because I saw too many regulators that were maintained by the French Navy who was accomodating the project, were given to stop working under water all together. I had one of those sets as a backup BTW - as we all had. In dutch we have a saying "met de franse slag" [with the french attitude] and you probably can figure out for yourself what we mean by that.
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