Healthways Scubair

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Perryed

Contributor
Messages
309
Reaction score
232
Location
Missouri
# of dives
500 - 999
OK guys, I have a challenge for you. I have a vintage Healthways Scubair second stage in super condition. Except the diaphragm. It`s lost a LOT of it`s flexibility in 40-50 years. I`m looking for a replacement. It doesn`t have to be exact but pretty much anything would be better than the one it came with. It needs to be 3 3/16 inch (8.1 cm) in diameter with the edge .1 inch (2.8mm) thick. I have included some pictures of the regulator with the diaphragm. Hopefully I can find something close. Hell, it even works with an old Dacor diaphragm I had. It`s a very cool old reg even if it`s almost like breathing through a straw. I just would like it to work as good as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PICT0009.JPG
PICT0012.JPG
 
Any of the Healthways diaphragms will fit the old Scubair. But you may have to find another old Healthways second stage to get the diaphragm. I doubt anyone stocks them anymore.

The other option is to revitalize the old diaphragm. It can be done. Here are the steps:

1. Coat the diaphragm with silicone grease.
2. Let it sit with the silicone for about a week.
3. Clean off excess silicone (you don't need to get it all, as the Healthways diaphragms have a nice groove to seat into, and won't pull out).
4. "Work" the diaphragm by grabbing it, and move it vigorously between your thumbs and fingers. Don't worry about tearing it, as this is a nylon/neoprene diaphragm, and pretty much indestructible.
5. Once the diaphragm is revitalized, put it back into the regulator and breathe off it.

Now, a couple of other points. You only have the second stage; is it a downstream or tilt valve? Being a very old second stage, I have a feeling it's a tilt valve. If so, you need a first stage that delivers air at a slightly lower value than for downstream second stages. But realize that if it is a tilt valve, you also need an overpressure relief valve on the first stage, or you need another second stage which is downstream.

SeaRat
 
Thanks SeaRat, I`ll give it a try. And another question. How do I tell whether it`s a tilt valve or a downstream?

Thanks! Perry
 
@John C. Ratliff
(aka Good ole Sea Rat !)

Great explanation !
I used a similar technique on a old Heathway SCUBA Air -- worked great
They seem to be indestructible-- this one is about half way to becoming a 100 year old regulator.
I wonder if it will make it to 100 ? We- you and I- will never know

Now your turn again --explain in 2500 words or less the difference between a tilt and a down stream

SDM.
 
Thanks SeaRat, I`ll give it a try. And another question. How do I tell whether it`s a tilt valve or a downstream?

Thanks! Perry
Perry,

A downstream second stage has the seat on the downstream side of the valve. It has a flat lever system which lifts the valve off the seat. The spring is downstream of the seat, and pushes against the seat to form a seal at a set Pounds per Square Inch Guage, or psig (usually 125 to 140 or so psig). It looks like this:

48752113602_4500dd30f2_k.jpg
IMG_1267 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
or this:
48402060612_9d84f1b69e_k.jpg
IMG_1184 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
Here's a White Stag diagram of the downstream valve:
40031462341_e318141f5d_k.jpg
White Stag Regulator002 by John Ratliff, on Flickr

The tilt valve has a very different look, and is simply a metal rod sticking out of the valve. To open it, the valve "tilts" and allows air to escape. In the diagram below, it would be part #40, a simply disc with a rod attached, which sticks through a hole (the valve seat) and has a rubber part upstream of the valve.

48944307933_ca4a73f421_h.jpg
Healthways Scubair diagram by John Ratliff, on Flickr
(This Healthways parts diagram from Basic Scuba, by Fred Roberts.) Note that #8 on the Scubair, or #20 on the Scuba Star, is the overpressure relief valve.

'Hope this helps.

SeaRat
 
I have a Healthways Scubair and a Scuabir 300, love them both! Never had any problems with their performance! Both are fun regulators to dive, plus they look like nothing else! More chrome than a '61 Cadillac!!
Mark
 
Thanks John, Mine looks exactly like the first picture inside. And as tomcat says they are beautiful regs. I`ll let you know how the silicone treatment works out for me.
 
Didn`t work John. The diaphragm softened a little bit but still like breathing thru a straw. Need to figure how ti graft the outside of the Scubair to another diaphragm. Thanks for the try though.
 
Didn`t work John. The diaphragm softened a little bit but still like breathing thru a straw. Need to figure how ti graft the outside of the Scubair to another diaphragm. Thanks for the try though.
Check with several LDSs, as there are actually silicone Healthways diaphragms still around.

SeaRat
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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